Outright Supports Efforts To Ban Non Consensual Intersex Surgeries in Australia and Greece

Intersex people’s human rights are too often an afterthought, even among governments that profess support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) equality. But two governments are poised to make significant progress on the rights of intersex people. 

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the national government of Greece both published calls for submissions on draft legislation that would prohibit medical abuse of intersex children. Outright International, in solidarity with domestic intersex advocates in both countries including Intersex Human Rights Australia and Intersex Greece, has submitted letters of support for bans on medically unnecessary and irreversible medical interventions on children with intersex traits until they are old enough to decide for themselves. 

Intersex people are born with physical sex characteristics (such as genitals, internal reproductive organs, chromosomes or hormones) that don’t line up with what is typically thought of as either a female or male body. Intersex people are not that rare, accounting for up to 1.7% of all births, equaling the total population of Japan. For decades, intersex infants and children around the world have been subjected to harmful medical interventions in attempts to “fix” their nonbinary bodies so that they align with a presumed female or male norm, erasing their healthy intersex traits. 

Intersex people have increasingly spoken out against these medical practices, demonstrating personal evidence of severe and longlasting physical and emotional harm. Because of the serious harm they cause and the lack of medical benefits, these procedures have been rejected by United Nations experts on health, torture, and women’s and children’s rights, the World Health Organization, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Human Rights, among others.  

As articulated by the Yogyakarta Principles + 10 (YP+10), a set of principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics, states must protect everyone’s right to bodily and mental integrity. Specifically: 

No one shall be subjected to invasive or irreversible medical procedures that modify sex characteristics without their free, prior and informed consent, unless necessary to avoid serious, urgent and irreparable harm to the concerned person.

The Principle calls on states to pass legislation that protects everyone, including children, from all forms of forced, coercive or otherwise involuntary modification of their sex characteristics. 

Now, the Australian Capital Territory and Greece are taking steps to uphold this principle, joining a small but growing cohort of jurisdictions–so far, consisting only of Malta, Portugal, Germany and Iceland–that protect intersex people’s bodily autonomy. 

The Australian Capital Territory draft legislation, the first of its kind in any Australian jurisdiction, was developed in collaboration with intersex advocates, experts and allies and is explicitly recognizant of the relevant human rights standards and principles, It would prohibit medically unnecessary intervention on children with a broad range of intersex traits until they are able to participate in decisions about the treatment of their own bodiesm and would establish an expert committee, including intersex people, to review and approve treatment plans. Following the consultation period, the bill is likely to be introduced into the ACT parliament later this year.

In Greece, the proposed legislation, which Parliament is expected to consider in late July, prohibits medically unnecessary procedures on an intersex child under the age of 16 without approval of a judge consulting with a multidisciplinary committee, including intersex participation. The law would impose criminal sanctions on any doctor in violation, including up to six months in prison. 

People whose bodies transcend arbitrary standards of sex classification must be the driving force behind any contemplated interventions on their bodies. Outright calls for an end to medically unnecessary interventions performed on intersex children prior to their ability to meaningfully participate in these life-altering decisions. The Australian Capital Territory and Greece should pass the proposed laws, providing desperately needed human rights protections for intersex people.

Read Outright's submission on draft Intersex Legislation in the Australian Capital Territory.

Read Outright's submission on draft Intersex Legislation in Greece.