Author: StopIGM.org | Page 6

CRC80 > VIDEO + TRANSCRIPT: Italy questioned over Intersex Genital Mutilation by UN – Gov “replies” on Trans + “3rd Gender”

December 3, 2023January 23, 2019 by StopIGM.org

UN-CRC 80th Session @ Palais Wilson, Geneva 22.01.2019: Gearing up …
On the left: Italian intersex advocate Claudia Balsamo and StopIGM.org’s Daniela Truffer with the follow-up Intersex NGO Report for the Session. (Photo: Markus Bauer)

StopIGM.org together with Italian intersex advocate Claudia Balsamo, with the support of Intersexioni and Intersex Esiste, and with additional help from Michela Balocchi and Daniela Crocetti submitted 2 comprehensive NGO Reports on the Situation of Intersex People in Italy to CRC, which demonstrate that intersex genital mutilation practices continue in Italy, and during the Pre-Session on 06.06.2018 briefed the Committee with a Joint intersex Statement (PDF).

>>> Full CRC Timeline Italy 2018-2019

During the 80th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Committe is examining the human rights record of Italy on 22-23 January 2019, with both Session being transmitted on webtv.un.org. StopIGM.org is reporting LIVE from Geneva, hoping the Committee will ask tough questions on IGM practices in Italy!

Session 1, Tue 22 January 2019, 15-18h

16:00h: (Video @ 00:59:30)YAY!! Committee expert and Country co-rapporteur Mr. Jorge Cardona Llorens (Spain) raises harmful practices on intersex children under violence, asking about protocols, incidents of involuntary unnecessary procedures, and legal provisions regarding prevention and remedy! Unofficial Translation from original Spanish:

«I shall end, Madam President, with very brief questions in relation to intersex children.
What is the health care protocol for intersex children?
What procedures and steps should health teams follow when an intersex child is born?
Are any of these children undergoing medical or surgical treatment?
What kind of support is planned to provide appropriate counselling and support to families of intersex children?
In relation to this, have incidents of surgical and other medical treatment without informed consent come to our attention, have they carried out an investigation into this? If so, do they have legal provisions in place to provide redress to victims of such treatment?
What training do medical professionals and psychologists receive on the sexual, biological and physical diversity associated with this phenomenon, and on the consequences of unnecessary surgical and other medical interventions for intersex children?»

17:18h: (Video @ 02:18:04) Prof. Salvatore Sciacchitano, endocrinologist and Head Secretary at the Ministry of Health, non-answers on intersex: While the question was about intersex and IGM, he shortly claimed this would be “therapeutic health care procedures” the quickly changed subject and instead “replied” on Transgender (referring to law 164 of 1982 about changing legal sex) … He also raised environmental pollution causing intersex in the Veneto region. Unofficial Translation from original Italian:

«I gladly answer the question of the Spanish commission member in my capacity as representative of the ministry of health and […] in my capacity as endocrinologist. The question referred to sexual differentiation disorders. in the health field, the path of surgical and registry attribution of sex is regulated in Italy by law 164 of 1982 [= “Law on Transsexualism”!].

The medical-surgical treatment provided for by law number 164 of 1982 is necessary only if there is a condition of conflict of the so-called ambiguous genitalia. I would like to point out that the Constitutional Court in 1985 sanctioned that sexual identity takes into account not only external sexual characteristics, but also psychological and social elements, resulting in a conception of sex as a complex data of personality determined by a set of factors whose balance must be facilitated or sought by favoring the dominant factor or factors.

Recently, our constitutional court ruled again in october 2015 reaffirming the principle that it remains inevitable a rigorous judicial assessment of the manner in which the change occurred and its definitive character. The court specified that compared to the change of sex, surgical treatment is a possible tool to help achieve a full psychological and physical well-being of the person.

And I would also like to mention the National Committee for Bioethics, which in 2010 issued an opinion on disorders of sexual differentiation in particular in children and in particular related to diseases that may occur in children. The National Committee for Bioethics focuses in particular on the consideration of the so-called exceptional cases where there are no objective indications for the sexual assignment.

The current legislation governing the declaration of sex at birth dating back to november 2000 is supplemented with a confidential note based on rigorous and complete medical certification of the disease from which the newborn suffers, so as to allow later, if necessary, a correction of the indication of age through a more simplified procedure than that provided for by law.

I would also like to mention that in these days our ministry is engaged together with the Veneto region on a large number of cases recorded in this region of disorders of sexual differentiation in fetuses of mothers subjected to water pollution with perfluoralkylic substances, so called PHAS, resulting from the processing of plastic materials, that have damaged the fetuses especially males of contaminated mothers causing dysfunction of their sexual differentiation. Our ministry of health is therefore also engaged in the front of prevention and research and identification of possible causes of disorders in particular those caused by environmental pollutants. Thank you.»

17:22h: (Video @ 02:22:03) Ms. Serena Battilomo, Director of Office IX on protection of women’s health and vulnerable individuals at the Ministry of Health additionally “replied” on a new 3rd gender in birth assistance certificates (“M, F, Indeterminate”) … Unofficial Translation from original Italian:

«I add a single element of updating about the fact that recently we are updating the birth assistance certificate I mentioned before for a new outline that in terms of indication of sex to the unborn child, while today provides male or female and then a description of female and male genitalia, we will replace everything instead with male or female or indeterminate because the condition at that time is not identifiable, just to take into account the specificity of these cases and accompany them in the definition and in time.»

Session 2, Wed 23 January 2019, 10-13h

11:41h: (Video @ 01:41:48) YAY!! Committee expert and Country co-rapporteur Mr. Jorge Cardona Llorens (Spain) follows up on intersex and IGM! Clarifies answer was rather on trans issues, not intersex children. Repeats: What is the current protocol for intersex procedures, who decides? Unofficial Translation from original Spanish:

«The answers regarding intersex children were answers that had more to do with trans children, but not intersex children. They intervene surgically when the child is born, it is the parents and the doctor who decide what sex the child is going to have when it is not clear? Their genitals, what do they belong to, who decides that? What is the protocol for acting?»

12:39h: (Video @ 02:39:04) More non-answers on intersex by Prof. Salvatore Sciacchitano, endocrinologist and Head Secretary at the Ministry of Health: Reads out the unrealistically low numbers on “urogenital surgery” from the State report Annex (discussed in the NGO Report for Session, p. 10-12), claims all surgery decisions were only taken after the child has consented. Unofficial Translation from original Italian:

«Yes, thank you, Salvatore Sciacchitano, Ministry of Health. I answer the questions of the Spanish Commissioner regarding sexual differentiation disorders, saying that reference has been made to the codes of the international classification of diseases, the codes of surgery, as well as data extracted from hospital admissions.

According to the Chicago Consensus Conference of 2006, sexual differentiation disorders have been established to be due to a series of diseases such as Klinefelter syndrome, gonadal dysgenesis, indeterminate sex pseudo-hermaphroditism, sexual chromosome abnormalities, other [incomprehensible] testicular functions, androgenic resistance syndrome or morris syndrome, adrenogenital syndrome.

I refer [incomprehensible] to all the procedures that are always included for the same codes as surgical procedures and appoint urogenital apparatus surgeries, and I stress urogenital, and I will say that in the selection of all that is the case study we received, we used criteria of age between 0 and 17 years, and taking into account the peculiarity of the expression of informed consent of minors in relation to the gradual ability to discern. The third element of data provision was the SDO system. The SDO system consists of the hospital disposal forms referring to the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, where we have separated all the pathologies that referred to subjects between 0 and 17 years, and of these we have made a comparative assessment with other states.

We have therefore what is the percentage with which surgery was used in the diagnosis of sexual differentiation disorder for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017. In 2015, surgery was used in 0.8% of the diagnoses, in 2015 in 0.9, pardon me, in 2015 in 0.8, in 2016 in 0.9, in 2017 in 0.2 percent of sexual differentiation disorders were surgically treated.

A total of 2017 1252 cases of sexual differentiation disorders were diagnosed, and three cases were surgically treated in 2017. They are a 13-year-old male, a 2-year-old female, and another 16-year-old female. In the decision he chose the surgeon, after hearing the parents, and in the case of a minor with discernment skills was also heard the minor, and therefore we have two who were aged 13 and 16 years.

I repeat the concept, these are urogenital interventions, so in some of these probably the concern was to ensure the function of urination.»

>>> Italy > Intersex Genital Mutilation: Gov Denial makes UN Press Release
>>> Italy + Belgium > UN-CRC80 to examine Intersex Genital Mutilation
>>> UPDATE!! UN-CRC condems IGM in Italy as a “harmful practice” (like FGM)

Intersex Genital Mutilations in Italy: 2018 CRC Report
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Reprod. Anatomy
IGM in Italy • Complicity of the State • Harmful Practice
>>> Download as PDF (391 kb)

IGM in Italy: 2018 Follow-Up Report (for Session)
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Reprod. Anatomy
IGM Statistics • International IGM Networks in Italy • Testimonies
>>> Download as PDF (450 kb)

>>> Download as PDF (450 kb)

Intersex Genital Mutilations • 17 Most Common Forms
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex Anatomy
IGM – Historical Overview • What is Intersex? • How Common is IGM?
>>> Download PDF (3.65 MB) >>> Table of Contents

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 is a Harmful Practice
>>> Download PDF (3.14 MB) >>> Table of Contents

Eliminating IGM practices by holding the perpetrators accountable via well-established applicable human rights frameworks, including Inhuman Treatment and Harmful Practices – Presentation @ UN expert meeting on Intersex Human Rights
>>> Download PDF (831kb)

Netherlands > “Punish Perpetrators, Compensate Victims”: UN Committee Against Torture Condemns Intersex Genital Mutilation

March 21, 2021December 8, 2018 by StopIGM.org

During its 65th Session in Geneva, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) investigated IGM practices in the Netherlands.

Now the Committee sternly reprimanded the Netherlands, unmistakably condemning “unnecessary and irreversible surgery and other medical treatment […] performed on intersex children without informed consent and impartial counselling” as well as the“[lack of] any inquiry, sanction or reparation and that there is no specific legal provisions providing redress and rehabilitation to the victims”.

UN-CAT further explicitly obliged the Netherlands government to “[t]ake the legislative, administrative and other measures necessary to guarantee the respect for the physical integrity and autonomy of intersex persons”, to “[g]uarantee impartial counselling services and psychological and social support for all intersex children and their parents”, to “[u]ndertake investigation” of cases IGM practices, “punish perpetrators” and “ensure that the victims are provided with redress including adequate compensation” (see full binding recommendations below after the break).

This marks the first reprimand for IGM issued by CAT in over 2 years (since the last to France in spring 2016) and the 7th by CAT in total, as well as the 2nd UN reprimand for the Netherlands (after CEDAW in winter 2016) recognising IGM as a serious violation of non-derogable human rights, and the 38th such UN reprimand in total (see complete list).

Congratulations to Nederlandse organisatie voor seksediversiteit (NNID) and everybody involved!

Read below excerpts from and references to all relevant documents during the CAT review of the Netherlands, starting with a good question on IGM by the Committee in its “List of Issues prior to Reporting (LoIPR)”:

Nepal > UN-CEDAW condemns Intersex Infanticide & Genital Mutilation

June 20, 2022December 6, 2018 by StopIGM.org

Photo: 1st Nepali Intersex National Workshop 2016, co-organised by Esam Regmi and Parsu Ram Rai >>> More info

The UN Women’s Rights Committee (CEDAW) condemned “infanticide, forced marriage and medically unnecessary procedures” on intersex children in Nepal as a “harmful practice” (just like FGM).
Nepal, already reprimanded by the UN Child Rights Committee (CRC) in 2016, remained silent on questions by CEDAW experts in Geneva.
CEDAW now calls on Nepal to “prohibit” and “prosecute” such acts, and to ensure “effective remedies for victims”.
Nepal can no longer ignore harmful practices on intersex people! (Nor continue to falsely claim to prevent harmful practices by introducing a “3rd gender in legal documents” and generally misrepresent intersex as “transgender”.)

During its 71st Session in Geneva, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) examined the human rights record of Nepal.

Nepali intersex advocates Esan Regmi and Parsu Ram Rai together with StopIGM.org submitted a Joint Thematic Intersex NGO Report (PDF) and briefed the Committee, providing compelling evidence. CEDAW then raised these serious violations with Nepal, first in the written questions in the List of Issue (LOI) and then during the Session in Geneva – both times, the Nepali Government remained silent.

The intersex advocates welcome the strong binding recommendations (fulltext see below) now issued by the Committe, explicitly condemning infanticide, genital mutilation and other harmful practices on Nepali intersex people in Nepal – both domestic and abroad!

Esan Regmi and Parsu Ram Rai (Nepali intersex advocates):

“These renewed Concluding Observations by CEDAW are another milestone for the rights and dignity of intersex people in Nepal, yet there is still much to do. We hope that this strong recommendations will break through the differences in the discussion on intersex issues and that Nepal will take a leap for change!”

Daniela Truffer and Markus Bauer (StopIGM.org):

“This marks the first time that CEDAW (or any UN Committee) explicitly addressed intersex infanticide in Concluding observations. Intersex advocates in Africa [1] [2] 3 [4] [5], Asia and South America have long denounced intersex infanticide and child abandonment as a pressing issue, same as genital mutilations in in ‘western’ children’s clinics. Also CRC already explicitly condemned medical genital mutilation and massive bullying preventing intersex children from attending school in Nepal as harmful practices. These serious violations must stop!”

Nepal: Full Binding CEDAW71 Intersex Recommendations
>>> Download Full Concl Obs: CEDAW/C/NPL/CO/6 –> paras 18(c),(d) – 19(a),(c),(d)
>>> 2018 CEDAW Joint Intersex NGO Report (PDF) | Joint Intersex Statement (PDF)
>>> UN Press Releases Highlight Intersex Infanticide and IGM in Nepal
>>> Timeline Nepal CEDAW 2018

Stereotypes and harmful practices

18.   The Committee welcomes the criminalization of a number of harmful practices, including chhaupadi, dowry, accusation of witchcraft, discrimination against Dalit and child marriage. It, however, expresses concern at:

       [..]

       (c)    Discrimination against intersex persons, namely abuse, reported infanticide, forced marriage and conduct of medically unnecessary procedures on Nepali intersex infants and children, on the territory of the State party or abroad, before they reach an age when they are able to provide their free, prior and informed consent;

       (d)    Underreporting of harmful practices and insufficient short- and long-term support for victims.

19.    Recalling its previous recommendation (CEDAW/C/NPL/CO/4-5, para. 18), the Committee recommends that the State party, in line with the Joint General Recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on harmful practices, as well as with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals, which calls for the elimination of all harmful practices:

       (a)    Expedite (i) the adoption of legislation prohibiting all forms of harmful traditional practices, investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of such practices, impose adequate sanctions and provide compensation to victims; and (ii) the development of a comprehensive strategy, with concrete goals and resources, in collaboration with civil society and local government, to raise awareness of all stakeholders, including the police, the judiciary, village-based health networks, as well as of religious and community leaders on legislation on harmful practices and on the effects of these practices on the lives of women and girls;

       […]

   (c)    Adopt legislative provisions that explicitly prohibit the performance of unnecessary surgical or other medical procedures on intersex children before they reach the legal age of consent, and train medical and psychological professionals on the rights of intersex persons;

       (d)    Ensure that victims of harmful practices can file complaints without fear of retribution or stigma and have access to effective remedies and victim support, such as legal, social, medical and psychological assistance and shelters.

Intersex Genital Mutilations in Nepal: 2018 CEDAW
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Reprod. Anatomy
Infanticide + IGM in Nepal • Complicity of the State • Harmful Practice
>>> Download as PDF (328 kb)

>>> 2018 CEDAW Joint Intersex Statement Nepal (PDF)
>>> UN Press Releases Highlight Intersex Infanticide and IGM in Nepal
>>> Timeline Nepal CEDAW 2018

IGM as a Harmful Practice: 2015 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 is a Harmful Practice
>>> Download PDF (3.14 MB) >>> Table of Contents

CEDAW71 > TRANSCRIPT + VIDEO: Nepal questioned over Intersex Genital Mutilation by UN Women’s Rights Committee – Gov silent …

March 21, 2021November 24, 2018 by StopIGM.org

CEDAW 71st Session @ Palais des Nations, Geneva 23.10.2018, 09:54h: Getting ready …

Tuesday 23 October 2018 in Geneva, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) examined the human rights record of Nepal as a contracting State party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. This public examination is also archived on webtv.un.org:
• VIDEO Session 1 with Committee questions:
10-13h CET [Nepal: 13:45–16:45h]
• VIDEO Session 2 with Nepal’s (non-)answers and follow-up questions: 15-17h CET [Nepal: 18:45–20:45h]
>>> CEDAW Nepal Timeline 2018

In addition, on Monday 22 October, 15:00–16:30h CEST [Nepal: 18:45–19:15h] there was a public hearing with Nepali NGOs, also archived on webtv.un.org (intersex @ 20:05).
>>> Joint Intersex NGO Statement (PDF)
>>> Extended Private Meeting Joint Intersex NGO Statement (PDF)
>>> UN Press Releases Highlight Intersex Infanticide and IGM in Nepal

Nepali intersex advocates Esan Regmi and Parsu Ram Rai together with StopIGM.org submitted a Joint Thematic Intersex NGO Report (PDF) to the Committee, containing compelling evidence of the serious human rights violations of intersex children in Nepal, including infanticide, child abandonment, intersex genital mutilation and other harmful practices.

StopIGM.org was following live in Geneva, hoping for tough questions for the Nepali delegation, and yet another stern reprimand for Nepal for harmful practices on intersex children at the end of the 71st CEDAW session:

Session 1, Tue 23.10.2018, 10-13h CET

12:36h: (Video @ 02:36:24)YAY!! Committee expert and Country co-rapporteur Madame Gladys Acosta Vargas (Peru) raises harmful practices on intersex children including IGM, asking about statistics and referring to the previous reprimand to Nepal by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)! Unofficial Translation from Original Spanish:

«Thank you very much chairperson, I would also like to ask an additional question regarding intersex people. The human rights violations to which they are subjected have already been brought to the attention of the state party by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2016, and we would like to know if corrective measures have been taken to ensure that these violations of the rights of intersex people, whatever their age, do not happen again.

I would like to know if there are statistics on these surgeries, it would be appropriate to investigate each of these cases, and above all to take legislative measures to prohibit any type of sexual mutilation without the consent of the person, as well as chemical treatments with hormonal impact.

Physicians and all health professionals should be educated and trained to avoid unnecessary surgical or other interventions that violate the rights of intersex children.»

Session 2, Tue 23.10.2018, 15-17h CET

Not entireley surprising, the Nepali Delegation failed to provide any answers on intersex – same as with the written Committee questions in the previous List of Issues (CEDAW/C/NPL/Q/6, para 8 (d)) …

So now we’re hoping for strong Concluding Observations!

UPDATE!! Nepal reprimanded for harmful practices – again!

>>> 2018 CEDAW Joint Intersex Statement Nepal (PDF)
>>> Timeline Nepal CEDAW 2018

Intersex Awareness Day 2018: The Struggle for Justice Continues

November 15, 2023October 28, 2018 by StopIGM.org

“Human Rights For Hermaphrodites Too!”: 1st Intersex Protest at Zurich University Children’s Hospital, 06.07.2008

26 October is Intersex Awareness Day.

This year we would like to recall the suffering of the victims of soon-to-be 60 years of systematic IGM practices, in the establishment and dissemination of which the Zurich University Children’s Hospital (Kispi) played an important role globally (see CRC NGO Report, PDF p. 54–56).

And to protest once more against the appalling injustice, how to this day the dignity of IGM survivors and their right to truth, justice and reparation are disgracefully trampled on by those responsible.

Zurich University Children’s Hospital: Destruction of medical records instead of reappraisal

An example of this is the shocking story of Erich Marti (see CRC NGO Report, PDF p. 54–56), who was subjected to unnecessary cosmetic genital surgery at Kispi Zurich in 1945 and 1946, whereupon his operated genital became extremely touch-sensitive, so that it always hurts strongly when aroused. Like most Intersex children, Erich Marti was lied to all his life – by his parents, by the Kispi doctors and by his family doctor. To this day he does not know what was done to him as a child and suffers from this uncertainty.

When in 2016 the Children’s Hospital and the University of Zurich announced that, as part of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Project No. 169575, they would be “reviewing” the treatment of children with variations of sex development (DSD) at the Zurich University Children’s Hospital and making the medical records available to those affected in the Zurich State Archives, Erich Marti regained hope – only to be shamefully deceived and bitterly disappointed again.

Despite protests from persons concerned, the Zurich Children’s Hospital and University had about 80% of all relevant medical records destroyed beforehand – apparently also those of Erich Marti (see 2017 CAT NGO Report, PDF p. 9). For when he, with the support of the human rights group Zwischengeschlecht.org, asked the State Archives for access, his medical records were no longer there – the only thing left was an entry in the register, which confirmed, however, that Erich Marti had been operated twice in the pediatric surgery department of the Kispi in 1945 and 1946!

Mon 29.10.2018: Non-partisan initiative in the Cantonal Council of Zurich

Next Monday, a non-partisan initiative will be submitted to the Cantonal Council of Zurich – more on this soon!

After an interpellation in the National Council and the motion in the Cantonal Council of Geneva, this is already the 3rd parliamentary initiative in Switzerland this year due to the work of StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org.

We are also staying on the ball internationally: Due to a joint shadow report and testimonies of IGM survivors, Mexico was condemned for the first time this year by a UN treaty body – as were Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Spain and Argentina! There were further condemnations this year for Chile, Australia and New Zealand. And the Women’s Rights Committee CEDAW questioned Nepal this week – hopefully followed by another reprimand for “harmful cultural practices” on Intersex children in November.

We wish everyone a fighting Intersex Awareness Day 2018!

On 26 October, Intersex People, Survivors, Partners, Families, Friends and Allies around the globe celebrate Intersex Awareness Day, commemorating the very first INTERSEX PROTEST in Boston in 1996 against the Annual Convention of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and in support of over 20 Years of Organised Struggle to End INTERSEX GENITAL MUTILATIONS.

>>> Intersex: How to Distinguish Medical Crimes from Health Care

UN Press Releases Highlight Intersex Infanticide and IGM in Nepal

December 3, 2023October 23, 2018 by StopIGM.org

>>> UN CEDAW71 to investigate Intersex Genital Mutilation in Nepal

Daniela Truffer (StopIGM.org) presented the Joint Intersex Statement on behalf of the Nepali intersex community.
The entire CEDAW meeting with NGOs was also transmitted live and will be archived at webtv.un.org.

Both the English and the French UN press releases on the informal meeting of the Committee on the Elimination of the Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) with NGOs from Nepal, Congo, Bahamas and Samoa which was held on Monday 22.10.2018 highlight the Joint Intersex Oral Statement (PDF) on the serious human rights violations facing intersex children in Nepal:

>>> Full English UN Press Release

Statements by Non-Governmental Organizations

Nepal

[…]

StopIGM spoke on behalf of the peers from Nepal who could not afford to travel to Geneva, calling attention to intersex genital mutilation, which remained a growing practice in Nepal. Infanticide and child abandonment were frequent. There were reports of expulsion of adolescents from their families, of forced marriage to avoid conspicuousness, of bullying and abuse, and preventing intersex children from attending school.

>>> Full French UN Press Release

Audition d’organisations de la société civile

S’agissant du Népal

[…]

StopIGM.org a fait état de violences et de harcèlement contre les enfants intersexués au Népal, dénonçant notamment les mutilations génitales et le refus de scolarisation dont ils sont victimes.

>>> UN CEDAW71 to investigate Intersex Genital Mutilation in Nepal

UPDATE!! Nepal reprimanded for harmful practices – again!

CESCR64 Germany > UN criticises “unnecessary operations on intersex children” – Gov promises “legislation”

December 3, 2023October 2, 2018 by StopIGM.org

UPDATE! UN-CESCR obliges Germany to “prohibit” IGM! (see below)

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) reviewed the human rights record of Germany under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights during its 64th session in Geneva. Committee experts were “very concerned” about IGM and asked about legal protections, while Germany admitted that “Data on surgeries performed on intersex children were not being collected”, promising once more to finally take action (soon):

“Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights meets with civil society from Argentina, Mali and Germany (UN press relase 24.09.2018)
[…]
Discussion on Germany
Statement from the national human rights institution
CLAUDIA MAHLER, German Institute for Human Rights […] Finally, intersexed children were still victims of often irreversible surgery, Ms. Mahler said.”

(The German Institute for Human Rights, in its 2017 NHRI report (PDF, p. 9, item 7) had already raised “medically unnecessary and deferrable operations and therapies” and, referring to CEDAW condemning IGM in Germany, also “legal steps […] to prohibit” such practices.)

“Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights reviews report of Germany (UN press relase 25.09.2018)
[…]
Follow-up Questions
[…] The Experts were very concerned that unnecessary operations continued to be performed on intersex children and asked what was being done to prevent such medical interventions taking place.”
[…]
Responses by the Delegation
[…]
The delegation explained that […] Data on surgeries performed on intersex children were not being collected, but the Government had agreed that medical intervention could only be carried out if there was a risk to the child’s life or health, and would bring forward such legislation.
[…]”

StopIGM.org/Zwischengeschlecht.org applauds the national human rights institution (NHRI) German Institute for Human Rights for its continued efforts to report IGM practices to relevant human rights bodies.

Hopefully, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) will now go beyond previous limited recommendations on intersex and IGM falling short of adequately recognising the serious violations of non-derogable human rights constituted by genital mutilation, harmful practices and cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment perpetrated on intersex children in University hospitals around the globe, but will explicitly oblige Germany to criminalise or adequately sanction IGM practices in its upcoming Concluding observations for Germany due later this month – in line with the 2016 CESCR General comment No. 22 highlighting States’ non-derogable “obligation to protect”, namely “to prohibit and take measures to prevent […] medically unnecessary, irreversible and involuntary surgery and treatment performed on intersex infants or children” (E/C.12/GC/22, para 59).

UPDATE!! While still falling short of General comment 22 stressing the (non-derogable) “obligation to protect” everybody from genital mutilation, forced sterilisation etc. (in line with CAT, CCPR etc.), CESCR at least explicitly called for legal prohibition of IGM practices in Germany: “The Committee recommends that the State party take necessary measures to prohibit medically unnecessary gender confirmation surgery on intersex infants” (E/C.12/DEU/CO/6, para 24-25) Unfortunately, the language (“gender confirmation surgery”) is severely misleading, however typical for the way how trans issues (“transgender-persons”) are also lumped in.

>>> Intersex: How to Distinguish Medical Crimes from Health Care

>>> Intersex human rights at the UN are under attack!!!

Genève > Grand Conseil: Motion visant à l’interdiction des mutilations génitales intersexes (MGI)

March 21, 2021September 17, 2018 by StopIGM.org

[ English ] [ Deutsch ]

UPDATE! Soumission au Grand Conseil de Genéve par StopIGM.org (PDF 136 kb)

Photo: Nonviolent Intersex Protest by StopIGM.org, Geneva 25 January 2009 #CEDAW43

IGM = CRIME, Not 'Health Care' or 'Therapy'! Suite au travail de et en consultation avec StopIGM.org/Zwischengeschlecht.org, une Motion (PDF) a été déposée au Grand Conseil de la République et canton de Genève par des député-e-s du Parti “Ensemble à Gauche”, qui revendique une prohibition légale des Mutilations Génitales Intersexes (MGI), pour fournir aux personnes intersexes et leurs familles un soutien psychosocial gratuit, pour faire des enquêtes sur des MGI à Genève, et indemniser les personnes qui en ont été victimes.

La motion fait explicitement référence à des stipulations similaires dans les recommandations de 2012 de la Commission nationale d’éthique pour la médecine humaine (NEK-CNE), les 4 réprimandes de l’ONU à la Suisse pour MGI, notamment par le Comité des droits de l’enfant (CRC), le Comité contre la torture (CAT), le Comité pour l’élimination de la discrimination à l’égard des femmes (CEDAW) et le Comité des droits de l’homme (HRCttee) en tant qu’organe de suivi du Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques (CCPR), ainsi qu’à la nouvelle enquête du CAT sur les MGI en Suisse — tous des résultats directs des travaux de StopIGM.org/Zwischengeschlecht.org.

Le texte intégral de la motion propre :

«M 2491

Proposition présentée par les député-e-s :
Mmes et MM. Jean Burgermeister, Jocelyne Haller, Pablo Cruchon, Stéphanie Valentino, Olivier Baud, Pierre Bayenet, Christian Zaugg, Salika Wenger, Pierre Vanek, Jean Batou, Marjorie de Chastonay, David Martin, Katia Leonelli, Adrienne Sordet, Yves de Matteis, Yvan Rochat, Paloma Tschudi, Frédérique Perler, Delphine Klopfenstein Broggini, François Lefort, Pierre Eckert, Anne Marie von Arx-Vernon, Claude Bocquet, Diego Esteban, Salima Moyard, Jean-Charles Rielle, Léna Strasser, Caroline Marti, Nicole Valiquer Grecuccio, Alessandra Oriolo, Sylvain Thévoz, Grégoire Carasso
Date de dépôt : 12 juillet 2018

Proposition de motion

Pour en finir avec les mutilations des personnes intersexes

Le GRAND CONSEIL de la République et canton de Genève

considérant :

– le non-respect du choix des personnes concernées lors d’opérations non-urgentes sur des enfants présentant une variation de l’anatomie sexuelle à la naissance ;

– les dommages psychiques et physiques infligés aux personnes qui ont subi ce type d’opérations ;

– le fait que des hôpitaux genevois, et tout particulièrement les HUG, pratiquent ce type d’opérations ;

– le fait que la Suisse ait été condamné à quatre reprises par divers organes de l’ONU à ce sujet ;

– le fait que le Comité contre la torture de l’ONU (CAT) demande actuellement à la Suisse des informations sur les mesures prises contre les mutilations

invite le Conseil d’Etat :

– à interdire les opérations non urgentes, et sans consentement des personnes intéressées, sur des personnes présentant une variation de l’anatomie sexuelle ;

– à reconnaître de telles opérations, lorsque elles se sont déroulées sans le consentement de la personne, comme des mutilations et à indemniser les personnes qui en ont été victimes ;

– à présenter un rapport établissant un état des lieux au sujet de ces pratiques dans les hôpitaux et cliniques du canton et recensant les cas de mutilations de ce type durant les 50 dernières années ainsi que l’évolution des pratiques médicales en la matière ;

– à garantir aux personnes intersexes le droit de prendre leurs propres décisions concernant les traitements et les soins médicaux dont elles peuvent bénéficier, sur la base d’un consentement informé ;

– à mettre sur pied un soutien psychosocial gratuit à destination des personnes intersexes et de leurs familles. »

Mettre fin à l’impunité des praticiens des MGI

StopIGM.org accueille favorablement cette motion. A notre connaissance, il s’agit de la toute première initiative politique vraiment adressant les MGI en Suisse (au lieu de simplement instrumentaliser les intersexes et les MGI pour la politique LGBT et du genre) puisque le rejet en 2017 de notre pétition 2015 aux deux Conseils fédéraux (15.2043), e référant aux affirmations contrefactuelles du gouvernement fédéral répétée depuis lors, prétendent que les MGI auraient lieux strictement “[p]ar le passé” et les “recommandations émises par la CNE qui concernent la Confédération sont mises en œuvre ou en passe de l’être”.

Nous espérons que le Grand Conseil de la République et canton de Genève, ainsi que la Commission nationale de bioéthique et les organes de traités de l’ONU, ne se laissera pas tromper, mais qu’il examinera attentivement la réalité des MGI à Genève et ses conséquences néfastes durables, et reconnaisse que la MGI constitue une question non partisane et une violation grave des droits humains non-dérogables, notamment le droit à une protection contre la torture et la mutilation génitale.

Les Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG) sont des praticiens et défenseurs bien connus de la MGI sous le couvert de l’infame “approche individuelle au cas par cas”. StopIGM.org a documenté la pratique des HUG auprès de tous les organes de traités de l’ONU mentionnés comme faisant partie des preuves qui ont abouti aux 4 réprimandes de l’ONU pour la MGI en Suisse — y compris la promotion des pratiques MGI sur la page d’accueil des HUG et des médecins des HUG rapportant publiquement une déficience ou une perte des sensations sexuelles suite à une amputation clitoridienne partielle chez des patients intersexes aux HUG (36.9°).

UPDATE! Soumission au Grand Conseil de Genéve par StopIGM.org (PDF 136 kb)

>>> StopIGM.org > Pages françaises

>>> Le droit de choisir (RTS, le journal, 11.10.2009, 19:30)

En Suisse, un enfant sur deux mille naît intersexuel, un cas rare que défendent certaines associations:
On a beaucoup parlé de la sud-africaine Caster Semenya, suspectée d’être hermaphrodite après son titre de championne du monde du 800 m. Une association se bat en Suisse pour que l’on n’impose plus d’opérations génitales à ces enfants dont le sexe est ambigu.

>>> Un corps, deux sexes (RTS, 36.9°, 14.11.2012)

21’28’’ « Je crois pas qu’on a le droit de traiter la détresse des parents par de la chirurgie, je crois que c’est faux là, je crois que là on se place pas, éthiquement, sur quelque chose de correct.
On parle de traumatisme des parents, ok, ça je vous dit, je suis absolument certain qu’il y a un traumatisme extrêmement grave, alors moi je vous pose la question et je pose la question à ceux qui opèrent tôt : est-ce que ce traumatisme-là peut être effacé par le traumatisme de son enfant qu’on opère, qu’on met en salle d’opération, une fois, deux fois, trois fois, quatre fois ? Est-ce que ce traumatisme-là, n’est pas encore plus grave ? Alors moi j’estime que oui. »

23’14’’ « Las plupart ne nécessite pas de chirurgie, on opère parce qu’on pense que c’est une solution rapide et ensuite tout ira bien psychologiquement une fois que les organes génitaux correspondent à un genre quelque sois celui assigné à l’individu. Mais manifestement ce n’est pas le cas. […]
En tôt que gynécologue je vois des patients qui ont un rétrécissement de leur ouverture vaginale, je vois des patientes, dont les sensations sont perturbées parce que l’opération touche des tissures qui sont sexuellement sensibles de même que les nerfs qui les entourent et on constate une réduction des sensations en raison de ses opérations et du tissus cicatriciel qui c’est formé. »

>>> Intersexualité: interview de Jean Martin, membre de la Commission nationale d’éthique pour la médecine (RTS INFO 12:45, 09.11.2012)

Intersexualité: interview de Jean Martin, membre de la Commission nationale d’éthique pour la médecine
Les enfants dont le sexe n’est pas clairement défini à la naissance doivent pouvoir se prononcer eux-mêmes sur leur identité masculine ou féminine.

Photo: Daniela Truffer (StopIGM.org) speaking in Geneva at the Rainbow Cities Network NGO meeting, 20.11.2015

Geneva > Motion Filed to Prohibit Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM)

March 21, 2021September 16, 2018 by StopIGM.org

[ Français ] [ Deutsch ]

Photo: Nonviolent Intersex Protest by StopIGM.org, Geneva 25 January 2009 #CEDAW43

IGM = CRIME, Not 'Health Care' or 'Therapy'! As a result of the work of, and in consultation with StopIGM.org/Zwischengeschlecht.org, a Motion (french, PDF) has been filed in the Great Council of the Republic and Canton of Geneva by Members of Parliament of the Party “Ensemble à Gauche”, which calls for a legal prohibition of Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM), to provide free psychosocial support for intersex people and their families, to investigate cases of IGM in Geneva, and to pay compensation to IGM survivors.

The Motion explicitly refers to similar stipulations in the 2012 recommendations of the Swiss National Bioethics Commission (NEK-CNE), the so far 4 UN reprimands to Switzerland for IGM, namely by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the UN Committee against Torture (CAT), the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) as the Treaty body monitoring the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), as well as to the renewed investigation of IGM in Switzerland by CAT – all of them direct results of the work of StopIGM.org/Zwischengeschlecht.org.

The full text of the Motion in English:

CEDAW70 > TRANSCRIPT + VIDEO: Mexico Questioned Over Intersex Genital Mutilation by UN – Gov Admits “Practice”, Ignores Redress

March 21, 2021August 3, 2018 by StopIGM.org

[ E s p a ñ o l ]

>>> Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and Liechtenstein reprimanded for IGM by UN

UN-CEDAW 70th Session @ Palais des Nations, Geneva 06.07.2017: Getting ready …
On the right (below the screen): Madame Arocha, who asked the question on intersex,
discussing with Daniela Truffer and Markus Bauer (StopIGM.org)

StopIGM.org, Brújula Intersexual and Vivir y Ser Intersex, with the support of Adiós Al Futuro and Intersex y Andrógino, Yo Intersexual and Eva Alcántara presented a comprehensive NGO Report on the Situation of Intersex People in Mexico to CEDAW (2018), which demonstrates that intersex genital mutilation practices continue to be carried out in public hospitals in Mexico, and on 05.07.2018 briefed the Committe with a Joint intersex Statement.

During the 70th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Mexico was questioned about Intersex Genital Mutilation – and while the Delegate didn’t reply to the part of the question about “punish[ing]” perpetrators, she at least was honest about the persisting practice:

« We know that it is an issue that we still have the task of reaching the base of the national health system, disseminating and eliminating the practices that are persisting, both in counseling and in the performance of surgical interventions in this regard […] »

Session 2, Fri 06.07.2018, 15-17h

>>> VIDEO: Watch the entire Session in Spanish and English on UN Web TV

Ms. Magalys Arocha Dominguez (CEDAW Vice-Chairperson and Head of Task Force for Mexico) (Video @ 1:03:47) raises intersex and IGM together with other examples of violence in health care settings.
Unofficial Transcript (based on the original Spanish one):

« Thank you, Madam Chair, with your indulgence, because I really did not have time to include a question I had, which is actually a follow-up to something we have seen since the morning, which has to do with the intersectionality of discrimination in general; and in the case of health in particular, the situation that certain groups face with the health services themselves.

There are things that I do not like to ask under the health article, because in fact there are certain groups, especially disability, the problems of the LBTI community, which are generally medicalised, are seen from a very medical point of view, as problems of disorders…. and that should not be the approach, it must be a human rights point of view, therefore, receive my question as a concern in this area, but it must be seen in a more general framework, there in articles 1 and 2, where this was briefly mentioned this morning.

I would just like to ask if in the health services… what has the Mexican state done, if there are resources for this, if there is training for medical personnel in general for care, first of all for the groups of women with disabilities in general, and in particular indigenous and Afro-descendant women with disabilities who are often more vulnerable to access to health services, and this access to comprehensive health care, as an issue that also has to do with the development of their capacities, of their potential, and not only of people with a degree of disability, in a degree of exclusion from social life, and the issue, above all, of an informed, inclusive sexuality that also recognizes that people with disabilities have these rights. So I would like to know what progress has been made, what the limitations are, where we are going in Mexico on this issue.

And a next issue has to do with this same approach to the LBTI population, which yes, we are talking about the LBTI population but the needs of lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women are completely different, including in the health field and in other areas. But in the health field in particular, I would like to emphasize only the issue that civil society organizations and other alternative sources have brought us here, too, about the violations that have occurred in the past and that still exist in many places, and that we must try to rebuild the social fabric of people affected by intersex genital mutilation in times when it was not well known, we all know that times have changed, but how are we working in the Mexican state in the medical capacity to order this situation, to prevent, to deal with, and to punish when there is a wrongful malpractice? […]

Ms. Aurora del Rio Zolezzi (Deputy Director General of Gender Equality at the National Centre for Gender Equality and Reproductive Health, Ministry of Health) (Video @ 01:12:03) replies on intersex, admitting that IGM is still an issue in Mexico – but ignoring the question about what Mexico does “to deal with, and to punish when there is a wrongful malpractice”:
Unofficial Transcript (based on the original Spanish one):

« Thank you, good afternoon again. In Mexico, as part of the programs related to equality, for the incorporation of the gender equity and human rights perspective, in the areas of gender equality and human… »

Chairperson [interrupts]: «Sorry, just please go directly to Madame Arocha’s questions.»

Ms. Aurora del Rio Zolezzi [continues]: « OK, yes, thank you, […]

In terms of guaranteeing access to all persons with disabilities, indigenous and Afro-Mexican persons, staff have been trained in human rights, sexual diversity, interculturality, inclusive communication and non-discrimination. On average, 18,000 public servants a year are trained in these subjects. […]

As for LBTTTI populations, and in particular the issue of intersex and genital mutilation in persons born with intersex characteristics there is… recently, it is a very recent protocol that was published in the country, which was developed by experts from different institutions, it is the protocol for the care of sexually diverse and intersex persons, in which there is a specific guide for the care of people living with intersex, with characteristics of an intersex state, and which establishes the need not to carry out surgical interventions, especially irreversible surgeries, in early childhood. We know that it is an issue that we still have the task of reaching the base of the national health system, disseminating and eliminating the practices that are persisting, both in counseling and in the performance of surgical interventions in this regard […] »

IGM in Mexico: CEDAW Intersex NGO Report
>>> English (PDF 559 kb) >>> Summary (PDF)
>>> Español (PDF 513 kb)
Compiled by:
Brújula Intersexual
Vivir y Ser Intersex
StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org

• CEDAW70 Intersex Testimony Mexico: IGM State-sponsored – Gov Fails to Act
• Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Liechtenstein reprimanded for IGM by UN-CEDAW

>>> Intersex human rights at the UN are under attack!!!