INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE LEGAL PARENTAGE OF CHILDREN IN THE CONTEXT OF CROSS-BORDER SURROGACY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE SUSPENSION OF THE DRAFT CONVENTION ON THE RECOGNITION OF JUDGMENTS IN RESPECT OF LEGAL PARENTAGE UNDER THE HAGUE CONFERENCE ON PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

Abstract

Purpose. The objective of this article is to examine the current state and prospects of the international legal regulation of cross-border surrogacy with particular regard to the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), to identify the underlying reasons for the inability of states to reach a consensus on the establishment of universal rules governing the recognition of legal parentage, and to determine potential avenues for the further development and refinement of international legal mechanisms for protecting the rights and interests of children born as a result of cross-border surrogacy arrangements. Methods. The methodological framework of the study comprises a combination of general scientific and specialized legal research methods. The dialectical method is employed to examine the tensions between national legal approaches to surrogacy and the need to ensure the international protection of the rights of the child. The methods of analysis and synthesis have been used to systematize scholarly approaches and identify the principal challenges arising in the international legal regulation of the relevant relations. The formal-legal method has been applied to analyze the provisions of international treaties, instruments of international organizations, national legislation, and other normative legal sources. The comparative legal method enables a comparison of the legislative and law-enforcement approaches adopted by different States regarding the permissibility of surrogacy, the determination of legal parentage, and the recognition abroad of the corresponding legal effects. The historical legal method has been used to examine the development of international cooperation in the field of cross-border surrogacy and the evolution of the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s approaches. Results. The findings of the research indicate that the suspension, in March 2026, of the work on the Draft Convention on the Recognition of Judgments Relating to Legal Parentage reflects not only the inherent difficulties in achieving international consensus in this area, but also the need to explore alternative and/ or incremental mechanisms of international cooperation. In this context, a potentially viable avenue lies in the development of minimum international standards, primarily aimed at safeguarding the rights and best interests of the child, alongside the establishment and enhancement of mechanisms for cross-border cooperation in matters concerning the recognition of legal parentage. The findings of the research further support the conclusion that effective international legal regulation of cross-border surrogacy requires a careful balancing of competing legal values and interests. In this regard, a paramount objective of international cooperation should remain the recognition and preservation of the child’s legal status and the effective protection of the child’s rights, irrespective of divergences among the national legal systems of the states connected with the relevant legal relationship. Conclusions. The research demonstrates that the suspension, in March 2026, of the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s work on the Draft Convention was primarily attributable to fundamental divergences among states concerning the legal nature and regulation of surrogacy, the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), and the relationship between State sovereignty and the imperative of ensuring the continuity of a child’s legal status across jurisdictions. The analysis of the Draft Convention indicates that the extensive reliance on declarations, reservations, optional provisions, and exceptions substantially qualified the uniform character of the proposed mechanism for the international recognition of legal parentage and potentially perpetuated the risk of “limping legal parentage”, whereby a parent-child relationship established or recognized in one jurisdiction may not produce equivalent legal effects in another. The principal obstacle to achieving consensus therefore lay not in the procedural complexities associated with the recognition of foreign judgments, but rather in the absence of a common substantive approach among states to the institution of surrogacy itself. A prospective avenue for the further development of the international legal framework in this field lies in the elaboration of minimum standards governing the recognition of legal parentage, firmly grounded in the principle of the best interests of the child, coupled with the further development and progressive implementation of soft-law instruments and the gradual harmonization of mechanisms of international judicial and administrative cooperation. Accordingly, the suspension of the Draft Convention should not be regarded as diminishing the relevance of the issue; rather, it underscores the continuing necessity to pursue a balanced international legal framework capable of reconciling State sovereignty, international cooperation, and the effective protection of the rights and best interests of the child in the context of crossborder surrogacy.