Surrogacy is comparable to prostitution and should be banned, the UN’s most senior expert on violence against women and girls has urged.

Reem Alsalem, a United Nations special rapporteur, submitted a report to the body on Friday calling for an end to the practice, describing it as a “system of exploitation and violence”.

Ms Alsalem argued that there had been a “rush to normalise” surrogacy arrangements in recent years, driven by powerful lobbying groups that have created a false impression of the practice.

“There’s a very embellished view that it’s altruistic, that it’s a sign of love, that you’re doing something amazing because you’re providing an opportunity for others that don’t have the chance to become parents, but there’s very little talk about the dark side of surrogacy,” she said.

“Humans do not have a human right to have children. This argument that you have a right to form a family, and therefore you have a right to rent out a womb and then remove a child from their mother, it’s just insane how this has been allowed to happen.”