A group of states has launched a political declaration calling for an international moratorium on surrogacy, as a first step to its global abolition. Ireland has one of the most permissive surrogacy laws in Europe.

Spearheaded by the governments of Italy and Chile, the declaration highlights the severe human rights violations and abuses inherent in the practice, such as the commodification of human life and women’s reproductive capabilities, and the harm to the children caused by their deliberate separation from the women who carried and gave birth to them.

The signatories warn that women and girls involved in surrogacy arrangements face wide-ranging harms, including serious medical risks, coercion, exploitation and loss of agency – risks that fall disproportionately on vulnerable women and children with limited access to effective remedies.

The document was presented on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council.

It preceded the presentation of a new report on violence against mothers by a UN Special Rapporteur, which identifies surrogate mothers as being at particular risk.