Filiation and parenthood in Belgium
In the framework of the UniPar project, co-funded by the European Commission, we are organising a national seminar in Antwerp on 26 May 2025.
The national seminar will discuss national rules on filiation and parenthood in Belgium. Many issues are at stake: how do we align the law to developments such as artificial reproduction techniques and (cross-border) surrogacy? How does the law protect the rights of children? How does the law guarantee the right of every child to know their origins, in line with the Constitutional Court's judgment of 26 September 2024? How can the law protect all other involved persons, not only intending parents, but also surrogates and sperm and egg doors?
The topic is taken up in the Federal Government's Government Declaration of January 2025. Moreover, on 7 December 2022 the European Commission has launched a proposal for the cross-border recognition of parenthood in the EU. Belgian private international law would possibly also have to be amended. Our civil registers have to keep up with changing realities.
The seminar will be free of charge. It will also be streamed for interested persons who cannot come to Antwerp.
The seminar will take place in Dutch and French, and we will accommodate English as far as practicable. Please see:
> The registration form
> The programme (in Dutch and French):
Voorlopig programma / Programme préliminaire:
9.00 - Registratie / Registration
9.30 - Welkom / Accueil Thalia Kruger, Universiteit Antwerpen
9.40 – Le droit de l'UE: la citoyenneté de l'Union, libre circulation
Johan Meeusen, Universiteit Antwerpen
10.10 - Het Belgische regeerakkoord, het Grondwettelijk Hof en de plannen met afstamming / Accord du gouvernement belge, la Cour Constitutionelle et les projets concernant la filiation
Panel met Tine Van Hof, Universiteit Antwerpen & TBC
11.10 Pauze /Pause
11.30 Droit international privé /Internationaal privaatrecht
Proposition de la Commission européenne concernant la filiation
Patrick Wautelet, ULiège
Huidig Belgisch IPR
Thalia Kruger, Universiteit Antwerpen
12.30 - Middagpauze / Pause de midi
13.30 Aktes en registers: wat is er nodig in Belgische en internationale context?
Steve Heylen, Burgerzaken Vlaanderen
14.00 – Hoe de fouten van interlandelijke adoptie vermijden? Comment éviter de refaire les erreurs de l'adoption internationale?
Ankie Vandekerckhove, Coördinator Afstammingscentrum
15.00 Pauze / Pause
15.20 - Evenwicht tussen de Rechten van alle betrokkenen (kinderen, vrouwen,… / Equilibre entre les droits de toutes les parties (enfants, femmes,…)
Panel met Leontine Bruijnen, Universiteit Antwerpen & Elise Goossens, Universiteit Antwerpen, Marie Noël, Juriste auprès Délégué général aux droits de l’enfant & TBC
16.30 Conclusies / Conclusions
17.00 einde / fin
* This activity is funded by the Justice Program of the European Commission under the Grant Agreement no. 101137859. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The part of the project carried out by Jagiellonian University (Poland) is co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within the framework of the program titled Co-Financed International Projects.