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.
Corruption is an underlying cause of and a facilitating tool for practices arising from contemporary forms of slavery; it is essential to creating the conditions for a low-cost, low-risk, high-profit illicit trade in vulnerable individuals. Yet, cor...Read More
The publication describes the roles and responsibilities for national focal points for child victims of trafficking in response to the MC Decision 6/18 on Strengthening Efforts to Prevent and Combat Child Trafficking, including of Unaccompanied Mino...Read More
Worldwide, the majority of child labour is concentrated in the agricultural sector, including fisheries and aquaculture. This brief provides an overview of children’s engagement in child labour in fisheries and aquaculture, the risks they are ex...Read More
For over a decade, the Oakland Institute has raised alarm about the conditions and threats that both the Gibe III Dam and the Kuraz Sugar Development Project pose for Indigenous communities in the region. Now, several years on, new research conducte...Read More
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