Committee against Torture investigates IGM in U.S. and Australia

IGM = Torture, NOT 'Discrimination' or 'Gender Identity'YAY!! The UN-Committee against Torture (CAT) started an investigation of Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM) in both the USA and Australia under Art. 16 of the Convention (“inhuman treatment” falling under the prohibition of torture). The Committee has formally asked the U.S. and Australia to provide statistics on IGM and to “indicate which criminal or civil remedies are available for people who have undergone involuntary sterilisation or unnecessary and irreversible medical or surgical treatment”.

Both State parties have now to explain themselves to the Committee in written reports due in 2017. Thereafter the Committee will review both states in Geneva. Considering that both the U.S. and Australia are major IGM perpetrators allowing and directly funding the mutilations, intersex advocates are again expecting stern reprimands for both states (see 20 UN Reprimands for IGM).

The Committee is acting on NGO reports submitted by intersex advocacy organisations InterACT and OII Australia substantiating the ongoing practice in both countries.

StopIGM.org congratulates both InterACT and OII Australia and says thank you!

To be continued …

Below links to the NGO reports + the full questions by the Committee on Intersex and IGM within their “List of Issues” to both states:

Intersex Genital Mutilations in the USA:

2016 UN-CAT NGO Report by InterACT

>>> Download as PDF (282 kb)

List of Issues USA
CAT/C/USA/QPR/6 (DOCX) –> para 45 (p. 11)

45.  Please comment on the reports of premature surgery and other medical treatment to which intersex children would be subjected (see, Inter-ACT -Advocates for Intersex Youth, Submission to the UN Committee against Torture, 2016). Please, indicate the number of intersex children who have undergone sex assignment surgery during the reporting period.
 

Intersex Genital Mutilations in Australia:

2016 UN-CAT NGO Report by OII Australia

>>> Download as PDF (265 kb)

List of Issues Australia
CAT/C/AUS/QPR/6 (PDF) –> para 24 (p. 8)

24.  In the light of the Committee’s concluding observations (para. 20), please provide information on the efforts made towards prohibiting the use of sterilisation without the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned in all Australian jurisdictions. Please also clarify whether non-urgent and irreversible medical or surgical treatment aimed at determining the sex of a child is permitted and performed on children and how does the State party guarantee that full, free and informed consent of the persons concerned is ensured. In this regard, please indicate what action has been taken by the State party to implement the recommendations of a 2013 Senate Community Affairs References Committee report on the involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia. In addition, please indicate which criminal or civil remedies are available for people who have undergone involuntary sterilisation or unnecessary and irreversible medical or surgical treatment aimed at determining their sex when they were children and whether these remedies are subject to any statute of limitations.

See also:
UN Committee for the Rights of the Child (CRC) 2015: IGM = Harmful Practice
UN Committee against Torture (CAT) 2015: IGM = Inhuman Treatment or Torture
UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) to examine IGM Practices
UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) condemns IGM
Historic 56th Session of Committee against Torture reprimands 4 Governments over IGM 
CAT 2011: Germany must investigate IGM practices and compensate survivors!

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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 are IGMs?
>>> Download PDF (3.65 MB)     >>> Table of Contents

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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 in Geneva 26.–27.10.2015
>>> Download PDF (831kb)

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