Mexico: CDHDF calls for recognition of intersex people’s rights

CDHDF
On 8 November, the Human Rights Commission of the Federal District (Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal, CDHDF) called for the authorities in Mexico City to defend the rights of intersex people.

The CDHDF warns of problems of rejection and social inequality faced by the intersex community, by social ignorance about this genetic condition, often confused with sexual orientation or preference.

This has caused people with an intersex condition to be subjected involuntarily from birth to procedures for the so-called normalization of genital appearance and ambiguous body, which in some cases ends or hinders their reproductive capacity, without taking into consideration their right to decide.

The CDHDF clarifies that intersex is not a pathology to fix, and anatomical modification by the health services in the first years of life represents a violation of human rights; models of care and procedures respond exclusively to medicalised perspectives, sometimes lacking a human rights approach, and do not consider the best interests of children and adolescents.

This is reflected in serious impairments to the exercise of the rights of people with intersex conditions, as they are victims of discriminatory practices in which their developing autonomy and condition are not considered, and the right to maximum health is violated.

Read the full text (Spanish)