Intersex Day

The UN has published a joint statement specifically on intersex human rights for the first time. Published to mark Intersex Awareness Day, the statement has been signed by UN Treaty Bodies, Special Rapporteurs and experts, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

[Signatories] urge Governments to prohibit harmful medical practices on intersex children, including unnecessary surgery and treatment without their informed consent, and sterilization…

In countries around the world, intersex infants, children and adolescents are subjected to medically unnecessary surgeries, hormonal treatments and other procedures in an attempt to forcibly change their appearance to be in line with societal expectations about female and male bodies. When, as is frequently the case, these procedures are performed without the full, free and informed consent of the person concerned, they amount to violations of fundamental human rights…

Intersex children and adults should be the only ones who decide whether they wish to modify the appearance of their own bodies … They should have access to support as well as to medical services that respond to their specific health needs and that are based on non-discrimination, informed consent and respect for their fundamental rights.

States should investigate human rights violations against intersex people, hold those found guilty of perpetrating such violations accountable and provide intersex people subjected to abuse with redress and compensation.

“States must, as a matter of urgency, prohibit medically unnecessary surgery and procedures on intersex children.”

“Intersex children and adults should be the only ones who decide whether they wish to modify the appearance of their own bodies – in the case of children, when they are old or mature enough to make an informed decision for themselves.”