While France is expected to examine this Thursday 16 June, two bills to strengthen the prohibition of surrogacy, No Maternity Traffic requests that the French government takes a firm step to prohibit any form of surrogacy at the international level.
The threat is clearly present today within the Council of Europe, which is supposed to guarantee human rights. A crucial issue on Human Rights and the ethical issues related to surrogacy was brought before the Committee on Social Affairs. Coming 21 and 22 June, a new report will be examined by this Committee, following the rejection of the first report last 15 March. In fact, the report and resolution submitted by the rapporteur, Petra de Sutter, aimed to give a framework to surrogacy, that is to say, allow it under conditions, whereas this practice, in principle, should not be accepted. However, the rapporteur was not relieved of her duties. Secondly, although a conflict of interest has been revealed concerning her, this conflict has not been put to vote despite the Rules of Procedure of the Council of Europe. Our group is worried to notice that the rapporteur was not replaced.
In effect, it seems the rapporteur is trying to get around fundamental ethical issues relating to women by focusing on tackling parentage problems in the event of “for-profit” surrogacy.
No Maternity Traffic condemns a strategy that is inconsistent with the responsibility of the parliamentarians of the Council of Europe to ensure the application of human rights.
No Maternity Traffic requests that the French government takes a firm step to stop the adoption of this report so that the position of the petitioners will really be taken into account by the Committee, that is to say, surrogacy should be strictly forbidden.
The group, which brings together European NGOs fighting for human dignity and human rights, fully supports all legislative steps aimed at the universal prohibition of surrogacy, especially those submitted in France in June 2016.
The No Maternity Traffic petition was found admissible during the meeting of the Bureau on 26 May 2016. The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly decided to transmit the petition to the Committee on Social Affairs for consideration in the preparation of the report on Human rights and the ethical issues related to surrogacy. The 107,957 European signatories of the petition are calling on the authorities of the Council of Europe to undertake to effectively abolish and prohibit the practice of surrogacy. No Maternity Traffic is calling for a citizen action on 21 and 22 June in Strasbourg to push the parliamentarians of the Council of Europe to unanimously condemn surrogacy regardless of the form.