Zwischengeschlecht

Last updated
Zwischengeschlecht
Type NGO
Purpose Intersex human rights
Region served
Switzerland, French and German-speaking countries
Website (in German) Zwischengeschlecht, (in English) Zwischengeschlecht

Zwischengeschlecht (literally "between sexes") is a human rights advocacy group campaigning on intersex bodily autonomy issues. The group demonstrates outside medical events where surgical interventions are discussed or performed, [1] engages with the media, and participates in consultations with human rights institutions.

Contents

Advocacy

Physical integrity and bodily autonomy

Zwischengeschlecht were consulted by the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics in the preparation of an Opinion report, On the management of differences of sex development, Ethical issues relating to "intersexuality" in November 2012. [2] The report is notable for making a clear apology for damage done to intersex people in the past, and up until the present. It recommends deferring all "non-trivial" surgeries which have "irreversible consequences". The report also recommended criminal sanction for non-medically necessary genital surgeries.[ citation needed ]

The organization actively campaigns for recognition of intersex medical interventions as forms of "intersex genital mutilation", including through submissions to UN institutions. In March 2017, Zwischengeschlecht reported that the UN had made 22 concluding observations on the performance of UN member states according to their international treaty obligations. This included 14 countries, across in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. [3]

Protection from discrimination

In 2016, Zwischengeschlecht described actions to promote equality or civil status legislation without action on banning "intersex genital mutilations" as a form of pinkwashing. [4] The organization has previously highlighted evasive government statements to UN Treaty Bodies that conflate intersex, transgender and LGBT issues, instead of addressing harmful practices on infants. [5]

Identification documents

Zwischengeschlecht have described media coverage of moves to create a third gender classification as "silly season fantasies"; the main goal is to stop intersex genital mutilations. [6] [7] [8] [9]

Visibility work

The group demonstrates outside medical events where surgical interventions are discussed or performed, [10] and engages with the media.

International activities

Zwischengeschlecht participated in the third International Intersex Forum in late 2013, [11] and also contributed to a joint statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council on 11 March 2014. [12] [13] [14] [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex medical interventions</span> Performed to modify atypical or ambiguous genitalia

Intersex medical interventions, also known as intersex genital mutilations (IGM), are surgical, hormonal and other medical interventions performed to modify atypical or ambiguous genitalia and other sex characteristics, primarily for the purposes of making a person's appearance more typical and to reduce the likelihood of future problems. The history of intersex surgery has been characterized by controversy due to reports that surgery can compromise sexual function and sensation, and create lifelong health issues. Timing, evidence, necessity and indications for surgeries in infancy, adolescence or adult age have been controversial, associated with issues of consent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of intersex surgery</span> Aspect of history

The history of intersex surgery is intertwined with the development of the specialities of pediatric surgery, pediatric urology, and pediatric endocrinology, with our increasingly refined understanding of sexual differentiation, with the development of political advocacy groups united by a human qualified analysis, and in the last decade by doubts as to efficacy, and controversy over when and even whether some procedures should be performed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex</span> Atypical congenital variations of sex characteristics

Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinkwashing (LGBT)</span> Promotional use of LGBT rights

Pinkwashing, also known as rainbow-washing, is the strategy of promoting LGBT rights protections as evidence of liberalism and democracy, especially to distract from or legitimize violence against other countries or communities. The concept has been used by Sarah Schulman in 2011 with reference to Israeli government public relations, and is related to homonationalism, the exploitation of sexual minorities to justify racism and xenophobia. Pinkwashing is a continuation of the civilizing mission used to justify colonialism, this time on the basis of LGBT rights in Western countries. More broadly, pinkwashing can also be defined as "the deployment of superficially sympathetic messages for [ends] having little or nothing to do with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) equality or inclusion", including LGBT marketing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex human rights</span> Human rights for intersex people

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals, that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies."

Christiane Völling is the first intersex person known to have successfully sued for damages in a case brought for non-consensual surgical intervention described as a non-consensual sex reassignment. She was awarded €100,000 by the Regional Court of Cologne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discrimination against intersex people</span>

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". "Because their bodies are seen as different, intersex children and adults are often stigmatized and subjected to multiple human rights violations".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex and LGBT</span> Relationship between different sex and gender minorities

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) than the non-intersex population, with an estimated 52% identifying as non-heterosexual and 8.5% to 20% experiencing gender dysphoria. Although many intersex people are heterosexual and cisgender, this overlap and "shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms" has led to intersex people often being included under the LGBT umbrella, with the acronym sometimes expanded to LGBTI. Some intersex activists and organisations have criticised this inclusion as distracting from intersex-specific issues such as involuntary medical interventions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of intersex history</span> Overview of notable events in the timeline of intersex history

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in New Zealand</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in New Zealand

Intersex rights in New Zealand are protections and rights afforded to intersex people. Protection from discrimination is implied by the Human Rights Act and the Bill of Rights Act, but remains untested. The New Zealand Human Rights Commission states that there has seemingly been a "lack of political will to address issues involved in current practices of genital normalisation on intersex children".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Australia</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Australia

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Germany</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Germany

Intersex people in Germany have legal recognition of their rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, with exceptions, but no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In response to an inquiry by the German Ethics Council in 2012, the government passed legislation in 2013 designed to classify some intersex infants as a de facto third category. The legislation has been criticized by civil society and human rights organizations as misguided.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in the United Kingdom

Intersex people in the United Kingdom face significant gaps in legal protections, particularly in protection from non-consensual medical interventions, and protection from discrimination. Actions by intersex civil society organisations aim to eliminate unnecessary medical interventions and harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality in line with Council of Europe and United Nations demands. Intersex civil society organisations campaign for greater social acceptance, understanding of issues of bodily autonomy, and recognition of the human rights of intersex people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Chile</span>

Since March 15, 2022, Chile bans discrimination based on "sex characteristics" under Law 21,430 on Guarantees and Integral Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents. Between December 2015 and August 2016, the Chilean Ministry of Health issued a regulatory suspension of non-necessary cosmetic medical interventions on intersex children. The guidelines were replaced by guidance permitting intersex medical interventions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Colombia</span>

In 1999, the Constitutional Court of Colombia became the first court to consider the human rights implications of medical interventions to alter the sex characteristics of intersex children. The Court restricted the age at which intersex children could be the subjects of surgical interventions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex human rights reports</span>

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". Such variations may involve genital ambiguity, and combinations of chromosomal genotype and sexual phenotype other than XY-male and XX-female.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Mexico</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Mexico

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Argentina</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Switzerland</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Switzerland

Intersex people in Switzerland have no recognition of rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, and no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In 2012, the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics published a report on the medical management of differences of sex development or intersex variations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Spain</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Spain

Citizens of Spain who are intersex face problems that the wider society does not encounter. Laws that provide protection against discrimination or genital mutilation for intersex people exist only in some autonomous communities rather than on a national level. The 3/2007 law is the current law in Spain which relates to legal gender change including the rights of intersex people, although a new law is about to be passed in the near future.

References

  1. ↑ (in German) Zwist um Zwitter-Operationen, Ostschweiz am Sonntag, 10 February 2011
  2. ↑ On the management of differences of sex development, Ethical issues relating to “intersexuality", Opinion No. 20/2012, Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics, November 2012.
  3. ↑ ""Harmful Practice": Ireland and Germany sternly reprimanded by UN-CEDAW for Intersex Genital Mutilations - again!". Zwischengeschlecht. March 6, 2017.
  4. ↑ ""Intersex legislation" that allows the daily mutilations to continue = PINKWASHING of IGM practices". August 28, 2016.
  5. ↑ "TRANSCRIPTION > UK Questioned over Intersex Genital Mutilations by UN Committee on the Rights of the Child - Gov Non-Answer + Denial". May 26, 2016.
  6. ↑ German proposals for a “third gender” on birth certificates miss the mark, Organisation Intersex International Australia, 20 August 2013.
  7. ↑ Germany adopts third gender law Al Jazeera, 1 November 2013
  8. ↑ (in German) Das dritte Geschlecht, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, 22 May 2012
  9. ↑ (in German) Es muss auch den anderen weh tun, Ostschweiz am Sonntag, 24 November 2013
  10. ↑ (in German) Zwist um Zwitter-Operationen, Ostschweiz am Sonntag, 10 February 2011
  11. ↑ Zwischengeschlecht (31 December 2014). "Malta > Gesetzesentwurf der Regierung will IGM-Praktiken verbieten, unterstreicht Recht auf köperliche Unversehrtheit, Selbstbestimmung" (in German). Zwischengeschlecht. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  12. ↑ 25th session of the Human Rights Council, ARC International, 2014
  13. ↑ Human rights: first intersex-led discussions at the UN Human Rights Council, Organisation Intersex International Australia, 10 March 2014
  14. ↑ Children's Rights at the United Nations 120, Child Rights Information Network, 11 March 2014
  15. ↑ (in German) NGO-Bericht an UN-Kinderrechtsausschuss kritisiert Intersex-Genitalverstümmelungen, fordert gesetzgeberische Massnahmen, Zwischengschlecht, 28 March 2014
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