Op-Ed: “The Refusal to Recognise Parent-Child Biological and Legal Relationship in Surrogacy May Not Even Trigger Right to Private Life Protection” by Olivier Baillet

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently and surprisingly dismissed as manifestly ill-founded an application by two children conceived by surrogacy. They claimed their right to private and family life had been breached as a result of Poland’s refusal to recognise the legal relationship with their Polish biological but engaged in same-sex relationship father.

In this Op-Ed I will examine the novel aspects of this decision and the issue raised by its motivation.

Three States and a Plurinational Same-Sex Family

The applicants were two twin children born in the United States (US) within the framework of a surrogacy agreement involving two Israeli men and a married woman holding US citizenship. They were conce