“Today the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)” issued a “draft recommendation to the Committee of Ministers to draw up European guidelines to safeguard children’s rights in relation to surrogacy arrangements”. This statement from the press office of the Parliamentary Assembly was released at the end of the closed-door meeting of the above-mentioned Committee convened yesterday in Paris to discuss the draft resolution on surrogacy presented by the Belgian Senator Dr. Petra De Sutter. In the draft recommendation, which will be discussed at the next plenary session in October, the Committee of Ministers will have to “collaborate with the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH)” on issues surrounding the status of children, “including problems arising in relation to legal parentage resulting from international surrogacy agreements”, the statement reads. The goal is to ensure that the views of the Council of Europe are “heard and taken into account in any multilateral instrument that may result from the work of the HCCH”. The Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) had already taken a stand on the issue in a statement in which it expressed its concern and the hope that today’s meeting could “give a final word on this topic, stopping this whole procedure which raises serious concerns on several levels”.