Press release – 160 NGOs call on the CRC regarding surrogacy and the sale of children

160 civil society organisations call on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding surrogacy and the sale of children

Press Release, September 14, 2026

The Group of Experts of the Declaration of Casablanca for the Universal Abolition of Surrogacy, together with 160 civil society organisations from around the world, is today addressing a letter to the members of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, asking them to explicitly recognise that remunerated surrogacy, whether directly or indirectly remunerated, constitutes the sale of children within the meaning of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This initiative is based in particular on the definition of the sale of children contained in the Optional Protocol and on positions already expressed by several United Nations bodies.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child itself stated, in its 2019 guidelineson the implementation of the Optional Protocol, that surrogacy “may also constitute sale of children”.

The letter now calls on the Committee to take a further step by clearly affirming that remunerated surrogacy, whether directly or indirectly remunerated, constitutes by definition the sale of children.

The 160 signatory civil society organisations recall that all forms of surrogacy, whether remunerated or not, entail serious violations of children’s rights as defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Remunerated surrogacy, whether directly or indirectly remunerated, additionally constitutes the sale of children and further aggravates the situation suffered by the child.

The specific classification of remunerated surrogacy as the sale of children must in no way be interpreted as a validation, even implicitly, of non-remunerated surrogacy, whose violations of children’s rights remain unchanged.

The signatory organisations therefore call on the Committee to:

• affirm that remunerated surrogacy, whether directly or indirectly remunerated, constitutes the sale of children within the meaning of the Optional Protocol;
• call on States parties to adopt legislative measures to protect children from surrogacy;
• encourage the development of an international instrument aimed at the worldwide abolition of this practice.

“The question we are putting to the Committee is a legal one: when a child is handed over to commissioning parties in exchange for direct or indirect payment, can we continue to refuse to legally name what is taking place? We are asking the Committee on the Rights of the Child to place the rights of the child at the centre of this analysis and to provide a clear response.”

Olivia Maurel, Executive Director of the Declaration of Casablanca Association.

The letter also recalls the conclusions of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, who called on States to take steps towards eradicating surrogacy in all its forms and to work towards the adoption of an international legally binding instrument prohibiting all forms of surrogacy.

It further recalls that the Committee on the Rights of the Child has, on several occasions, expressed concern in its recommendations to States regarding the link between surrogacy and the sale of children.

Through this international mobilisation, the 160 signatory civil society organisations are now calling on the Committee to clarify its position and explicitly recognise that remunerated surrogacy, whether directly or indirectly remunerated, falls within the definition of the sale of children under applicable international law.

👉 Read the letter addressed to the Committee on the Rights of the Child