🇩🇪 Deutsche Version: Recht auf Kenntnis der genetischen Herkunft
The right to knowledge of one’s genetic origin is the right of every person to know their genetic descent.
It is anchored in Art. 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (“The child […] shall have, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents”) and, complementarily, in Art. 8 CRC (the right to preservation of identity, including family relations), as well as in a growing number of national regulations:
- United Kingdom, 1 April 2005: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Disclosure of Donor Information) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/1511) — abolition of the anonymity of sperm donors.
- Netherlands, 1 June 2004: Wet donorgegevens kunstmatige bevruchting (Wdkb) of 25 April 2002 — central donor register, identity disclosure from the age of 16.
- Germany: Samenspenderregistergesetz (SaRegG) of 17 July 2017, in force since 1 July 2018; right to information from the age of 16.
- further countries are following.
Ontological classification
- is subclass of: Right
- is grounded in: personhood
Personal-ontological classification
The right to knowledge of one’s origin is not a positive right subsequently conferred, but is grounded in personhood itself: a person is not brought into the world without identity but within a concrete genetic, bodily, and social lineage. This lineage is part of their uniqueness — not accidental, but essential.
Violation by reproductive-medical practices
The right is violated by:
- anonymous gamete donation (egg donation, sperm donation)
- anonymous embryo donation
- surrogacy arrangements in which genetic, gestational, and social parenthood are decoupled
- concealment of origin through international reproductive-tourism constructions
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology.
Further sources:
- United Nations (1989): Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989, Art. 7 and Art. 8.
- German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG), decision of 31 January 1989, 1 BvL 17/87, BVerfGE 79, 256 (“right to knowledge of one’s own descent” as part of the general right of personality).
- German Federal Court of Justice (BGH), judgment of 28 January 2015, XII ZR 201/13 (a child’s claim to information against the treating physician in cases of heterologous insemination).
- European Court of Human Rights: Odièvre v. France (2003), application no. 42326/98 (the right to knowledge of one’s origin in tension with maternal anonymity).
- Samenspenderregistergesetz (SaRegG) of 17 July 2017.
- HFEA (Disclosure of Donor Information) Regulations 2004, SI 2004/1511.
- Wet donorgegevens kunstmatige bevruchting (Wdkb) of 25 April 2002 (Netherlands), in force since 1 June 2004.
- Blyth, E. & Frith, L. (2009): Donor-conceived people’s access to genetic and biographical history: an analysis of provisions in different jurisdictions permitting disclosure of donor identity. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 23(2): 174—191.