Children’s Rights in the Age of Biotechnology

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Tuesday, November 19, 2019 was an historic day for the United Nations as well as people created via donor conception and surrogacy. It was the 30th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (the most widely adopted human rights treaty in history). At a conference celebrating this event, in the Palais De Nations, Geneva, It was also the first time that a large international group of donor-conceived or surrogacy-born people had the chance to speak about their lived experience at the United Nations.

By sharing their personal stories, they highlighted the consequences of ignoring the voices of those most affected by these practices—the people born as a result of the use of donor eggs, sperm or embryos, and/or surrogacy (third-party reproduction). They were met with a standing ovation from the audience and the panel.

​Most importantly it was seen that practices, both past and present, result in the deprivation of our fundamental rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child – including, but not limited to, rights conferred by Articles 7, 8 and 35. We have the right to identity, the right to family relations, and the right not to be bought or sold in any form. These are rights that signatories to the Convention—literally every country in the world—have a responsibility to protect.

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We advocate putting children’s rights first through ethical reforms in reproductive medicine.