Council of Europe rejected a controversial recommendation on surrogacy with 83 votes against, 77 for, 7 absentions. (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe website)

The recommendation to the Committee of Ministers was intended to draw up “European guidelines to safeguard children’s rights in relation to surrogacy arrangements“, raised polemics in the past days, as reported by The European Post.

The case of conflict of interests of the rapporteur and the Belgian senator De Sutter, was also under the policymakers’ and NGO’s magnifying glass.

Rapporteur Petra De Sutter hoped before the vote that opponents wouldn’t be able to totally ban surrogacy, as expressed on her Facebook page.

In Italy fifty Italian lesbian and activist women also signed a document against surrogacy. It is one of the first document proposed by the LGBT community “to refuse the commercialisation of women’s body.”  The promoters say the document should not be considered as prohibitionist, but against the possibility of buying and selling human beings.

“International law protects the right to family life, which means children are entitled to know their parents. Most cases of surrogacy render this impossible. The Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights consider themselves to be champions of human rights. If they are serious about the rights of women and children, they will not stop until they have achieved a complete ban on this problematic practice,” said Laurence Wilkinson, Legal Counsel for ADF International in Strasbourg.