Protection of children’s rights has been one of the main priorities for the Georgian State; among them it is of utmost importance to protect the interests of the minors, who were born or will be born on the territory of Georgia as a result of extracorporeal fertilization (surrogacy), – Public Service Development Agency has released a statement.

As the statement notes, for the purposes of effective protection of children’s rights and prevention of human trafficking crimes, each child born through surrogacy will be timely registered only after the respective clinic will fully provide the documents prescribed by the legislation, of which the above mentioned clinic and its head were repeatedly informed both orally and in writing during the last few days.

“When talking about surrogacy it is important to take into consideration the fact that it is the duty of the State to take thorough care of the prevention of the transnational crime of trafficking of frozen embryos or children born through surrogacy.

In addition to children’s rights, the State also protects the interests of the third persons involved in the process of surrogacy (surrogate mothers, donors).

Based on all the above-mentioned priorities, the LEPL Public Service Development Agency (and not the Public Service Hall, as some persons state) strictly requires from the medical clinics to fully comply with the requirements of the legislation.

From 9 September through 13 September of this year, the Public Service Development Agency registered the birth of 26 children, born through surrogacy carried out by the foreign citizens, at 8 different clinics of Georgia. Those registrations were performed despite the fact that in each of those cases the clinics have violated certain simple rules in the field of surrogacy, established by the legislation. Based on the principle of protection of the best interests of the children who were already born, on 8 September 2019, the Minister of Justice of Georgia issued an order, according to which a transitional period was established and an agreement on surrogacy ‘concluded before implantation’, i.e. before the transfer of an embryo created as a result of fertilization into the body of a surrogate mother, was temporarily admitted as a surrogacy agreement ‘concluded before fertilization’.

It is unfortunate that even under simplified conditions one of the private clinics still refuses to provide very simple medical information (e.g., the embryo creation date, the embryo freezing date, etc.), thus refusing to make it possible for some of its clients to obtain a child birth registration document. Instead, the clinic and its head are openly trying to mislead their foreign clients to cover up their own shortcomings and are wasting time and their resources on protesting at the Tbilisi Public Service Hall. By doing so, they misguide their clients who claim to be the parents of children born through surrogacy.

The Public Service Development Agency reiterates that, for the purposes of effective protection of children’s rights and prevention of human trafficking crimes, each child born through surrogacy will be timely registered only after the respective clinic will fully provide the documents prescribed by the legislation, of which the above mentioned clinic and its head were repeatedly informed both orally and in writing during the last few days”, – reads the statement released by Public Service Development Agency.

Mariam Kukunashvili, head of the surrogacy center New Life, appeals the House of Justice with the request to issue birth registration documents to children born through surrogacy. She is at the House of Justice along with the foreign nationals, who have enjoyed the service of surrogacy in Georgia. Kukunashvili states that the citizens of various foreign countries are unable to take their children to their homeland, as they cannot obtain birth certificates. As she explains the reason is a new interpretation of the law.