Image: iStockPhoto z_wei
Regional declarations
The Malta Declaration broadly describes what the international intersex community wants to achieve. Regional intersex organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, and Oceania have added their own statements.
Photo: The statement of the Third International Intersex Forum (the signing of the Declaration of Malta), in Valletta, Malta, in 2013. The event was supported by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe and brought together 34 people representing 30 organizations from multiple regions of the world.
Five Regions
International intersex organizations can be roughly divided into six regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America & the Caribbean, North America, and Oceania. Except for North America, a supplement to the Malta Declaration is available for each region. These regional declarations address the specific circumstances of the regions and affirms the mandate of regional intersex human rights defenders.
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Chad, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Republic of China (Taiwan), People’s Republic of China, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Yemen, Jordan, Kuwait, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, East Timor, Palestine, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo (according to UNSCR 1244/99), Croatia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Republic of North Macedonia, Norway, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Tajikistan, Czech Republic, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom, Belarus, Sweden, Switzerland
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentinië, Bahama’s, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela
Canada, United States of America
Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Aotearoa New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
Africa
Public Statement by the African Intersex Movement
26 November 2017
Between the 24th and 26th November 2017, the First African Intersex Meeting took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. This meeting brought together 22 intersex people representing intersex organisations from 7 African countries.
Preamble
We recall the principles of the Public Statement by the Third International Intersex Forum (known as the Malta Declaration) and extend the demands aiming to end discrimination against intersex people in Africa, to ensure the right of bodily integrity, physical autonomy and self-determination.
We affirm that intersex people are real, and we exist in all countries of Africa. As intersex people in Africa, we live in a society that perpetuates violence and killings of intersex people by cultural, religious, traditional and medical beliefs and practices. Therefore, we must be supported to be the drivers of social, political and legislative changes that concern us.
Demands
- To put an end to infanticide and killings of intersex people led by traditional and religious beliefs.
- To put an end to mutilating and ‘normalising’ practices such as genital surgeries, psychological and other medical treatments through legislative and other means (such as education, policy and treatment protocol change). Intersex people must be empowered to make their own decisions affecting their own bodily integrity, physical autonomy and self-determination.
- To include intersex education in antenatal counselling and support.
- To put an end to non-consensual sterilisation of intersex people.
- To depathologise variations in sex characteristics in medical practices, guidelines, protocols and classifications, such as the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases.
- To ensure that sex or gender classifications are amendable through a simple administrative procedure at the request of the individuals concerned. All adults and capable minors should be able to choose between female (F), male (M), intersex or multiple options. In the future, sex or gender should not be a category on birth certificates or identification documents for anybody.
- To raise awareness around intersex issues and the rights of intersex people in communities and society at large.
- To create and facilitate supportive, safe and celebratory environments for intersex people, their families and surroundings.
- To ensure that intersex people have the right to full information and access to their own medical records and history.
- To ensure that all professionals and healthcare providers that have a specific role to play in intersex people’s well-being are adequately trained to provide quality services.
- To acknowledge the suffering and injustice caused to intersex people
- To build intersex anti-discrimination legislation in addition to other grounds, and to ensure protection against intersectional discrimination.
- To ensure the provision of all human rights and citizenship rights to intersex people, including the right to marry and form a family.
- To ensure that intersex people are able to participate in competitive sport, at all levels, in accordance with their legal sex. Intersex athletes who have been humiliated or stripped of their titles should receive reparation and reinstatement.
- To recognise that medicalization and stigmatisation of intersex people result in significant trauma and mental health concerns.
- In view of ensuring the bodily integrity and well-being of intersex people, autonomous non-pathologising psycho-social and peer support be available to intersex people throughout their life (as self-required), as well as to parents and/or care providers.
In view of the above the African Intersex Movement calls on:
- National governments to address the concerns raised by the African Intersex Movement and draw adequate solutions in direct collaboration with intersex representatives and organisations.
- Traditional and religious leaders to stop harmful cultural practices, such as tradition-led mutilations and killings of intersex people.
- National, regional and international human rights institutions to take on board, and provide visibility to intersex issues in their work.
- Community leaders to engage in intersex education to dispel misconceptions and stigma around intersex people.
- Human rights organisations to contribute to build bridges with intersex organisations and build a basis for mutual support and meaningful engagement. This should be done in a spirit of collaboration and no-one should instrumentalise intersex issues as a means for other ends.
- Funders to engage with intersex organisations and support them in the struggle for visibility, increase their capacity, the building of knowledge and the affirmation of their human rights.
Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand
This is a joint consensus statement by Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex organizations and independent advocates, in March 2017. It sets out the priorities and calls by the intersex human rights movement in our countries, under six headings: a preamble, human rights and legal reform; health and wellbeing; peer support; allies; and education, awareness and employment.
This is a joint consensus statement by Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex organisations and independent advocates, in March 2017. It sets out the priorities and calls by the intersex human rights movement in our countries, under six headings: a preamble, human rights and legal reform; health and wellbeing; peer support; allies; and education, awareness and employment.
Darlington Statement: Joint consensus statement from the intersex community retreat in Darlington, March 2017.
Joint statement by Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex community organisations and independent advocates, including the Androgen Insensitivity Support Syndrome Support Group Australia (AISSGA), Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand (ITANZ), Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA, formerly OIIAU), Eve Black, Kylie Bond (AISSGA), Tony Briffa (OIIAU/AISSGA), Morgan Carpenter (IHRA/Intersex Day Project), Candice Cody (IHRA), Alex David (IHRA), Betsy Driver (Bodies Like Ours), Carolyn Hannaford (AISSGA), Eileen Harlow, Bonnie Hart (AISSGA), Phoebe Hart (AISSGA), Delia Leckey (ITANZ), Steph Lum (IHRA), Mani Bruce Mitchell (ITANZ), Elise Nyhuis (AISSGA), Bronwyn O’Callaghan, Sandra Perrin (AISSGA), Cody Smith (Tranz Australia), Trace Williams (AISSGA), Imogen Yang (Bladder Exstrophy Epispadias Cloacal Exstrophy Hypospadias Australian Community – BEECHAC), Georgie Yovanovic.
Preamble
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- Intersex people are born with physical or biological sex characteristics (such as sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, hormonal patterns and/or chromosomal patterns) that are more diverse than stereotypical definitions for male or female bodies. For some people these traits are apparent prenatally or at birth, while for others they emerge later in life, often at puberty (see UN definition1Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights et al, Intersex Awareness Day – Wednesday 26 October. End violence and harmful medical practices on intersex children and adults, UN and regional experts urge.). We recognise our diverse histories and use the word intersex inclusively, and acknowledging our right to self-determination.
- We observe that, despite the best efforts of intersex human rights defenders, discrimination, stigmatisation and human rights violations, including harmful practices in medical settings, continue to occur in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand.
- We observe the 2013 Senate Community Affairs References Committee report, Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia, and the 2016 Family Court of Australia case, Re Carla (Medical procedure). We observe the Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of New Zealand by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2016.2United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of New Zealand.
- We recognise the international obligations of our countries, having signed the Convention against Torture, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- We note that intersex peer support remains largely unfunded, advocacy funding remains precarious and limited, and intersex-led organisations rely on volunteers to address the many gaps in services left by other, well-resourced health, social services and human rights institutions.
- We acknowledge the kind support for this event from the National LGBTI Health Alliance, Twenty10, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and an anonymous donor.
- Recognising these issues, this gathering of Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex community organisations and individuals in March 2017, meeting on Gadigal Land in Darlington, Australia, acknowledges and respects the work of support organisations and human rights advocates over past years and acknowledges –
We Acknowledge
- The Malta Declaration of the Third International Intersex Forum in 2013.
- That intersex people exist in all cultures and societies, throughout history, and that the existence of intersex people is worthy of celebration.
- The diversity of our sex characteristics and bodies, our identities, sexes, genders, and lived experiences. We also acknowledge intersectionalities with other populations, including same-sex attracted people, trans and gender diverse people, people with disabilities, women, men, and Indigenous – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Tangata Whenua – and racialised, migrant and refugee populations.
- That the word ‘intersex’, and the intersex human rights movement, belong equally to all people born with variations of sex characteristics, irrespective of our gender identities, genders, legal sex classifications and sexual orientations.
- Our rights to bodily integrity, physical autonomy and self determination.
- Our opposition to pathologising terminology such as “disorders of sex development”, not only because such labels are inherently disordering, but also because this promotes the belief that intersex characteristics need to be “fixed”.
Human rights and legal reform
- We call for the immediate prohibition as a criminal act of deferrable medical interventions, including surgical and hormonal interventions, that alter the sex characteristics of infants and children without personal consent. We call for freely-given and fully informed consent by individuals, with individuals and families having mandatory independent access to funded counselling and peer support.
- Regarding sex/gender classifications, sex and gender binaries are upheld by structural violence. Additionally, attempts to classify intersex people as a third sex/gender do not respect our diversity or right to self determination. These can inflict wide-ranging harm regardless of whether an intersex person identifies with binary legal sex assigned at birth or not.
Undue emphasis on how to classify intersex people rather than how we are treated is also a form of structural violence. The larger goal is not to seek new classifications but to end legal classification systems and the hierarchies that lie behind them. Therefore:- As with race or religion, sex/gender should not be a legal category on birth certificates or identification documents for anybody.
- While sex/gender classifications remain legally required, sex/gender assignments must be regarded as provisional. Given existing social conditions, we do not support the imposition of a third sex classification when births are initially registered.
- Recognising that any child may grow up to identify with a different sex/gender, and that the decision about the sex of rearing of an intersex child may have been incorrect, sex/gender classifications must be legally correctable through a simple administrative procedure at the request of the individual concerned.
- Individuals able to consent should be able to choose between female (F), male (M), non-binary, alternative gender markers, or multiple options.
- We call for effective legislative protection from discrimination and harmful practices on grounds of sex characteristics.
- We call on governments and institutions to acknowledge and apologise for the treatment of people born with variations of sex characteristics, and provide redress and reparation for people born with variations of sex characteristics who have experienced involuntary or coercive medical interventions. There must be no time limit on access to redress and reparation.
- We call for an end to genetic discrimination, including in insurance and employment.
- We call for all adults to have the right to marry and form a family irrespective of their sex characteristics.
- We note the difficulty that many intersex people have when travelling, including experiences of discrimination and harassment due to their bodily diversity, through the requirements of gendered documents, gendered screening and restrictions on travel with pharmaceutical prescription documents. We call on our governments to work with states, countries and international regulators to resolve these issues.
- We call for meaningful participation by, and consultation with, intersex people and community organisations in all issues and policies affecting us.
Health and wellbeing
- We acknowledge the long-term physical and psychological implications of harmful and continuing medical practices, and limited access to support and peers.
- Current forms of oversight of medical interventions affecting people born with variations of sex characteristics have proven to be inadequate.
- We note a lack of transparency about diverse standards of care and practices across Australia and New Zealand for all age groups.
- We note that the Family Court system in Australia has failed to adequately consider the human rights and autonomy of children born with variations of sex characteristics, and the repercussions of medical interventions on individuals and their families. The role of the Family Court is itself unclear. Distinctions between “therapeutic” and “non-therapeutic” interventions have failed our population.
- We call for the implementation of advisory bodies to develop appropriate human rights-based, lifetime, intersex standards of care with full and meaningful participation by intersex community representatives and human rights institutions.
- We call on the Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group and other medical/health bodies to stand alongside intersex-led community organisations to develop human rights-based lifetime standards of care.
- We recognise that intersex people have health and medical needs, sometimes related to having an intersex variation, and sometimes not. We recognise that, for people with an intersex variation, misconceptions and associated stigma can act as barriers to treatment. Current practices are often based on the needs of other populations.
- We recognise access limitations in rural, regional and remote settings.
- We call for resourced access to necessary and appropriate health, medical and allied services and treatment, including surgeries and hormone treatment, psychosocial, psychosexual and psychological support, and including reparative treatments. Standards of care must support reparative treatments, and must not require conformity with stereotypical and clinical norms for female or male bodies, women and men, nor impose inappropriate psychiatric eligibility assessments.
- We call for the provision of alternative, independent, effective human rights-based oversight mechanism(s) to determine individual cases involving persons born with intersex variations who are unable to consent to treatment, bringing together human rights experts, clinicians and intersex-led community organisations. The pros and cons for and against medical treatment must be properly ventilated and considered, including the lifetime health, legal, ethical, sexual and human rights implications.
- Multi-disciplinary teams must operate in line with transparent, human rights-based standards of care for the treatment of intersex people and bodies. Multi-disciplinary teams in hospitals must include human rights specialists, child advocates, and independent intersex community representatives.
- Some people need pap smears, some people need prostate examinations or mammograms, and some people need a combination of these. National screening programs and computerised systems must recognise the needs of people born with intersex variations.
- We call for an end to the use of IVF and other forms of genetic selection to de-select variations of sex characteristics.
- We call for access to reproductive services and fertility counselling for all intersex people, with protection of our reproductive autonomy, regardless of whether or not our capacity for fertility is considered to be in line with our legal sex.
- Intersex-led organisations must be resourced to develop patient rights and human rights toolkits for intersex people and our families to improve access to healthcare, and ensure enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
- Children with intersex variations require clear, age-appropriate disclosure of their intersex variations, and affirmative support, including peer support.
- We call for regular public disclosure of accurate summary data on all medical interventions to modify the sex characteristics of children, and disclosure of historical data.
- We call for more research, including clinical, sociological and psychological research, led by community input. Clinical research, including longitudinal research, requires true, non-medicalised controls.
- We call for improved and ongoing education of health, welfare and allied professionals in issues relating to intersex bodies, including human rights issues.
- Children with intersex variations should never be subjected to medical photography and display.
- We call for respect for the privacy, integrity, and security of our medical records.
- Recognising the difficulty that some intersex people have in accessing childhood medical records, we call for full access to medical records. Paediatric hospital records should be kept indefinitely. The medical records of people with whole-of-life medical issues should also be kept indefinitely.
- We call for access to sport at all levels of competition by all intersex persons, including for all intersex women to be permitted to compete as women, without restrictions or discriminatory medical investigations.
- Hormone treatment is required for a lifetime after sterilisation or in cases where gonads do not produce adequate hormones. However, people with intersex variations face unnecessary costs and challenges in accessing and managing appropriate hormone treatment. These include access to sex hormones, the unfair and undisclosed cost of treatment required as a consequence of unwanted medical interventions, accessing testosterone and estrogen at the same time, changing from one sex hormone to the other, accessing screening, and travel restrictions, including travelling with medication and physical screening. We call for national and clinical standards to address these issues.
- We call for the implementation of adequate clinical transition pathways from paediatric to adult services.
- We call for equitable access to social and welfare services for people with intersex variations. The needs of people with intersex variations in aged care, home care, state care, and disability services require further investigation, with full and meaningful participation by intersex-led organisations.
Peer support
- We recognise the trauma and mental health concerns caused by the unnecessary medicalisation of intersex people, as well as stigmatisation of intersex characteristics that has resulted in a legacy of isolation, secrecy and shame.
- We recognise the fundamental importance and benefits of affirmative peer support for people born with variations of sex characteristics.
- Our peer support organisations and other peer communities need resourcing and support to build communities and networks inclusive of all intersex people. No intersex person or parent of an intersex child should feel they are alone, irrespective of their bodily variation or the language they use.
- We recognise the needs and lived experience of youth, and of people coming from varied cultural and faith backgrounds. We recognise these experiences as valid and legitimate.
- We recognise the fundamental importance and benefits of peer support for parents, caregivers, and families of people with variations of sex characteristics. We recognise the importance and benefits of peer support for friends, partners, and others who support intersex people in their day-to-day lives.
- Peer support must be integrated into human rights-based multi-disciplinary medical approaches, teams and services.
- We call for public, governmental, and philanthropic support for funded, affirmative peer support.
- We acknowledge that intersex people are the experts on our own lives and lived experience. Intersex people are experts in understanding the long term effects of medicalisation and medical interventions.
Allies
- Intersex is distinct from other issues. We call on allies to actively acknowledge our distinctiveness and the diversity within our community, to support our human rights claims and respect the intersex human rights movement, without tokenism, or instrumentalising, or co-opting intersex issues as a means for other ends. “Nothing about us without us.”
- We encourage all organisations and bodies that support the intersex movement to recognise this Darlington statement.
- We call for intersex people, and the intersex human rights movement, to be allies to the LGBTQ, disability, Indigenous, anti-racist, and women’s movements.
- We call on intersex people to recognise our own diversity, and call for intra-community dialogue and mutual support.
Education, awareness and employment
- We acknowledge that stigma is often the result of misconceptions about intersex which is compounded by a lack of education and awareness.
- We recognise that the stigmatisation and pathologisation of people born with variations of sex characteristics hinders self-acceptance, access to community, help-seeking, and accessing of services including healthcare.
- We acknowledge the impacts of stigma, trauma and unwanted medical interventions on access to education and on employment, and consequences that include high rates of early school leaving, poverty, self-harm and suicidality.
- We call for the inclusion of accurate and affirmative material on bodily diversity, including intersex variations, in school curricula, including in health and sex education.
- We call on education and awareness providers to develop content with intersex-led organisations, and promote delivery by intersex people.
- We call on employer groups, governments, institutions and trade unions to develop affirmative policies and practices to support employees with intersex variations.
- We call for policies in educational institutions and employment to recognise that some people born with intersex variations may benefit from accommodations and reasonable adjustments, including special needs requirements, workplace adjustments, job access assistance, and provisions for medical leave.
- We acknowledge the vital importance of positive stories and role models and the existence of some positive media coverage of intersex people. We acknowledge that much media work unfortunately perpetuates the stigmatisation of intersex people and bodies. We call on the media to work with intersex-led organisations to improve their understanding of intersex people and our human rights issues.
- We call for an end to the stigmatisation and unnecessary pathologisation of intersex bodies.
– ends –
Europe
On the 30th – 31st of March 2017 in Vienna, Austria the first OII Europe community event took place. During the community event 28 intersex people from 16 Council of Europe member states, some activists and some not, came together to share their experiences, and their varied objectives and strategies for the full implementation of human rights, bodily integrity, self determination and societal acceptance of intersex people within Europe.
We affirm that intersex people are real, and we exist in all regions and all countries around the world.
We reaffirm the Malta Declaration and its demands, formulated at the 3rd International Intersex Forum (2013), as well as the objectives formulated by the 1st European Intersex Meeting in the Riga Statement (2014).
We also stress the fact, that until this day more than 50 times UN bodies, regional and national human rights bodies have called on governments, policy makers and stakeholders to put an end to human rights violations faced by intersex people – including taking the necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to guarantee respect for the physical integrity and autonomy of intersex persons and to ensure that no one is subjected during infancy or childhood to non-urgent medical or surgical procedures intended to decide the sex of the child.
Ensuring the right of intersex people of bodily integrity, physical autonomy and self-determination must be a priority in all action taken. Intersex people must be supported to be the drivers of social, political and legislative changes that concern them.
We therefore call on governments to:
- Recognise intersex people as a community that has specific and vital needs and that their human rights need protection.
To this aim governments should take decisive action to:
- Install legislative protections that ban medical interventions on children with variations of sex characteristics, on social, psychosocial, cultural or cosmetic grounds. A ban on Intersex genital mutilation is necessary as IGM is equatable with female genital mutilation that takes place within hospital settings. This may include installing legislative measures that penalise medical professionals that commit or assist in IGM.
- Ensure that medical practitioners or other professionals do not conduct any treatment to the purpose of modifying sex characteristics which can be deferred until the person to be treated can provide full, free and informed consent. Medical and psychological treatment that is performed without the intersex person’s free, personal and fully informed consent, unless life-saving, should be made unlawful. Informed consent requires being informed of different options, including, but not limited to, medical, sociological and human rights based information. Peer-counselling should be mandatorily included in the decision process.
- Ensure that intersex people are protected from discrimination. To this aim governments should install constitutional protection, anti-discrimination and hate crime and hate speech legislation on the grounds of sex characteristics. If adding a new ground is not an option “sex characteristics” should be included explicitly in the ground of “sex”. Intersex people must benefit from the same rights and protections given to other citizens.
- Provide intersex people who endured medically unnecessary or degrading treatment with reparations.
In the field of education, we call on governments, universities and schools to take action to:
- Include intersex realities as a mandatory part of school curriculums, especially in biology and sex education.
- Inform professionals that play a role in intersex people’s lives, including but not limited to future physicians, surgeons, midwives, nurses, healthcare assistants, teachers and administrative officers about the existence of people with variations of sex characteristics and intersex realities. All training should be provided from a depathologizing and human rights perspective.
- Install intersex inclusive anti-bullying policies in schools.
Schools should take into account that gendered activities may be difficult and exclusionary for some intersex youth.
In the field of healthcare we call on governments, doctors associations, health insurances and other decision and policy makers working in the area of healthcare, to
- Ensure intersex people’s full access to medical records.
- Educate all healthcare professionals and providers about respectful behaviour towards intersex people and ensuring their privacy.
- Cover all health-related needs of intersex people, including those that were created by previous medical and psychological interventions.
In regards to support for intersex people and their families, we call on governments to
- Ensure that peer counselling, which approaches intersex issues in a depathologizing and human rights affirming manner, led by intersex adults is easily available for parents, families, intersex children and intersex adults.
- Ensure that professional counselling services that approach intersex issues in a depathologizing and human rights affirming manner are easily available for parents, families, intersex children and intersex adults.
In the field of media, we call on all professionals working in this field as well as media ethics bodies to
- Increase positive representation in all fields of media, whether that be in films, tv shows, books, magazine articles and other areas.
- Discuss intersex issues without bias and without reproducing prejudices, stereotypes or assumptions.
- Ensure that people with variations of sex characteristics and intersex issues are not exoticised or “othered” by any means. Press councils and other media related ethic bodies should take action to ensure that intersex people are not discriminated against in the media and that their human rights are respected.
In regards to gender markers and gendered facilities we call on governments to
- Install an easy administrative process to facilitate gender/sex marker change on the basis of self-determination and self-declaration. A neutral marker should be made available.
- Make non-gendered facilities available for all people.
- Not permit educational institutions and businesses to require gendered dress codes.While sex and gender are two distinct facets of a person, the gender binary is harmful, especially for intersex people.
Allies should be aware that
- They must not instrumentalise intersex realities for their own purposes.
- Intersex activists need their support.
- They should under no circumstances exoticise intersex people, use intersex people in a tokenistic way or appropriate intersex issues or intersex funding.
- They must avoid exclusionary or pathologizing language.
- Safe spaces for intersex people need to be created.
- They must learn about intersex issues from intersex people, without pressuring intersex people to provide input unless they themselves want to. Seek out local or regional intersex organisations and the resources that they provide.
- They must promote intersex rights as human rights.
- Allyship manifests itself in actions, not identities, i.e., Identifying as an ally is not enough to be an ally, you must act like one.
Nothing about us – without us!
Latin America & Caribbean
Statement of the first Latin American and Caribbean conference of intersex people, 2018, in San José, Costa Rica.
Las personas Intersex y con variaciones congénitas de las características sexuales, reunidas entre el 1º y el 3 de marzo del 2018, en San José de Costa Rica en la primera Conferencia Regional Latinoamericana de Personas Intersex celebramos en este primer encuentro, la pluralidad de nuestros cuerpos y la diversidad de nuestras voces. Desde la fuerza colectiva de este espacio denunciamos hoy todas las formas en las que nuestras experiencias han sido histórica y repetidamente colonizadas, desde la invasión de nuestras tierras hasta la invasión de nuestros cuerpos. Reconocemos las múltiples maneras en las que nos nombramos desde nuestras distintas lenguas maternas, entre las que destacamos las lenguas originarias, así como en español y en portugués, y demandamos que esas maneras sean reconocidas e incluidas en la riqueza léxica y cosmogónica de la diversidad humana, sin someterlas a la colonización del inglés ni del discurso médico que provienen del Norte Global.
Reconocemos también la larga historia de nuestro trabajo político. Reconocemos los diversos retos (violencias, injusticias, inequidades y pobreza) que históricamente han azotado a las sociedades que conforman nuestra región. Y demandamos el reconocimiento internacional de esa historia, a la vez que refrendamos nuestro compromiso de no dejar de lado estos aspectos en nuestro trabajo. Nuestra Conferencia Regional Latinoamericana de Personas Intersex se adhiere de manera unánime a la Declaración del Tercer Foro Internacional Intersex realizado en Malta en 2013, y hace los siguientes llamados:
Llamamos a los Estados a:
- Prohibir de inmediato toda práctica que modifique las características sexuales de una persona sin razones médicas fehacientes y sin el pleno consentimiento informado de esta.
- Abolir el sexo como categoría legal por ser consignado en documentos oficiales (partida de nacimiento, cédulas de identidad, pasaportes, etc.)
- Rechazar las conceptualizaciones y asignaciones de la intersexualidad como un “tercer sexo”, “tercer género”, “sexo indefinido”, “sexo indeterminado”, “sexo ambiguo” o similares al nacer, así como la práctica de dejar en blanco el casillero correspondiente a la asignación de sexo tras el parto o alumbramiento, en tanto dichas anotaciones no reflejan la diversidad de cuerpos que habitamos y vulneran nuestro derecho a la privacidad. Esto debido a que actualmente en nuestros países es obligatorio inscribir a los recién nacidos en un sexo, recomendamos que se asigne masculino o femenino, de acuerdo con las mejores expectativas, sin que esto conlleve la modificación de nuestros cuerpos intersex con la finalidad de adaptar las formas corporales a las nociones de lo que se cree debería ser un cuerpo típicamente masculino o femenino.
- Asegurar el acceso de todas las personas a múltiples opciones para el reconocimiento legal de su identidad de género a través de trámites administrativos sencillos, gratuitos y sin más requisitos que la voluntad de la persona que lo solicite.
- Asegurar el derecho de todas las personas sometidas a prácticas de modificación de sus características sexuales a acceder a la verdad sobre su nacimiento, su asignación de sexo, su diagnóstico, las prácticas realizadas y su justificación, así como los nombres de las personas involucradas en dichas prácticas y su seguimiento.
- Reconocer las consecuencias profundamente negativas de la patologización de nuestros cuerpos en nuestro acceso a la educación y al empleo, e implementar políticas concretas y efectivas de reparación.
- Incorporar las diversidades de características sexuales y corporales, en todos los programas de formación, materiales educativos oficiales y en todas las políticas públicas.
Llamamos a las Instituciones Nacionales y Regionales de derechos humanos a:
- Investigar las violaciones sistemáticas de nuestros derechos humanos, reconocidas y denunciadas ampliamente por distintos organismos internacionales y elaborar informes específicos sobre esas violaciones, así como darle seguimiento a los informes que presentan los movimientos intersex.
- Organizar espacios de exposición (tales como Tribunales de Derechos Humanos) donde quienes sufrimos dichas violaciones y sus secuelas en nuestra salud e integridad física y mental podamos hacerlas públicas.
- Compilar datos que ayuden a la generación de Políticas Públicas a favor de las personas Intersex.
Llamamos a las Financiadoras a:
- Incrementar el apoyo a nuestros movimientos.
- Reconocer que dichos movimientos dependen de manera fundamental de activistas que, en su mayoría, no cuentan con los recursos básicos suficientes para asegurar su subsistencia y bienestar, y apoyar el crecimiento personal y profesional a través de recursos individuales y no solo grupales.
Llamamos a otros Movimientos aliados a:
- Reconocer la especificidad de nuestras necesidades como población y de las cuestiones que nos afectan.
- Respetar a rajatabla nuestros espacios, procesos y decisiones.
- Evitar por todos los medios y bajo ninguna racionalización el impedir, distorsionar o usurpar nuestras visibilidades y nuestras palabras y las definiciones y denominaciones de nuestras corporalidades.
- Unirse a nuestro trabajo.
Llamamos los Medios de comunicación a:
- Evitar la estigmatización, mofa y burla, desinformación y representación distorsionada de nuestros cuerpos, identidades, sexualidades y demandas políticas.
- Contribuir a visibilizar nuestras realidades.
- Fomentar y crear contenidos que reflejen representaciones afirmativas y posibilidades de vida plenas, saludables y positivas de nuestras corporalidades.
- Poner punto final a la práctica de obligarnos a confrontar con quienes violaron nuestros derechos humanos y/o con quienes defienden dichas violaciones (se trate de profesionales de la salud, familiares u otrxs).
Llamamos a las Instituciones de Salud a:
- Cesar de inmediato toda práctica de modificación de las características sexuales que no se realice debido a una necesidad médica fehaciente y sin el consentimiento informado de la propia persona.
- Cesar toda práctica de fotografía, filmación y (o) exhibición que no sea explícitamente consentida por la propia persona a ser fotografiada, filmada y (o) exhibida.
- Asegurar el acceso de todas las personas a sus historias clínicas completas.
- Asegurar el acceso de todas las personas a información verdadera y comprensible sobre características sexuales y sus manifestaciones a lo largo de la vida, las prácticas destinadas a modificarlas y sus consecuencias y las distintas opciones disponibles.
- Instruir a su personal en el tema de intersexualidad desde una perspectiva de Derechos Humanos, para ofrecer una atención libre de discriminación a todas las personas intersex.
- Asegurar que a las personas intersex que asisten a las instituciones de salud en la adolescencia o edad adulta, no se les propongan cirugías y otros tratamientos médicamente innecesarios, a menos que la persona los solicite explícitamente, independientemente si el cuerpo intersex de dicha persona ha sido intervenido o se conserva intacto. En su lugar, que dichas instituciones les ofrezcan información sobre organizaciones intersex locales donde puedan encontrar asesoría y apoyo entre pares.
- Diseñar, implementar y reforzar campañas de capacitación sobre la atención a nuestra población, dirigidas a todos los prestadores de servicios de salud y personal adscrito a las instituciones de salud, con la finalidad de sensibilizarles y educarles sobre el tema, para que puedan brindar un servicio de calidad y libre de discriminación.
Llamamos a nuestras nuestras familias a:
- Escucharnos.
- Escuchar y (o) a brindar apoyo a otras familias.
- Unirse a nuestro trabajo para desmantelar las violaciones a los derechos humanos que nos afectan.
- Estudiar sobre el tema desde la información producida por el activismo intersex.
Llamamos a otras personas intersex y con variaciones congénitas de las características sexuales a:
- Conformar grupos de pares y (o) a integrar aquellos que ya existen.
- Buscar y (o) brindar información, contención y apoyo.
- Documentar nuestra existencia a través de la fotografía, el video, la escritura, la conformación de archivos, la historia oral y cualquier otra forma de registro.
- Respetar la diversidad de nuestros cuerpos, identidades, expresiones, sexualidades, sentimientos, modos de nombrarnos, experiencias, trayectorias y decisiones.
- Sumarse al trabajo local, regional e internacional por hacer efectivos nuestros Derechos Humanos.
San José de Costa Rica, 3 de marzo de 2018
Intersex persons and those with genetic variations of sex characteristics meeting from March 1 to 3, 2018, in San José de Costa Rica during the First Latin American Regional Conference of Intersex Persons celebrate, in this our first gathering, the plurality of our bodies and the diversity of our voices. With the collective strength of this space today we expose all the ways in which our experiences have been historically and repeatedly colonized, from the invasion of our lands to that of our bodies. We acknowledge the multiple ways in which we name ourselves in our different mother tongues including Spanish and Portuguese, especially acknowledging Indigenous languages. We demand that those names be recognized and included in the linguistic and cosmogonic wealth of human diversity, without subjecting them to colonization by the English language or the medical discourse, both originating in the Global North.
We also acknowledge the long history behind our current political work. We acknowledge the different challenges (different forms of violence, injustices, inequities and poverty) that throughout history have ravaged the societies making up our region. And we demand international recognition of that history while also affirming our commitment to not put it aside in our own work. Our Latin American Regional Conference of Intersex Persons unanimously endorses the statement issued by the Third International Intersex Forum held in Malta in 2013.
We call States to:
- Immediately prohibit any practice that modifies a person’s sexual characteristics without irrefutable medical reasons and the full and informed consent of the person affected.
- Abolish “sex” as a legal category to be recorded in official documents (birth certificates, identity cards, passports, etc.).
- Reject any notion and labelling of intersexuality as a “third sex”, “third gender”, “indefinite sex”, “non-determined sex”, “ambiguous sex” or similar ones at birth, along with the practice of leaving blank the box corresponding to sex assignment after birth, because these categories do not reflect the diversity of the bodies we inhabit and violate our right to privacy. As, at present, it is compulsory in our countries to assign all newborns a particular sex, we recommend that each one is assigned the masculine or the feminine sex based on best expectations without this involving any modification to our Intersex bodies in order to adjust our bodily forms to the notions of what is believed to be a typically male or female body.
- Guarantee that all persons can access multiple options for the legal recognition of their gender identity to simple and free administrative procedures that require nothing more than the will of the person demanding them.
- Guarantee the right of all persons subjected to any practice aimed to modify their sex characteristics to learn the truth about their birth, sex assignment, diagnosis, practices performed on their body and their rationale, as well as the names of those involved in such practices and their follow-up.
- Recognize that pathologizing our bodies has deeply negative implications for our access to education and employment, and implement specific and effective reparation policies.
- Incorporate the diversity of sex and bodily characteristics in all training programs, government-issued educational materials and public policies.
We call national and regional Human Rights institutions to:
- Investigate all systematic violations against our human rights that have been widely recognized and exposed by different international bodies and to produce reports that specifically address these violations while also following-up on the reports submitted by Intersex movements.
- Provide spaces (such as Human Rights Tribunals) where those suffering such violations and their consequences on our physical and mental health and integrity can make them public.
- Compile data that contributes in formulating public policies for Intersex persons.
We call funders to:
- Increase support to our movements.
- Recognize that our movements mainly rely on activists most of whom lack enough basic resources to guarantee their subsistence and well-being, and support their personal and professional growth by providing resources to individuals and not only to groups.
We call allied movements to:
- Acknowledge the specificity of our needs as a population and of the issues affecting us.
- Fully respect our spaces, processes and decisions.
- Avoid blocking, distorting or usurping, by any means whatsoever, our visibility, our voices, and the definitions and names of our corporealities, along with any rationalizations to justify such acts.
- Join us in our work.
We call the media to:
- Avoid stigmatization, mockery, ridicule, disinformation and distorted representations of our bodies, identities, sexualities and political claims.
- Contribute to make our realities visible.
- Promote and produce content that includes affirmative representations and the message that our corporealities can enjoy full, healthy and positive lives.
- Put an end to the practice of forcing us to confront those who violate our human rights and/or those who defend such violations (be they health practitioners, relatives or others).
We call health institutions to:
- Immediately put an end to any practice that modifies a person’s sexual characteristics without irrefutable medical reasons and the full and informed consent of the person affected.
- Put an end to any practice of photographing, filming and/or exhibiting Intersex persons unless the person involved explicitly consents to being photographed, filmed and/or exhibited.
- Ensure that all persons can access their full medical records.
- Ensure that all persons can access accurate and understandable information about their sexual characteristics and their manifestations throughout their lives, the practices aimed at modifying them, their consequences and the different options available.
- Instruct their staff on Intersex issues from a human rights perspective so they can provide care free from discrimination to all Intersex persons.
- Ensure that all Intersex persons coming into health facilities as adolescents or adults are not recommended surgeries and/or other medically unnecessary treatments unless the person explicitly requests them, regardless of the condition of their Intersex bodies (surgically intervened or intact). Instead, provide Intersex persons with information on local Intersex organizations where they can find peer advice and support.
- Design, implement and reinforce training campaigns on healthcare for our population aimed at all health service providers and staff working in health facilities to sensitize and train them on the subject so they can provide quality and discrimination-free services.
We call our families to:
- Listen to us.
- Listen and/or provide support to other families.
- Join us in our work to dismantle the human rights violations affecting us.
- Learn about this issue through the information produced by Intersex movements.
We call other intersex persons and those with genetic variations of sexual characteristics to:
- Form peer groups and/or join existing ones.
- Seek and/or provide information and support.
- Document our existence through photography, video, writing, creation of archives, oral history and any other recording means.
- Respect the diversity of our bodies, identities, expressions, sexualities, feelings, ways of naming, experiences, trajectories and decisions.
- Join local, regional and international efforts to realize our human rights.
San José de Costa Rica, March 3, 2018
Translation: Mauro Cabral
As pessoas intersex, reunidas entre 1º e 3 de março de 2018, em San José de Costa Rica, na primeira Conferência Regional Intersex, celebramos, neste primeiro encontro, a pluralidade dos nossos corpos e a diversidade das nossas vozes. Desde a força coletiva deste espaço, denunciamos, hoje, todas as formas pelas quais nossas experiências foram histórica e repetidamente colonizadas, desde a invasão de nossas terras até a invasão de nossos corpos. Reconhecemos as múltiplas maneiras pelas quais nos nomeamos em nossas línguas nativas, assim como em espanhol e em português, e exigimos que essas formas sejam reconhecidas, sem submetê-las à colonização do inglês.
Reconhecemos, também, a longa história de nosso trabalho político, e exigimos o reconhecimento internacional dessa história. Nossa Conferência Regional Intersex unanimemente adere à Declaração do 3 Fórum Intersex de Malta, e faz as seguintes convocatórias:
Convocamos os Estados a:
- Proibir, imediatamente, qualquer prática que modifique as características sexuais de uma pessoa sem razões médicas irrefutáveis e sem o seu pleno consentimento informado.
- Abolir o sexo como categoria legal a ser registrado em documentos oficiais (certidão de nascimento, carteiras de identidade, passaportes, etc.)
- Rejeitar as designações de “terceiro sexo”, ” sexo indefinido “, “sexo indeterminado”, “sexo ambíguo” ou similares, no nascimento, assim como a prática de deixar em branco o espaço correspondente à designação de sexo no momento do nascimento, na medida em que tais registros não refletem a diversidade de corpos que habitamos e violam nosso direito à privacidade. Considerando que, atualmente, em nossos países, é obrigatório inscrever os recém-nascidos em um sexo, recomendamos que seja designado o masculino ou o feminino, de acordo com as melhores expectativas, sem que isso envolva a modificação de nossos corpos intersex com a finalidade de adaptar as formas corporais às noções do que se acredita que deveria ser um corpo tipicamente masculino ou feminino.
- Garantir o acesso de todas as pessoas a múltiplas opções para o reconhecimento legal de sua identidade de gênero através de procedimentos administrativos simples, gratuitos e sem outros requisitos além da vontade da pessoa que o solicite.
- Assegurar o direito de todas as pessoas submetidas a práticas de modificação de suas características sexuais a acessar a verdade sobre seu nascimento, sua designação de sexo, seu diagnóstico, as práticas realizadas e sua justificativa, bem como os nomes das pessoas envolvidas em tais práticas e no seu acompanhamento.
- Reconhecer as consequências profundamente negativas da patologização de nossos corpos para nosso acesso à educação e ao emprego, e implementar políticas concretas e efetivas de reparação.
- Incorporar a diversidade corporal, incluindo a diversidade das características sexuais, em todos os programas de formação e em todas as políticas públicas.
Convocamos as Instituições Nacionais e Regionais de direitos humanos a:
- Investigar as violações sistemáticas de nossos direitos humanos e elaborar informes específicos sobre essas violações, bem como dar seguimento aos informes que os movimentos intersex apresentam.
- Organizar espaços de exposição (tais como os Tribunais de Direitos Humanos), onde quem sofremos as citadas violações possamos torná-las públicas.
- Compilar dados que ajudem a formulação de Políticas Públicas a favor das pessoas intersex.
Convocamos as Financiadoras a:
- Incrementar o apoio a nossos movimentos.
- Reconhecer que tais movimentos dependem de maneira fundamental de ativistas que, em sua maioria, não dispõem dos recursos básicos para garantir sua subsistência, e apoiar o crescimento pessoal e profissional através de recursos individuais e não apenas coletivos.
Convocamos nossos Movimentos aliados a:
- Reconhecer a especificidade das questões que nos afetam.
- Respeitar rigorosamente nossos espaços, processos e decisões.
- Evitar de todas as formar impedir, distorcer ou usurpar nossas visibilidades e nossas palavras.
- Unir-se ao nosso trabalho.
Convocamos os Meios de comunicação a:
- Evitar a estigmatização, o escárnio e a ridicularização, a desinformação e a representação distorcida de nossos corpos, identidades, sexualidades e demandas políticas.
- Contribuir para visibilizar nossas realidades.
- Colocar um ponto final à prática de nos obrigar a entrar em confronto com aquelas pessoas que violaram nossos direitos humanos e/ou que defendem tais violações (sejam essas pessoas profissionais de saúde, familiares ou outrxs).
Convocamos as Instituições de Saúde a:
- Cessar, imediatamente, qualquer prática de modificação das características sexuais que não seja realizada devido a uma necessidade médica irrefutável e sem o consentimento informado da própria pessoa.
- Cessar qualquer prática de fotografia, filmagem e (ou) exposição que não sejam explicitamente consentidas pela própria pessoa a ser fotografada, filmada e (ou) exibida.
- Assegurar o acesso de todas as pessoas a suas histórias clínicas completas.
- Garantir o acesso de todas as pessoas à informação verdadeira e compreensível sobre as características sexuais e suas manifestações ao longo da vida, as práticas destinadas a modificá-las e suas consequências, bem como sobre as diferentes opções disponíveis.
- Instruir sua equipe a respeito do tema da intersexualidade desde uma perspectiva dos Direitos Humanos, de modo a oferecer uma atenção libre de discriminação a todas as pessoas intersex.
- Garantir que não sejam propostas cirurgias e outros tratamentos medicamente desnecessários às pessoas intersex que frequentem instituições de saúde na adolescência ou na idade adulta, a menos que a pessoa os solicite explicitamente, independentemente se o corpo intersex dessa pessoa tenha passado por intervenções ou se mantém intacto. Em vez disso, que tais instituições ofereçam informações sobre organizações intersex locais, nas quais possam encontrar assessoria e apoio entre pares.
- Capacitar a equipe médica no que se refere às variações congênitas das características sexuais, para que possam prestar uma atenção informada, digna e eficiente a todas as pessoas intersex. Incluindo, principalmente, ginecologistas e outros especialistas.
Convocamos nossas famílias a:
- Escutar-nos.
- Escutar e (ou) oferecer apoio a outras famílias.
- Unir-se a nosso trabalho para desmantelar as violações de direitos humanos que nos afetam.
- Estudar sobre o assunto a partir da informação produzida pelo ativismo intersex.
Convocamos as outras pessoas intersex:
- A formar grupos de pares e (ou) a integrar os que já existem.
- A buscar e (ou) oferecer informações, contenção e suporte.
- A documentar nossa existência através da fotografia, vídeo, escrita, compilação de arquivos, história oral e qualquer outra forma de registro.
- A respeitar a diversidade de nossos corpos, identidades, expressões, sexualidades, sentimentos, formas de nos nomearmos, experiências, trajetórias e decisões.
- A somar-se ao trabalho local, regional e internacional, a fim de efetivar nossos direitos humanos.
San José de Costa Rica, 3 de março de 2018
Traducción: Paula S. Machado
Asia
Between the 8th and 11th February 2018, the First Asian Intersex Forum, supported by the Intersex Human Rights Fund, took place in Bangkok, Thailand. The Forum brought together 14 intersex people representing intersex organisations and communities from Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Public Statement by the Asian Intersex Movement
Bangkok,Thailand
11th February 2018
Preamble
We affirm that intersex people are real, and we exist in all regions and all countries around the world, including all countries of Asia. Thus, intersex people must be supported to be the drivers of social, political and legislative changes that concern them.
We are intersex activists representing the diverse region of Asia, working together to end discrimination, and promoting and protecting the human rights of intersex people.
Demands
- To acknowledge the suffering and injustice caused to intersex people.
- To recognise that sexism, medicalisation and stigmatisation of intersex people result in significant trauma and mental health concerns.
- To remove the stigma from all the terms referring to intersex.
- To recognise that being intersex relates to biological sex characteristics, and is distinct from a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. An intersex person may be heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual or asexual; and may identify as female, male, both or neither.
- To put an end to mutilating and ‘normalising’ practices such as genital surgeries, psychological and other medical interventions through legislative and other means. Intersex people must be empowered to make their own decisions affecting their own bodily integrity, physical autonomy and self-determination.
- To put an end to preimplantation genetic diagnosis, pre-natal screening and interventions, and selective abortion of intersex foetuses.
- To put an end to inappropriate medical practices and protocols, including the administration of medication for gender selection and medical interventions on foetuses and newborn babies, as a result of lack of awareness about intersex people and intersex variations.
- To put an end to non-consensual sterilization of intersex people.
- To depathologise variations in sex characteristics in medical practices, guidelines, protocols and classifications, such as the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases.
- To include human rights-based intersex education in antenatal counselling and support.
- To put an end to infanticide, abandonment and honor killings of intersex people.
- To end practices that force normalising surgeries on intersex children to be male as a requirement for inheritance.
- To ensure that the right to inheritance of intersex people is not denied on the ground of infertility.
- To ensure that intersex organisations and intersex peer support groups are recognised, resourced and strengthened.
- To protect intersex people from discrimination by adding the ground of sex characteristics to anti-discrimination legislation and to ensure protection against intersectional discrimination.
- To protect intersex people in the laws regarding sexual violence and harassment.
- To ensure the legal protection and support of intersex people with disabilities.
- To recognise intersex refugees need protection against discrimination and the appropriate psychosocial help.
- To ensure equal and non-discriminatory legal protection for intersex people in marriage and adoption laws.
- To protect intersex people against discrimination at the workplace.
- To create and facilitate supportive, safe and celebratory environments for intersex people, their families and surroundings.
- To provide human rights-based intersex education to empower intersex people and their families.
- To support intersex people and their families to connect and build up intersex communities.
- To ensure that intersex people have the right to full information and access to their own medical records and history.
- To protect intersex people’s right to privacy while engaging with civil and social institutions, such as hospitals, educational and governmental institutions.
- To ensure the provision of all human rights and citizenship rights to intersex people.
- In view of ensuring the bodily integrity and well-being of intersex people, autonomous non-pathologising psycho-social and peer support be available to intersex people throughout their life (as self-required), as well as to parents and/or care providers.
- To ensure that all professionals and healthcare providers that have a specific role to play in intersex people’s wellbeing are adequately trained to provide quality services.
- To provide accessible and appropriate healthcare that meet the physical and mental health needs and issues of intersex people.
- To register intersex children as females or males, with the awareness that, like all people, they may grow up to identify with a different sex or gender.
- To ensure that sex or gender classifications are amendable through a simple administrative procedure at the request of the individuals concerned. All adults and capable minors should be able to choose between female (F), male (M), non-binary or multiple options. In the future, as with race or religion, sex or gender should not be a category on birth certificates or identification documents for anybody.
- To ensure that all key partners that have a specific role to play in intersex people’s wellbeing such as, but not limited to, health care providers, parents and professionals working in the area of education, as well as society in general, are instructed on intersex issues from a human rights perspective.
- To end sex verification tests that violate the fundamental privacy and dignity of intersex people, and ensure they are able to participate in competitive sport, at all levels, in accordance with their legal sex. Intersex athletes who have been humiliated or stripped of their titles should receive reparation and reinstatement.
- To raise awareness around intersex issues and the human rights of intersex people in communities and society at large.
- To provide comprehensive sexuality education that includes references to intersex people and experiences, as well as human-rights-based intersex education at all levels of education.
- To provide adequate acknowledgement of the suffering and injustice caused to intersex people in the past, and provide adequate redress, reparation, access to justice and the right to truth.
In view of the above the Asian Intersex Movement calls on:
- International, regional and national human rights institutions to take on board, and provide visibility to intersex issues in their work.
- National governments to address the concerns raised by the Asian Intersex Movement and draw adequate solutions in direct collaboration with intersex representatives and organisations.
- National governments to stop harmful cultural practices, such as infanticide and honor killings of intersex people.
- Media agencies and sources to ensure intersex people’s right to privacy, dignity, accurate and ethical representation.
- Community leaders to engage in intersex education to dispel misconceptions and stigma around intersex people.
- Funders to engage with intersex organisations and support them in the struggle for visibility, increase their capacity, the building of knowledge and the affirmation of their human rights.
- Human rights organisations to contribute to building bridges with intersex organisations and build a basis for mutual support and meaningful engagement. This should be done in a spirit of collaboration and no-one should instrumentalise intersex issues as a means for other ends.