I was born in 1984 into a traditional heterosexual-parent family after being conceived through anonymous sperm donation. I learned the truth about my conception at the age of 21 and discovered the identity of my biological father at the age of 31.
I have a PhD in psychology and a background as a clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioral therapist. Throughout both my academic and clinical career, my main areas of interest have been personality, identity, attachment, emotion regulation, and complex trauma.
Beyond my professional career, I have been a dedicated researcher of the donor conceived experience ever since I learned about my own donor conceived status. I believe that my academic interest in the psychology and sociology of donor conception has been one of my ways of coping with and making sense of my own experience. As a result, I am well-versed in the academic literature on donor conception.
I have also been an active advocate for the rights of donor conceived people for many years. In Belgium, where gamete donation is still legally anonymous, there is still much work to be done. I try to contribute through collective and individual actions and by raising public awareness of donor conception issues. I do this by writing opinion pieces and policy recommendations, participating in study days and conferences, engaging with policy makers and influencers, and sharing my personal experiences and professional insights in the media. Since 2022, I have been part of the steering group of the Flemish ‘Afstammingscentrum’, where I strive to represent the donor conceived community.
In recent years, I have educated myself in genetic genealogy and have helped donor conceived friends and acquaintances find out the identity of their donor parent through commercial DNA websites.
Over the past few years, I have become so inspired by advocacy work that I decided to shift my career towards human rights policy. Since 2024, I have been working as a policy officer for the Flemish expertise center for sexual health (Sensoa), where my focus is on the prevention of sexual harassment and abuse, with a particular emphasis on gender equality, LGBTQI+ rights, and children’s rights.

The complexity of including donor conceived people’s voices in research and policy

When discussing the ethics and practice of donor conception, it is crucial for experts to include the voices of donor conceived individuals. However, translating their experiences and opinions into ethical guidelines for policy and practice is far from straightforward. Drawing on insights from social constructionism, narrative identity theory, and relational ethics theory, I will elaborate on this complexity.

According to social constructionism, identity is continuously shaped through social interaction. We rely on others to make sense of ourselves. For donor conceived people, familial and societal contexts have an inevitable impact on how they make sense of the donor conceived experience. Considering processes of identification and socialization is essential for understanding how donor conceived individuals express their experiences.

Narrative identity theory conceptualizes identity as a story we create about ourselves. This story helps making sense of who we are and fosters a continuous and coherent sense of self. Storytelling relies on language. For donor conceived individuals, the way their environment defines terms like ‘parent,’ ‘donor,’ and ‘family’ shapes how they understand and articulate their own experiences. Therefore, research into the (storied) experiences of donor conceived people must recognize the influence of familial and societal discourse.

Donor conceived individuals owe their existence to one or two intended parents, one or two gamete donors, and, in most cases, a fertility doctor. According to relational ethics theory, ‘receiving’ existence creates indestructible ties of existential debt. Donor conceived individuals experience existential loyalty towards everyone involved in their conception. Through receiving care and education, they develop additional loyalty toward their raising parent(s). When listening to donor conceived individuals’ voices, researchers and policymakers must be aware of the complex relational structures surrounding those voices. The psychological burdens of parentification, relational debts and conflicting loyalties should not be overlooked.

The need for a nuanced approach that considers the complexities of identity formation, family dynamics, and societal influences, will be further substantiated by case examples and research findings, and translated into recommendations for future research and policy.

Vanessa Binder is a late discovery donor conceived person and the co-founder of the Swiss association “Sur Terre via Donneur.euse”. She was conceived with the help of an anonymous sperm donor at the Frauenklinik in Bern in 1981 and born in Geneva in 1982.

After learning the truth about her conception in 2019 (aged 37), she decided to co-create (along with her sister and a Swiss donor conceived friend) a Swiss association concerning all aspects of donor conception in 2021.

Today the association organizes regular meet ups and monthly video conferences for all the people involved in donor conception (donor conceived adults, recipient parents, donors…). The committee members also regularly give presentations on the subject to raise awareness on the matter (at an annual Swiss fertility clinic’s conference for example).

Sharing the experiences of donor conceived adults is one of the aims of the association. We believe it is very important to educate and raise awareness towards the people concerned by donor conception (for example, the future recipient parents, the fertility doctors as well as the general public) for them to understand all the complexities involved in using a gamete donor.

Our main message is to let the donor conceived persons choose whether this part of themselves is important for them or not. In order to do so, the donor conceived person must know that part of their story. We would like to end the secrecy regarding their conception through education and raising awareness. Indeed, today the law does not force a parent to tell the truth to their donor conceived child, as it is still considered a private matter. We want to take part in creating a better future for the next generation of donor conceived persons by making sure that they will be told their story truthfully and be able to make it their own.

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio is internationally recognised as a leading expert in human rights. Notably she was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2014 – 2020) and was the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe (2002 – 2012). Throughout her mandates, she has been focusing her attention on the fight against discrimination and violence, on the rights of the most vulnerable groups in society, in particular, children. She spearheaded three key Council of Europe Conventions: the Convention on action against trafficking in human beings, the Convention on the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. In her role as President of Child Identity Protection, she will bring with her decades of experience and determination in tackling sensitive issues connected to children’s identity rights, such as those arising from illegal adoption practices, commercial surrogacy arrangements and other questionable commercial practices. Maud de Boer-Buquicchio is a fluent speaker of Dutch, English, French, Italian and German.

This presentation focuses on international child rights norms to contemporary practices of surrogacy:  especially commercial surrogacy.  The presentation analyses the interrelationship between the rights of the child not to be sold, and other rights of the child, and the ways in which commercial surrogacy as currently practiced systemically and simultaenously violates multiple rights of the child. While surrogacy and the sale of children are often analysed primarily in terms of an interaction between the intending parents and surrogate mother (or gestational carrier), this presentation extends the traditional analysis to focus on the primary role of intermediaries.  The presentation describes circumstances under which intermediaries may be primarily responsible as sellers of children to intending parents, and circumstances under which intermediaries may be secondarily complicit in the sale of children.  The presentation concludes that researchers  should focus more attention on the role of intermediaries.  Further, states should focus enforcement and regulatory efforts primarily on intermediaries, who primarily structure commercial surrogacy markets.

Dr Nigel Cantwell is a Geneva-based international consultant on child protection policies. He founded the NGO Defence for Children International in 1979 and coordinated the inputs of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child throughout the drafting of that treaty.  Following six years leading work on child protection issues at UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre, he has focused mainly on enhancing policy and practice for safeguarding the human rights of children affected by intercountry adoption and alternative care. In 2017, the University of Strathclyde awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his work.

Does the right to found a family imply a ‘right’ to have a child?

Basic human rights treaties – notably the UDHR and the two Covenants – were drafted well before donor conception and surrogacy became established practices, so the potential implications of these practices for the right to found a family were not examined. Like other fundamental freedoms under international law, the right to found a family was intended as a protection from arbitrary measures or prohibitions that would prevent individuals from doing so – a so-called “negative right”. The advent of donor conception and surrogacy in particular, however, led some to claim it is a “positive right” held by anyone with the desire to have a child, using whatever (legal) means may be available to realise that wish. Determining the correct interpretation requires, among other things, examining the point where rights and ethics overlap.

Marilyn Crawshaw, PhD, MA CQSW DipApplSocStud BSc(Soc) https://www.york.ac.uk/spsw/staff/marilyn-crawshaw/

Now an Honorary Fellow at University of York and chair of PROGAR https://bit.ly/4dBheN9  – the UK multi-agency and multi-disciplinary group whose focus is on the lifespan impact of donor conception and surrogacy – Marilyn has worked since the 1980s in the field of assisted conception.  This has been, variously, as a social worker, social work academic, Social and Ethical Inspector with the HFEA (the UK regulator) and policy adviser.  Her research has been with DC adults, recipient parents, donors and professionals.  For ten years, Marilyn was the national adviser to UK DonorLink – the government-funded DNA-based voluntary information exchange and contact register for adults genetically related through donor conception. Marilyn has close links with the Donor Conception Network (https://dcnetwork.org/), Donor Concneived UK, and the British Infertility Counselling Association (www.bica.net) and is in regular contact with parents, donor-conceived adults and donors.  She also sits on the Executive of York Human Rights City Network: York was the UK’s first Human Rights City.

Abstract for session on Monday 7th October at 15.30
Preparation pre-conception psycho-social issues

Preparing for parenthood & family life using surrogacy and/or donor conception or preparing to be a donor and/or surrogate has unique psychological aspects. At the same time, internalised socialising influences about the nature/nurture balance and norms about family structures can reinforce a medicalised and increasingly commercialised treatment/donation/surrogacy social context to create barriers to exploring their implications. This also applies to professionals, researchers and policy makers.
This paper considers which psycho-social approaches might be effective for improving preparation (for all parties), including by bringing lifespan needs (and beyond) of those yet-to-be conceived into the mix. It particularly considers why donors are relatively invisible in surrogacy arrangements, policy and research.

Abstract for session on Wednesday 8th October at 11.30
National post conception psycho-social support in the UK and elsewhere

The focus on medical and legal aspects of donor conception and surrogacy interventions continues to dominate policy and practice discussions across jurisdictions, sidelining lifespan and intergenerational aspects and obscuring/ shutting down debate about who holds any duty of care for later interventions, including when States hold relevant information.
Evidence is growing – not least from accounts of those thus conceived and DNA-related research – that a range of peer and professional services might be required at different life stages or to meet specific time-limited needs. The historical and present day uncovering of ‘fertility fraud’ and mass donors and the lack of global limits & regulation brings this into stark relief.

Mia Dambach – is a human rights advocate with 20 years’ experience of working on children’s rights, starting her career as a children’s lawyer in Australia. As the Executive Director she brings with her leadership, project management and research skills to ensure that children’s identity rights are better protected worldwide.  She has provided technical support, mostly on behalf on UNICEF, through evaluation missions in Cambodia, Denmark, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Ukraine and Viet Nam, legislative reviews and training in over 20 countries focusing on alternative care, adoption and surrogacy. She has contributed to reforms in international standards through this support as well as comparative research on illegal adoptions, search for origins, risks of financial contributions, kafalah and was an expert to the HCCH WG on illicit adoption practices and WG on parentage/surrogacy. She has successfully led multiple international inter-agency initiatives including three massive online courses that have reached over 50,000 participants. With a family background from Australia, the Philippines and Switzerland, she understands the importance of children having access to their origins.

Third party reproduction including through surrogacy and/or international arrangements, is increasingly used as a method of family formation around the world. Multiple human rights violations may arise for children in these situations – particularly, their right to an identity, including name, nationality, family relations and access to origins; the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health; and the right to not be sold. Decisions may be made by adults may at time be discriminatory based on the child’s disability and/or gender, and which are contrary to the child’s best interests as the paramount consideration. Children born in these situations have the same rights as all children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Regardless of individual State positions, all States have a duty to protect the human rights of all children without discrimination, including ensuring appropriate regulatory frameworks exist at the national level to protect and promote their rights. This presentation seeks to present promising practices across the world that seek to better respect the rights of children born through these biotechnological methods.

Since 2015 I have worked at the Donor Conception Network, a UK charity supporting people considering egg or/and sperm donation to build or grow their families or those who have created their families through third+ party reproduction.

My role is multifaceted: offering individuals and families resources and information to help guide their decision making and information sharing, coordinating volunteer activities and recruitment and managing the throughflow of academic research activity in the Network. I support the children and teen group activities at our conferences, as well as provide technical support and professional input for DC Network’s workshops and materials for intended parents and families.

Prior to working at DC Network, I worked as a research associate in a small academic team conducting research and evaluation in applied Psychology; this included studying attachment, childhood experiences of care and abuse and the implication of these in the context of residential care as well as youth vulnerability.

On a personal level, I am a mother through egg donation undertaken at a clinic in Spain, to one daughter who was born in 2011.

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Astrid Indekeu is a research fellow at the Centre for Sociological Research (CeSO, KU Leuven, Life Sciences and Society Lab), she is the chair of POINT, the professional organization of Belgian and Dutch fertility counsellors, member of the IICO-board (International Infertility Counseling Organisation) and is the founder of and practitioner in DONAE, [DOnorconceptie NAzorg en Expertisecentrum], a support and expertise center for families after donor conception)

Astrid has been more than 15 years active in the field of donor conception as researcher, clinical psychologist and policy advisor. As a clinical psychologist and researcher, she puts a strong emphasis on transferring research results to daily practice and policy regarding families formed by donor conception. Her research has focused on the experiences of (intending) parents, donor-conceived people, and donors, amongst others contact between donor-conceived people and donors, the number of offspring per donor, age limits in the law regarding access to information, and fertility fraude . She has been working/ co-operating with various international colleagues (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, United Kingdom, Finland, Japan, ….). Astrid has a close link with the Belgian consumer organization for parents by donor conception (Donorfamilies vzw) and the recently established organization for Belgian donors (Alote)

Abstract for session on Wednesday 8th October at 14.00 (100 words)
Bioethics policies and practices
Astrid Indekeu: DONAE, KU Leuven,
Direct-to-consumer-genetic testing has changed the practice of donor conception immensely: donor anonymity cannot be guaranteed anymore and questions are raised about who should be the gatekeeper of the donor’s information and about the legal age limits to access donor information, adult donor-conceived people find out by accident they are donor-conceived and a question is raised if there is a responsibility to the generation of parents that was advised non-disclosure to their child/ren, fertility fraud cases are discovered (a different donor being used, the doctor being the donor, large number of offspring per donor) and question are raised about how to handle these situations from the past in relation to the involved families, ,…. Situations we are confronted with in practice. How does or can bioethical policies support practice (or not)?

Abstract for session on Thursday 9th October at 9.00 (100 words)
Promising practices
Astrid Indekeu: DONAE, POINT, IICO
Over the years there have been some encouraging developments regarding the implementation of counseling during a fertility trajectory with a growing professionalization of the offered care (through guidelines, professional organisations, embedment in the law,…) and the development of donor-linking services. On the other hand, challenges remain more than present: regarding a lack of support throughout the different life-stages of a family formed by donor conception (so between ‘start of fertility path’ and ‘donor-linking’ stage), support for donor-conceived people, donors, an upcoming commercial model within health-care and the impact of fertility counseling, etc.

Philip D. Jaffé est professeur honoraire à l’Université de Genève. Il a cofondé son Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant et l’a dirigé de 2008 à 2019. En 2018, il est élu au Comité des droits de l’enfant des Nations Unies et il accomplit son deuxième mandat jusqu’en 2027. Psychologue clinicien et forensique, formé en Suisse et aux USA, il exerce encore comme psychothérapeute et expert aux tribunaux. Sa vision professionnelle a toujours été de servir la société civile comme scientifique praticien.

The right to identity in the CRC goes beyond legal perspectives, touching upon psychosocial aspects that go to the very heart of a child’s being, their development and well-being – their origins. Given the importance of preserving and accessing information about origins, the CRC Committee in it is exchanges with States parties regularly recommends to them to ensure that children born through third party reproduction can have access to this information. This session unpacks these different psychosocial elements that contribute to the child being able to fully enjoy their identity.

Conceived through gamete donation, which he has always known.

For nearly 20 years, he has been actively campaigning for recognition of the right of every person to know their origins.

With Audrey Kermalvezen-Fournis, he co-founded the ORIGINES association, which he chairs.

Author of the book ‘Né de spermatozoïde inconnu’ (Born from an unknown sperm) (foreword by Serge Tisseron), published by Presse de la Renaissance in 2008 and reissued by J’ai Lu in 2010.

Since 2006, he has been a spokesperson for people conceived by gamete donation.

In September 2017, he became the first French person to trace the donor who conceived him using a recreational DNA test.

Co-author of the book ‘Le Fils’ with journalist Charlotte Rotman, published by Éditions L’Iconoclaste in February 2021.

During our presentation, we will address the bioethical policies and practices related to the right to know one’s origins in the context of donor conception. We will share our personal experiences and highlight the needs of donor-conceived individuals, particularly regarding the limitations of anonymity. I was the first person in France to identify my donor through a DNA test, and Audrey was the first to bring a case before the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the retroactive imposition of anonymity. Our presentation will explore potential legislative and psychosocial improvements to better support those affected.

Audrey trained as a lawyer and specialised in bioethics law before discovering that she owed her conception to gamete donation, which she learned at the age of 29. She has been an active campaigner for the recognition of every person’s right to know their origins for some fifteen years. She co-founded the ORIGINES association with Arthur Kelmavezen-Fournis. Author of an essay-document ‘Mes origines : une affaire d’État’, under the name Audrey Kermalvezen, foreword by Professor Israël Nisand, published by Max Milo, 2014.

Audrey Kermalvezen was the first person conceived by gamete donation to take her case to the French courts in 2010, seeking access to her personal origins. After being rejected by the Council of State in 2015, she appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in 2016.

Audrey’s application was rejected by 4 votes to 3 in the Gauvin-Fournis v France judgment of 7 September 2023. Her application to refer the case back to the Grand Chamber was rejected.

In the Bioethics Act of 2 August 2021, the French legislature enshrined the right of persons born of gamete donation to know the identity of the donor, subject to a number of conditions.

During our presentation, we will address the bioethical policies and practices related to the right to know one’s origins in the context of donor conception. We will share our personal experiences and highlight the needs of donor-conceived individuals, particularly regarding the limitations of anonymity. I was the first person in France to identify my donor through a DNA test, and Audrey was the first to bring a case before the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the retroactive imposition of anonymity. Our presentation will explore potential legislative and psychosocial improvements to better support those affected.

Thomas Knoll-Biermann is Head of the Law on Parent and Child Matters Division, Federal Ministry of Justice of Germany. He is a trained lawyer and has been working for 6 years in a law firm, followed by almost 14 years in the German government. Since 2019 he has been holding the current position, having been in charge of diverse political reform projects, co-organized the subgroup considering a legalization of egg donation and altruistic surrogacy of the (German) Federal Government’s Committee of Experts (2023-2024), drafting laws to modernize the law of legal parenthood and open it for co-mothers, non-binary parents, tackle the competition between biologic and social fathers, bolster pathways for a child to know his or her origins and to combat abusing recognition of paternity to obtain citizenship or residence permits. These reforms remain substantial topics for the future. Starting in 2020, he joined the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Rights and Best Interests of the Child in Parental Separation and Care Proceedings (CJ/ENF-ISE) first as a member. From 2022 to 2024 he led the Committee to the adoption of two draft Recommendations (one on parental separation, the second on care proceedings), which are now to be considered by the political bodies of the Council of Europe. In November 2024, he was selected as a member of the new Committee of Experts on the Rights to Know One’s Origins (CJ-OR) of the Council of Europe and appointed as Chair of this Committee. The Committee has been entrusted to deliver a draft Recommendation on the matter by end of 2026, the first meeting of the Committee will take place in June 2025.

During the event I plan to give insights into the work of the Council of Europe on the matter of the right to know one’s origins, texts adopted in the past as well as about the current Committee of Experts, the tasks given and the progress made so far. I will show – with a particular regard to the legislative framework in Germany – how it works here and what has yet to be addressed. In addition, I would like to share and discuss experiences and insights from other European jurisdictions about their handling of the medically or non-medically assisted human reproduction and the right to know one’s origins.

My name is Hélène LOOS. I am a 34 years old lawyer, living in Strasbourg (France). I am not maried and I don’t have kids. I donated my eggs in September 2021.

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Florencia Luna (M.A.)(Ph.D.) directs the Program of Bioethics in FLACSO (Latin American School of Social Sciences) Argentina. She is researcher (Superior Researcher at CONICET (National Scientific and Technological Research Council). She is the PI of a Fogarty (FIC-US) Training Grant on research ethics (2016-2026).  She has been the President of the International Association of Bioethics (IAB) during 2003 to 2005. She has won the Guggenheim Foundation Fellow (2006) and has been awarded the Konnex Prize: Honor Diploma in Ethics in 2006. She has been appointed to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of Tropical Disease Research (TDR) at WHO (2011-2016). She was in the Steering Committee of Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) working on the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects (2002). Member or the Steering Committee of the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research (GFBR) (2005-2008 and 2012-2017). She is the author of several books  and has also published articles in national and international journals as well as in edited books.

This presentation will tackle various complexities from the ethics perspective in third party reproduction. I will present the different angles and problems assisted reproduction has faced and the evolution of the ethical problems since this practice begun. At the beginning the ethical analysis was centered on the moral permissibility of the practice itself, in the desire of adults, or on concerns regarding the manipulation of embryos. With the acceptance of different kinds of families (solo parents, same sex parents, etc.) and the internet, “new” issues regarding anonymity and children needs have arisen. I will show how ethics provides support for the human rights perspective and the needs children born through these circumstances

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Works as a Secretary (Lawyer) at the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). She is responsible for the post-Convention work in relation to the HCCH 1993 Convention on Child Protection and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, as well as the Parentage / Surrogacy project. Laura has also worked on children’s issues at the International Social Service (Switzerland); UNICEF (Chile); the European Commission (Belgium) and the Council of Europe (France). She received her law degree from the University of Valencia (Spain), a Master of Laws (LL.M) in International Law with a specialisation in child’s rights (University of London, UK), and a Diploma in Child Protection and Juvenile Justice (University Diego Portales, Chile).

The HCCH Working Group on Parentage / Surrocacy is exploring provisions for a new instrument on this topic, to further inform CGAP on policy considerations in relation to the scope and content of such instrument, including on the feasibility of reaching consensus. The Working Group is proceeding on the basis that the aim of any new instrument would be to provide greater predictability, certainty and continuity of legal parentage in international situations for all persons concerned, taking into account their human rights, including, for children, those enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and in particular their right that their best interests be a primary consideration in all actions taken concerning them.

Dr Sharon Pettle qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 1983, and subsequently completed her Systemic Family Therapy training in the UK and through a Clinical Fellowship at Brown University, USA. She spent most of her career in the National Health Service offering both in- and out-patient care within the wider context of child, adolescent and family mental health. She has been involved with families who have used donated gametes and/or surrogacy to create their families for over 25 years, and conducted research in this area. She has worked therapeutically with a wide range of families at different stages of family development, including after late revelations about the involvement of donors. She was instrumental in creating groups for young people growing up in families where this information is shared – the only ones run worldwide. She is considered a specialist in this area and has been instructed in cases in Courts in England & Wales where the use of donors and/or surrogates feature. She has provided training in this area to a range of professionals and in a number of countries.

This presentation intends to share examples of challenges faced by individuals and families across the lifespan. This will illustrate the need for skills and knowledge to be enhanced for many different professionals. It will also share details of complex situations which have evolved and which courts have needed to attempt to unravel.

Management activity as cofounder of the clinic fertisuisse in Olten and Basel. Passionate practitioner in fertisuisse  with particular interest in third-party treatment as oocyte and semen donation. As well as counselor for infertile couples  and in the Menopause Medicine. Different tasks as committee member of different society. The most important task is now writing clinical guidelines for the egg donation in Switzerland  and helping politician in the draft of the law for the legalisation of it.

Medical issues during pre-conception preparation are important for both sperm and egg donation, with a particular focus on egg donation. Women in this group are often older, which increases the risks associated with pregnancy. In contrast, sperm donation usually involves younger couples, where the future mother will carry her biological child. We prioritize the overall health of all couples, paying special attention to any gynecological issues the woman may have in order to prepare her medically for pregnancy.

For egg donation, regulations vary across countries regarding how recipients are prepared. We inform couples about obstetric risks, such as the increased likelihood of preeclampsia (twice the risk compared to spontaneous conception). As the recipient’s age increases, other risks may also arise. To prevent potential medical and ethical complications, we provide a list of reputable centers that offer egg donation and maintain standards similar to our own. Sperm donation is available in Switzerland.

Joëlle SCHICKEL-KÜNG is Deputy Head of the Private Law Division and Co-Head of the Private International Law Unit (PIL Unit), Federal Office of Justice of Switzerland. She is a trained lawyer and has been working for 15 years in the Swiss government on issues of cross-border child protection and family law. As Co-Head of the PIL Unit she is in charge of the child protection and family law area which includes legislative reforms as well as the Central Authority function under the Hague Conventions of 1993 (intercountry adoptions, which also includes questions around search of origins), 1996 (international child protection) and 1980 (international child abduction). She served as Chair of the HCCH Experts’ group on the Parentage/Surrogacy Project of the HCCH (2016-2022) and is currently a member of the HCCH Working Group on the same topic.

Day 2 – Legal, policies and practices (pre-conception, conception and post-conception) – National issues

Switzerland has a rather restrictive approach regarding ART (only sperm donation is permitted, and since 2001 anonymous donations are prohibited). There is a strict and explicit ban on surrogacy. Authorities must however deal with the question of parentage of children conceived and/or born abroad although the Swiss legal framework was not designed with these new types of family formation in mind.

Ann Skelton is a Professor of Law and holds the Chair on Children’s Rights in a Sustainable World at the University of Leiden, where she is programme director on the Advanced Masters in International Children’s Rights. She also holds the UNESCO Chair in Education Law at the University of Pretoria. She is a visiting Professor at Strathclyde, and teaches children’s rights in the Masters in International Human Rights Law at Oxford. She established the strategic litigation work at the Centre for Child Law, and appeared as counsel in numerous landmark cases in the South African Constitutional Court. She was a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2017 to 2025, and was Chairperson from May 2023 to Feb 2025.

The CRC Committee first mentioned ART in 1994 in its concluding observations to Norway, questioning whether donor anonymity was compatible with children’s right to identity.  After this promising start, the Committee’s attention to this issue drifted, but in recent years, there are signs of renewed attention. This presentation will take a tour through how the Committee has dealt with these issues in its concluding observations over the years, and determine from that what the Committee’s approach is to the child rights impacts of ART and surrogacy.

Prof. David Smolin is the Harwell G. Davis Professor of Constitutional Law, and Director, Center for Children, Law, and Ethics, at Cumberland Law School, Samford University. He has served as an independent expert for the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) on intercountry adoption issues, and has served as an external expert for the International Reference Centre for the rights of children deprived of their family, of the International Social Service (ISS/IRC), on issues related to children’s rights, adoption, and surrogacy, notably the Verona principles. He teaches in the areas of constitutional law, bioethics and law, family and juvenile law, children’s rights, and criminal law and procedure. Many of his publications are available for free download here. He has worked together with his wife, Desiree Smolin, on analysis and reform of adoption systems and practices, and sometimes contributes to the adoption blog she co-founded: Click here.

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I studied law and criminology at the Ghent University and was working at the Ghent Centre for the Rights of the Child of the late prof. Dr. E. Verhellen, when the CRC was unanimously agreed upon at the UN General Assembly. I have been working on children’s rights and human rights in general ever since, in several different settings. Most importantly in this area, I served the maximum of 2 terms as first Flemish Children’s Rights Commissioner and did advisory work for the Council of Europe (Child Friendly Justice Guidelines), for Unicef, for the European Union and others. I also worked as a lawyer at the Ghent bar, as a legal advisor in a public agency on family and child policies and as a project worker in an ECEC Expertise Centre.
Since april 2021 I am coordinating the Afstammingscentrum, established by the Flemish government to support people in search of their origins and strengthening their right to information on their genetic background and original family information. More info on www.afstammingscentrum.be

During the event I plan to illustrate the mission, context and daily work of the Afstammingscentrum, with a focus on donor conception. I will touch on aspects like:

• What the Afstammingscentrum does, or can do for for DC persons at first, but also for donors, and for parents of DC persons
• Describe our work in the context of donor anonimity
• Elements and methods of the casework, the searches, the psychosocial support, the mediation
• The questions we receive
• The area of advocacy for the rights and interest of DC persons or ways we can strengthen their own advocacy work.
• Some poignant cases

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Michael advises on cross-border family, child and succession law matters. He has considerable experience in disputes relating to children (custody, relocation, child abduction (Hague and non–Hague)), both within and outside of the Court forum. Michael is highly sought after to advise on co-parenting agreements and adoption matters.
Michael teaches private international law and international family law subject matters and is a consultant lawyer to the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

Day 2 – Legal, policies and practices (pre-conception, conception and post-conception) – National issues

Surrogacy and gamete donation raise a number of sensitive and deeply personal identity issues for parents, children, families and donors. With examples from civil law jurisdictions, this session will identify emerging practices as to identity preservation for surrogacy born and donor conceived children.