UN Body Faces Call to Classify Surrogacy as Modern Slavery
Legal experts and a French NGO have petitioned the UN to recognize surrogacy as a new form of slavery, citing the commodification of children and women's bodies.
A coalition of legal experts and a French non-governmental organization has formally requested that the United Nations recognize surrogacy as a contemporary form of slavery. The petition, submitted to the UN special rapporteur on human trafficking, argues that the practice reduces children to objects of commercial disposal and subjects pregnant women to the control of third parties.
The request arrives at a significant moment in international human rights discourse, coinciding with the centennial of the 1926 Slavery Convention. According to GN geopolitics/rights (en-US), the submission aims to place surrogacy on the agenda of the upcoming Human Rights Council session, where new forms of exploitation are expected to be debated.
Legal arguments for reclassification
The Casablanca group of experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance base their argument on the legal definition of slavery found in the 1926 Geneva Convention, which involves the exercise of ownership attributes over a person. They contend that surrogacy contracts inherently treat the developing child as a commodity to be bought and sold, while the gestating woman’s body is subjected to external control regarding diet, medical care, and potentially embryo reduction.
Existing international precedents cited
The petitioners point to a growing body of UN documentation that has already raised concerns about the practice. They note that in 2018, the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children characterized surrogacy as such, and in 2019, the Committee on the Rights of the Child echoed these concerns. More recently, a July 2025 report by the special rapporteur on violence against women called for the eradication of all forms of surrogacy and the creation of a binding international instrument to abolish the practice.
Furthermore, a joint statement issued by various states in June called for a global moratorium on surrogacy as a preliminary step toward universal abolition. The experts urge the current special rapporteur to press states to end the practice within their jurisdictions and commit to its complete elimination internationally.
Moral and diplomatic perspectives
The call for regulatory action is also supported by religious institutions that view the practice as a violation of human dignity. Pope Francis described surrogacy as a grave exploitation of women’s material needs and emphasized that a child is a gift, not a product of a commercial contract. He urged the international community to prohibit the practice universally to preserve and defend human life at every stage.
The next steps depend on the UN special rapporteur’s response and the degree to which states are willing to adopt binding measures. Observers will watch whether the upcoming Human Rights Council session yields concrete resolutions or remains limited to declaratory language, as the debate over the legal status of surrogacy intensifies.
