CEDAW66 > NGO Briefing on Intersex Genital Mutilations in Ireland

UN-CEDAW 66th Session @ Palais des Nations, 13.02.2017: Committee experts arriving for the NGO meeting …

At the 66th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Ireland is to be reviewed on its track record of the implementation of women’s rights on Wed 15 February 2017. Beforehand NGOs had the possibility to brief CEDAW (>>> archived livecast of the entire briefing).

The 1-minute oral statement (PDF) on IGM practices in Ireland:

Daniela Truffer (StopIGM.org) (@ 30:27):

“Thank you, Madame Chair.

Intersex Genital Mutilations in Ireland have already been considered by CRC [1] as a “harmful practice”. Personal stories from Ireland prove that IGM causes lifelong severe pain and suffering.

As substantiated in our report [2], in Ireland all forms of IGM practices persist, advocated and paid for by the public Health Service Executive (HSE), and perpetrated in public university and children’s hospitals with impunity, including partial clitoris amputation, “vaginoplasty” and sterilising procedures.

To this day, there is no law in Ireland to protect intersex children from IGM. The Irish Government simply denies this is a human rights issue, but claims, and I quote, “these decisions are taken on a medical basis”. [3]

This Committee [4] has already considered IGM as a “harmful practice”, referring to the Joint General Recommendation 31. This we’re also asking for Ireland.

Thank you.”

[1] CRC/C/IRL/CO/3-4, paras 39-40
[2] http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2017-CEDAW-Ireland-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM.pdf
[3] CRC 71st Session, 14 January 2016, see transcription: https://www.stopigm.org/post/Geneva-Ireland-Questioned-over-Intersex-Genital-Mutilations-by-UN-Committee-on-the-Rights-of-the-Child
[4] CEDAW/C/CHE/CO/4-5 paras 38-39; CEDAW/C/FRA/CO/7-8, paras 17e-f+18e-f; CEDAW/C/NLD/CO/6 paras 21-22, 23-24

IGM Practices in Ireland: 2017 CEDAW Report
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex Anatomy
IGM in Ireland • Complicity of the State • Harmful Practice
>>> Download as PDF (248 kb)

See also:
• UN Committee for the Rights of the Child (CRC): IGM = Harmful Practice + Violence
• UN Committee against Torture (CAT): IGM = Inhuman Treatment or Torture
• UN Women’s Rights Committee (CEDAW): IGM = Harmful Practice
• UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): Violation of Integrity
• UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) to examine IGM Practices
• CAT 2011: Germany must investigate IGM practices and compensate survivors!

IGM as a Harmful Practice: UN-CRC Briefing
• IGM: A Survivor’s Perspective • Intersex Movement History
• What are Variations of Sex Anatomy?  • What are IGM Practices?
• IGM and Human Rights  • Conclusion: IGM as a Harmful Practice
>>> Download PDF (3.14 MB)     >>> Table of Contents