The Risk of Statelessness in Cross-Border Surrogacy

Development summary

Jaya x and Akshita Diskhit address the conflict over parentage and a child's nationality in cross-border surrogacy through the risk of statelessness. Divergent rules in India and other jurisdictions place parenthood, parentage and nationality requirements for children born through surrogacy in tension.

Adopting a doctrinal and socio-legal approach, the article considers Baby Manji Yamada v. Union of India, Jan Balaz v. Anand Municipality, and international frameworks including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Verona Principles. It proposes harmonised rules on parentage and nationality, emergency documentation procedures and child-centred measures to prevent children from being left stateless.