53 States call for the protection of the human rights of intersex people at the UN
53 States have asked the UN Human Rights Council that urgently protect the people intersex in their autonomy and right to health. These states from all regions of the world also highlighted the 'need for concrete measures to combat harmful practices, violence and discrimination based on sexual characteristics«.
The intersex people they are born with variations in sexual characteristics (such as genitalia, reproductive organs, hormonal and / or chromosomal patterns) that are more diverse than stereotypical definitions of male or female bodies. Until the 1,7% of the world's population born with these traits; however, because their bodies are viewed as different, intersex children and adults are often stigmatized and subjected to harmful practices, even in medical settings, and discriminated against.
"Intersex people continue to face discrimination in many areas of life", He said Austria today at Human Rights Council on behalf of all these States, "particularly in education, health, employment, social security, sports, places of detention and access to public services«.
"It is necessary to take measures to protect the autonomy of intersex children and adults and their rights to health and physical and mental integrity, so that they live free from violence and harmful practices”. These words mark another milestone for him intersex movement of human rights.
Key dates
En 2019, UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling for an end to discrimination against women and girls in sports, including women born with variations in sexual characteristics: this was the first HRC resolution to specifically include the rights of women. intersex people.
Then in October 2020, 37 states took the initiative and addressed intersex human rights violations, for the first time at the UN Human Rights Council. On julio de 2021, in the same forum, the Group of African States stated that "segregating women on the basis of intersex variations has the same effect as apartheid”And called for the end of this practice in the field of sports.
Civil society from around the world also spoke today at the UN Human Rights Council: 76 organizations welcomed recent initiatives by states, but urged to do more.
"Discrimination, stigmatization, violence, harmful practices in medical settings, and various other human rights violations continue to occur around the world for people born with diverse sexual characteristics. Actions have to follow those statements”His statement read.
«States must take strong and urgent measures to fulfill their obligation to ensure that intersex people live free from all forms of violence and harmful practices, including in medical settings. Irreversible medical interventions (such as genital surgeries, hormonal interventions and planned medical procedures to modify the sexual characteristics of infants and children without their full, prior and informed consent) remain the rule, not the exception, in most Member States of the ONU«.
"Unless immediate action is taken, grave human rights violations against intersex people will prevail and continue. This Council must send a strong message that such practices violate international human rights standards and should not be tolerated.".
