extensive interest in the topic in various international fora and how it has not been possible to reach a consensus in spite of a dire felt need for protection of rights of children born from surrogacy. Keywords: Safeguards, Child rights, Surrogacy, International surrogacy arrangements, Laws 1. Introduction ‘Safeguards for the Protection of the Rights of Children Born from Surrogacy Arrangements’— The title itself indicates that these children’s rights need to be protected. Surrogacy and stages of embryo development are mentioned even in ancient Indian scriptures. Bhagavat Purana talks about an embryo getting transferred from Devaki’s womb to save the child from Kansa. However, the rights of children born through surrogacy during those times did not presumably have any threats as are experienced in the present times.The current scenario is very complex with difficulties in adoption procedures, cases of child trafficking and prostitution, establishment/ commercialisation of surrogacy procedures, the creeping in of illegal and unethical malpractices in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and the availability of surrogates from the poor strata of society. The need for focussing on the safeguards for the protection of the rights of children born from surrogacy arrangements and related issues has arisen due to the fact that the last quarter of the 20th century was witness to several major advances in reproductive medicine and technology, starting with the birth of the world’s first test tube baby, Louise Brown, resulting from the In-vitro fertilisation (IVF) on 25 July 1978 and the first Indian test tube baby, Kanupriya Agarwal, born on 3 October 1978. The number of children born through this method grew, based on these medical advances, as IVF soon became a routine procedure and widely accepted treatment for infertility, though methods and morals continue to be debated upon. Parallelly, and more so during the last two decades, India became one of the major global centres of IVF with reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity. Along the way, further research and development led to newer advancements with respect of ART based surrogacy and this, in turn, led to the boom in the availability and usage of surrogacy services in India. 2. The Concept of Surrogacy The rights of children born from surrogacy can be better appreciated after delineating on the concept of surrogacy, and what it entails. Surrogacy is a kind of ART involving a third person. It is an arrangement, where a woman (the surrogate) agrees to carry the baby through pregnancy, achieved through ART, with an intention to carry it to the 66 Journal of the National Human Rights Commission, Vol. 22, 2023