Narratives of commercial gestational surrogacy (CGS) as ‘baby-selling’ often conflate or interchange the transfer of children born via surrogacy with trafficking in children or the sale of children, two sometimes overlapping but nonetheless distinct offenses. Moreover, anti-trafficking laws have been used to police cross border CGS. But when do CGS arrangements fall within the category of legitimate ‘reproductive tourism’ and when do they amount to child trafficking? In this paper I critically explore intersections between human trafficking laws and CGS, vis-à-vis the child, charting the relevant trafficking laws in the context of international surrogacy, and analysing whether trafficking laws are an appropriate mechanism through which to regulate CGS. I conclude that while child trafficking might occur via surrogacy, CGS in itself is not child trafficking under international law.
The report, What works to prevent online violence against children, presents ways to address the growing worldwide concern of keeping children safe online, with a specific focus on two forms of online violence: child sexual abuse including groo...Read More
The data in this report represents signals and cases from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017 and is accurate as of July 11, 2018. Cases of trafficking may be ongoing or new information may be revealed to the National Hotline over time. Conseq...Read More
The forthcoming Modern Slavery Bill, announced in the 2022 Queen’s Speech, presents a significant opportunity for the UK Government to implement its outstanding commitments in relation to strengthening Transparency in Supply Chains (TISC) provisio...Read More
The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a well-known problem in Kathmandu. Having seen a decade-long proliferation in the number of venues making up the adult entertainment sector (AES), frontline organisations – including the Fre...Read More
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