who are responsible for granting citizenship or passports to children born as a result of international surrogacy arrangements. The Commission does not seek to identify the most appropriate position for Australia to take, but submits that if international surrogacy is to be permitted, then it needs to be appropriately regulated to adequately protect the rights of the surrogate mother and any children born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement. This section sets out a number of alternative options for regulating international surrogacy arrangements. Prohibition of international surrogacy arrangements Some commentators have called for Australia to prohibit all international commercial surrogacy arrangements. A number of specific concerns about such arrangements have been identified. Prohibition may be necessary in two circumstances: if commercial surrogacy amounts to of children’ and thus is ‘sale prohibited by international human rights law (this would reinforce the current prohibition on commercial surrogacy domestically); if international surrogacy arrangements (whether altruistic or commercial) cannot be effectively regulated. Sale of children The sale of or traffic in children is prohibited by article 35 of the CRC and also by the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, prostitution and child pornography (CRC OPSC). Australia ratified CRC OPSC on 8 January 2007. Article 35 of the CRC provides: States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form. Article 1 of CRC OPSC requires States to prohibit the sale of children, which is defined in article 2 as act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by ‘any any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration’. States are required by article 3 to ensure that, as a minimum, a number of specified acts are criminalised. In the context of the sale of children, these acts include offering, delivering or accepting a child for the purpose of: sexual exploitation of the child transfer of the organs of the child for profit engagement of the in forced labour.
who are responsible for granting citizenship or passports to children born as a result of international surrogacy arrangements. The Commission does not seek to identify the most appropriate position for Australia to take, but submits that if international surrogacy is to be permitted, then it needs to be appropriately regulated to adequately protect the rights of the surrogate mother and any children born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement. This section sets out a number of alternative options for regulating international surrogacy arrangements. Prohibition of international surrogacy arrangements Some commentators have called for Australia to prohibit all international commercial surrogacy arrangements. A number of specific concerns about such arrangements have been identified. Prohibition may be necessary in two circumstances: if commercial surrogacy amounts to ‘sale of children’ and thus is prohibited by international human rights law (this would reinforce the current prohibition on commercial surrogacy domestically); if international surrogacy arrangements (whether altruistic or commercial) cannot be effectively regulated. Sale of children The sale of or traffic in children is prohibited by article 35 of the CRC and also by the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, prostitution and child pornography (CRC OPSC). Australia ratified CRC OPSC on 8 January 2007. Article 35 of the CRC provides: States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form. Article 1 of CRC OPSC requires States to prohibit the sale of children, which is defined in article 2 as ‘any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration’. States are required by article 3 to ensure that, as a minimum, a number of specified acts are criminalised. In the context of the sale of children, these acts include offering, delivering or accepting a child for the purpose of: sexual exploitation of the child transfer of the organs of the child for profit engagement of the in forced labour.
20160217_AHRC_SurrogacySubmission.docx