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CEDAW67 > VIDEO + TRANSCRIPT: Italy Questioned over Intersex Genital Mutilations by UN Women’s Rights Committee – Gov Denies

March 21, 2021July 25, 2017 by StopIGM.org

>>> CEDAW67 > Claudia Balsamo’s Testimony to Intersex Genital Mutilation in Italy
>>> Cedaw Timeline Italy 2017

UN-CEDAW 67th Session @ Palais des Nations, Geneva 04.07.2017: Getting ready …
#CEDAWItaly #UNCEDAW67

Italy was up for review of IGM practices at the 67th session
of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on
Tue 4 July 10:00-13:00h CET + 15:00-18:00h CET.

The livestream is archived here: Session 1 | Session 2

StopIGM.org reported LIVE from Palais des Nations , hoping for strong questions on IGM practices:

CEDAW 67 Italy Intersex Q&A: Transcript + Video

Session 1, Thu 04.07.2017, 15–18h CET

Under CEDAW art. 5 (harmful practices), and also else during the 1st session, unfortunately no questions on intersex were asked …

Session 2, Thu 04.07.2017, 15–18h CET

16:03h: (Video english | original (spanish) @ 1:02:51) YAY!! CEDAW Task Force Italy expert Magalys Arocha Dominguez raises IGM together with forced sterislisation on Roma women 🙂 (but unfortunately calls IGM “the practice to have sex change corrections early in life when the situation might still be unclear”). :-/
Unofficial Transcript (UN simultaneous translation from original Spanish):

«And a final and last question relates to the existence of specialised services with sufficient methodological and practical guides and regular inspection, concerning these services being offered above all for Roma women and migrant women located in the country, women with disabilities, lesbians and transsexuals in specific areas which might be very sensitive, as it’s the case for example regarding the area of reproductive and sexual health or indeed operations to prevent reproduction to women with disabilities and Roma women. How does the state prevent that kind of practice in both in normative and practical way, [1:03:38] and also the practice to have sex change corrections early in life when the situation might still be unclear. Thank you.»

(The Italian Delegation then didn’t answer the bit on IGM.)

16:58h: (Video english ) @ 1:58:28) YAY!! Less than 90 seconds before the end of the session, CEDAW expert Particia Schulz is eventually allowed a follow-up question, spelling out intersex children, harmful practices and legislation to end IGM, and raising the CEDAW/CRC Joint General Recomm. “on harmful practices”! 🙂
Unofficial Transcript:

«Thank you very much Madam Chair for allowing a last question on my side. I refer to the question asked by Miss Arocha concerning corrective surgeries which is medically unnecessary very often and irreversible surgery and other medical treatment performed on intersex children, not with the consent of the persons themselves or their parents. These interventions are now seen more and more by a number of UN human rights bodies as a violation of the right to health as well a form of harmful practice according to the Joint General Recommendation this Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child developed. So my question: Do you plan to adopt legislation to protect the bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination of intersex persons, maybe by criminalising these interventions when unnecessary, and to provide for compensation for those who underwent those measures without their free prior and informed consent? Thank you.»

(The session goes into extra time.)

17:00h: (Video english | original (italian) @ 1:59:49) Italian Delegate Assunta Morresi (Ministry of Health) issues the usual denials, allegedly only “very few” mutilations and only for medical reasons with allegedly “no data or indication of forced interventions”, parent’s consent allegedly sufficient, but if wished by the doctors (!!!) they would be open for “discussions” … 🙁
Unofficial Transcript (UN simultaneous translation from original Italian):

«This kind of surgery is very limited, there have been 9 surgical operations between the years of 0 and 9 in 2015, and all these interventions have taken into account medical requirements. And of course we need the informed consent of the parents or of a tutor. So far we had not had any data or indication of forced interventions. Everything has taken place case by case according to medical indications and with consent. If scientific societies believe that it is necessary to have a discussion on this the ministry of course will be available.»

17:01h: (Video english ) @ 2:01:01) CEDAW expert Particia Schulz follows up, explains parents cannot ‘consent’ to IGM! 🙂
Unofficial Transcript:

«Yes, actually, more and more the discussion is that parents cannot consent to such interventions because of the gravity they have and the consequences that are lifelong. So the child suffers during the childhood and may suffer during the whole adulthood. So this is a question that I think should be adressed in view of these considerations. Thank you very much.»

(There was no follow-up answer by Italy.)

17:04h: Chairperson Dalia Leinarte closes the session.

This was way too close for comfort, as in UN Treaty body mechanisms there is the iron-cast rule, “no questions during the review, no recommendations”. Even more worrying however is the fact that the issue was only raised under art. 10 “healthcare”, and NOT under art. 5 “harmful practices”, and that obviously at the UN the harmful misconception persists, intersex and more specifically would be about “sex change”, and generally a trans or LGBT issue, a harmful prejudice that is constantly fueled at the UN (and elswhere) by big money LGBT NGOs and agencies including Amnesty London, EU-FRA and UNFE New York, and which may rather sooner than later spell the end of intersex human rights at the UN! Nonetheless, let’s hope for strong Concluding observations for Italy under art. 5, due at the end of the 67th CEDAW session …

>>> CEDAW67 > Claudia Balsamo’s Testimony to Intersex Genital Mutilation in Italy
>>> CEDAW67 Italy: UN Press Release on NGO Briefing english | français
>>> Cedaw Timeline Italy 2017

NGO Report to the 7th Report of Italy on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

>>> Download (PDF 650 kb)

Compiled by:
Claudia Balsamo
StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org

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

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)

“Inferior”, “Abnormal”, “Deformed”: Intersex, IGM and the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD)

January 31, 2022July 22, 2017 by StopIGM.org

The following is an excerpt from an NGO submission by StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
>>> fulltext DOC (83 kb) | PDF (102 kb
for a Study on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls with disabilities (more info), to be presented at the upcoming 72nd session of the UN General Assembly starting on 12 September .

4. “Inferior”, “Abnormal”, “Deformed”: Intersex, IGM and the CRPD

Individual doctors, national and international medical bodies, public and private healthcare providers have traditionally been framing and “treating” intersex variations as a form of disability in need to be “cured” surgically, often with racist, eugenic and suprematist undertones. [10] [11] [12] [13]

It is important to note that Intersex is an umbrella term for many diverse variations and “diagnoses”, of which only a few specific and comparatively rare conditions represent an immediate medical situation or impairment, notably Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) in the salt-losing form which constitutes a vital (metabolical) medical need for daily hormone substitution of lacking cortisol – however, this does NOT constitute a need for genital surgeries!

Nonetheless, doctors persistently use this specific exception as a justification for imposing unnecessary genital surgery and other treatments on ALL persons with variations of sex anatomy to “fix” them. [14]

Thus, as a result of having been submitted to IGM practices, most intersex people have actual physical and psychological impairments and medical needs (chronic pain, loss of sexual sensibility, lifelong psychological trauma, metabolic problems, and need for daily hormone substitution after castration, etc.). Many can’t work anymore, and live in poverty due to persistent barriers preventing them from full and effective participation in society on an equal basis as well as from the full enjoyment of all human rights, including their rights to physical integrity and self-determination, their rights to freedom from violence, harmful practices and torture or ill-treatment, their rights to the best attainable standard of health, and their rights to justice, redress and compensation. For example in Germany, many IGM survivors are officially recognised as “disabled” due to the consequences of IGM. [15]

On top, both IGM survivors and intersex persons having escaped surgery are facing (fear of) stigmatisation, ostracism and rejection by modern society because of their (sometimes) “unusual appearance”, compounded by doctors’ constant conjuring up the birth of an intersex child as a “psycho-social emergency” and qualifying it as a “Disorder” in need of urgent involuntary “treatment”.

Accordingly, the easier an intersex trait can be tested prenatally, the higher the (selective) abortion rates, [16] most intersex diagnoses are listed as permissible for deselection in State sponsored preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) guidelines [17], and e.g. in Switzerland IGM practices are paid for by the Federal Disability Insurance. [18]

In consequence, intersex persons and organisations are applying the social model of disability to devise strategies in their fight for bodily integrity and recognition as fully human beings, often in collaboration with disability groups. As Jay Hayes-Light of UKIA, an IGM survivor as well as wheelchair user (due to an accident not related with his intersex condition) puts it: [19]

“Medical practitioners view intersex as something that needs to be fixed. We are regarded as deformed, somehow in deficit anatomically, and therefore the way to fix it is to cobble us together into what they deem to be an acceptable format, instead of allowing us to exist in society.”

[10] 2014 CRC NGO Report, p. 52, 69, 84, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2014-CRC-Swiss-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM_v2.pdf

[11] In the WHO “World Atlas of Birth Defects (2nd Edition)”, many intersex diagnoses are listed, including “indeterminate sex” and “hypospadias”: http://web.archive.org/web/20160305152127/http://prenatal.tv/lecturas/world%20atlas%20of%20birth%20defects.pdf

[12] “The Racist Roots of Intersex Genital Mutilations” https://www.stopigm.org/post/Racist-Roots-of-Intersex-Genital-Mutilations-IGM

[13] For 500 years of “scientific” prejudice in a nutshell, see 2016 CEDAW France NGO Report, p. 7, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2016-CEDAW-France-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM.pdf

[14] This excuse constitutes also the historic root for imposing systematic unnecessary early surgeries, see 2014 CRC NGO report, p. 54–56 http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2014-CRC-Swiss-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM_v2.pdf

[15] For example in Germany, see 2015 CRPD Germany NGO Report, p. 16, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2015-CRPD-LoI-Germany_NGO-Report_Zwischengeschlecht_Intersex-IGM.doc

[16] For stats and references, see “Selective Intersex Abortions: XXY 74%, Indeterminate Sex 47%, Hypospadias 2%”, https://www.stopigm.org/post/Selective-Intersex-Abortions-Hypospadias-Intersex-XXY

[17] For example in the UK, see http://guide.hfea.gov.uk/pgd/ [Note: The HFEA homepage is under reconstruction, currently the list can be found at https://www.hfea.gov.uk/pgd-conditions/], See also 2014 CRC NGO Report, p. 76, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2014-CRC-Swiss-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM_v2.pdf

[18] See 2014 CRC NGO Report, p. 76, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2014-CRC-Swiss-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM_v2.pdf

[19] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/02/male-and-female-what-is-it-like-to-be-intersex

Intersex, IGM and CRPD: 2017 Submission to SR Disability
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls with disabilities
IGM and CRPD • Harmful Stereotypes and Prejudice • Harmful Practice
>>> Download DOC (83 kb) | PDF (102 kb)

IGM Practices in the UK: 2017 NGO Report to CRPD
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex Anatomy
IGM and CRPD • UK & NHS violating Human Rights • Right to Integrity
>>> Download DOC (486 kb) | PDF (254 kb)

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

“eUROG€N”: More €U Millions for Intersex Genital Mutilators (1)

October 16, 2023July 16, 2017 by StopIGM.org

Click to enlarge! (Picture from “eUROG€N” self-presentation, PDF)

State-sponsored Intersex Genital Mutilation stays in business – (not only) allover the EU and associated states.
“ERNs” or “European Reference Networks” are the next batch of €uro millions over the next 5 years to practice and proliferate IGM, paid out to the usual international consortium of Intersex Genital Mutilators represented mainly in the 2 ERNs, “eUROG€N” or “Network Urogenital Diseases”, and “Endo-€RN” (more soon), as well as their regional trade organisations including ESPU, ESPE, ESE and EAU.

>>> “eUROG€N” self-presentation March 2017 (PDF)
>>> 3rd conference on European Reference Networks, Vilnius, 9 March 2017
>>> Open Letter by Persons Concerned, Partners, Families, Friends and Allies (PDF) with 92 101 signatories to ‘I-DSD’, ‘DSDnet’, ‘eUROGEN’, ‘Endo-ERN’, ‘DSD-Life’ and Affiliates including 115 EU-funded IGM clinics in 27 countries.

“The ERN initiative receives support from several EU funding programmes, including the Health Programme, the Connecting Europe Facility and Horizon 2020.” – ERN 2017 Brochure (PDF), p.8

This renewed €uro injection comes timely for the IGM perpetrators, as current funding vehicles “D$Dnet” and “D$D-Life” will expire in 2018, same as predecessors “EuroD$D” and “Netzwerk D$D/Intersexualität” earlier. From early on, both the “Europea n Association of Urology (EAU)” and the “European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE)” have been actively involved in securing this funding.

(Meanwhile in the States, ‘to keep pace with’ these EU ‘advances in basic and clinical DSD research’, the NIH keeps funding a similar ‘D$D Transnational Research Network’ for U.S. mutilators – as do other public bodies in other regions, too.)

“eUROG€N Work Stream 1” includes all of the most frequent forms of IGM practices.

The paeditaric urologists of “eUROG€N” represent the most prominent speciality of paediatric surgeons actually wielding the knife in IGM practices and, together with their buddies, the paediatric endocrinologists, they are the main culprits in the “interdisciplinary groups” leading the systematic practice since 1950.

“eUROG€N Work Stream 2” includes further “rare conditions” and “highly specialised” surgical “reconstructions”, and is led by a notorious public advocate and perpetrator of IGM practices, from a public University Hospital which has been a notorious advocate and perpetrator of IGM practices for over 60 years, and both the hospital and Prof Fisch tried in vain to pressure intersex activists including Zwischengeschlecht.org to take down posts denouncing them as genital mutilators. (Picture: “eUROG€N” self-presentation, PDF)

Compared to the more “purist” approach of precursor funding vehicles “DSDnet” and “DSD-Life”, as well as predecessors “EuroDSD” and “Netzwerk DSD/Intersexualität”, “eUROGEN” does its best to muddy the waters by also including non-DSD-related actual medical issues like for example penile and abdominal cancer in the “eUROGEN Work Stream 3” (as does “Endo-ERN” by including “Gender Dysphoria” and “Disorders of sex maturation (DSM)”), leading to some perpetrators lamenting less generous funding.

“MoH of Lithuania”, “European Commission”, “Under the Auspices of Malta EU 2017”:
Logos displayed at the 2017 €RN “Kick-Off” Conference in Vilnius (Official Report, PDF)

Nonetheless, this “camouflage” still seems to work wonders on willing politician accomplices, as demonstrated amongst others by the Maltese Health Minister publicly welcoming this public funding of IGM perpetrators and practices this spring (despite that IGM is – at least on paper – prohibited in Malta), and the Maltese Member of the ERM Board of Member States (BoMS) in her presentation (PDF, p. 6) unwillingly highlighted the quite common State practice (particularly within the Comonwealth) of sending intersex children “overseas” for IGM, by underlining Malta’s long “special” relationship with notorious IGM perpetrator “Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH)” in London.

How much longer?!!

>>> Open Letter by Persons Concerned, Partners, Families, Friends and Allies (PDF) with 92 101 signatories to ‘I-DSD’, ‘DSDnet’, ‘eUROGEN’, ‘Endo-ERN’, ‘DSD-Life’ and Affiliates including 115 EU-funded IGM clinics in 27 countries.

>>> EU Parliament condemns IGM, calls “to prevent, ban and prosecute”

>>> EU: Biggest funder of IGM – how much longer?!
>>> ‘D$Dnet’ – EU Millions for IGM Perpetrators
>>> ‘D$D-Life’ – The Global IGM Cartel Explained

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: 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

CCPR120 > Testimony to Intersex Genital Mutilation in Switzerland

July 10, 2021July 11, 2017 by StopIGM.org

Daniela Truffer testifying to IGM in Switzerland to the UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee), Geneva 03.07.2017

At the 120th Session of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) as the Treaty body monitoring implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), before Switzerland was questioned over Intersex Genital Mutilations, NGOs had the possibility to brief the HRCttee in a closed meeting.

Read below the 5-minutes oral statement by Swiss intersex advocate and IGM survivor Daniela Truffer: >>> PDF (103 kb)

StopIGM.org – STOP Intersex Genital Mutilations
NGO Oral Statement CCPR 120 Switzerland, 03.07.2017
Daniela Truffer

Thank you, Chair

I was born 1965 in Switzerland, with so called “ambiguous” genitalia. The doctors couldn‘t tell if I was a girl or a boy.

First they cut me open between my legs to see, if they find a vagina.

At two months they opened my abdomen and found healthy testes, which they threw in the garbage bin, without telling my parents.

At seven they cut my genital to make me look more like a girl, allegedly with my consent. Today they probably would make a boy out of me, by even more surgeries.

The doctors always lied to me and my parents. I spent my life in fear, pain and shame. I couldn’t talk to anybody.

Only at 35 I discovered that I am not alone and that there are self-help groups.

At 42, I was lucky to obtain my medical records, but only after a long hassle, and with statutes of limitations long expired.

I still suffer from periodical pain between my legs, hypersensitivity, and painful scars.

I did ten years of psychoanalytic therapy, otherwise I wouldn‘t be here now.

While all surgeries were paid for in full by the State, for the psychotherapy I had to pay a third by myself.

As substantiated in our 2017 NGO report, [1] in Switzerland all forms of Intersex Genital Mutilations are still perpetrated with impunity, paid for by the Swiss federal Disability Insurance, while adequate psychosocial support is still not available.

However, the Swiss State party can no longer in good faith claim ignorance of the severity of the human rights violations perpetrated against intersex children.

In 2012, the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics (NEK-CNE), having been tasked by the Swiss Federal Government, recommended a legal review into
   1. prohibiting the practice
   2. ensuring access to redress andc ompensation, and
   3. to provide access to free counselling.

In 2015 and 2016 Concluding observations CRC, CAT and CEDAW recognised IGM in Switzerland to constitute ill-treatment and a harmful practice, and explicitly obliged the State party to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to implement above Ethics Commission recommendations.

However, despite in the 2016 State report to this Committee for the first time acknowledging that IGM practices have been “denounced […] by the Federal Parliament and Council as well as by the National Ethics Commission”, and in a Federal Council statement on the Ethics Commission recommendations further acknowledging that IGM practices result in “considerable consequential damage and severe suffering”, to this day the Swiss State party undeviatingly refuses to take effective measures, but instead counterfactually claims,

IGM practices would only be “approved for between one and three children per year of birth”,

IGM practices would be strictly a thing of the “past”,

the recommendations of the Ethics Commission would all be “already implemented or in the process of being implemented”,

however “free psychosocial support” for persons and families concerned would be “impossible” to finance. [2]

Accordingly, in 2017 votes on a petition by our NGO, both the Council of the State [3] and the National Council [4] refused to legislate against IGM practices, referring to above counterfactual claims. Although both chambers conceded that “premature unnecessary” genital surgery “constitutes a violation of the right to physical integrity”, they nonetheless claimed, “We believe medical professionals are nowadays sufficiently sensitised to the issue and only undertake such interventions when they are justified.” [5]

However, the true state of awareness of the medical profession is illustrated by a current “review” of the medical practice at the Zurich University Children’s Hospital funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, [6] where the so called “interdisciplinary team” in charge consists mostly of doctors actively involved in today’s treatments while persons concerned are not represented, enabling the Hospital to destroy about 80% of its historic medical files on IGM practices, including those of a member of the self-help group, [7] thus depriving him of his last chance to ever learn what exactly was done to him at at the Department of Surgery when he was five. [8]

We therefore hope the Committee will ask the Swiss delegation tough questions on IGM, and will sternly remind Switzerland of its obligations under the Covenant, art. 7 and 24, and the general comment No. 20.

Thank you.

[1] 2017 CRPD Swiss NGO Report, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2017-CCPR-Swiss-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM.pdf
[2] ibid., B.3.a), p. 7-8
[3] Vote of 16.03.2017, https://www.parlament.ch/de/ratsbetrieb/amtliches-bulletin/amtliches-bulletin-die-verhandlungen?SubjectId=39798
[4] Vote of 16.06.2017, https://www.parlament.ch/de/ratsbetrieb/amtliches-bulletin/amtliches-bulletin-die-verhandlungen?SubjectId=40660
[5] Report of the Legal Affairs Committee of the National Council (LAC-N, 06.04.2017 recommending [rejection]), p. 2 https://www.parlament.ch/centers/kb/Documents/2015/Kommissionsbericht_RK-N_15.2043_2017-04-06.pdf
[6] http://www.snf.ch/en/researchinFocus/newsroom/Pages/news-161010-press-release-reviewing-the-treatment-of-differences-of-sex-development.aspx
[7] Case No. 1 in the 2017 CCPR Swiss NGO Report, p. 18
[8]   See 2017 CAT LoIPR Swiss NGO Report, A.5., p. 9, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2017-CAT-LoIPR-Swiss-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM.pdf

>>> CCPR120 > TRANSCRIPT + VIDEO: Switzerland Questioned over IGM
>>> Bearing witness to IGM: UN-CEDAW67 Italy + CCPR120 Switzerland
>>> UN Press release on intersex Q&A during the review of Switzerland

NGO Report to the 4th Periodic Report of Switzerland on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR)

>>> Download as PDF (809 kb)

Compiled by:
StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org
Intersex.ch
SI Selbsthilfe Intersexualität

>>> Download PDF (831kb)

CEDAW67 > Testimonianza sulle Mutilazioni Genitali Intersex in Italia

March 21, 2021July 9, 2017 by StopIGM.org

>>> english

Claudia Balsamo (sinistra), con Daniela Truffer, dopo avere testimoniato su MGI in Italia al
Comitato dell’ONU per l’eliminazione della discriminazione contro le donne (CEDAW),
Ginevra 03.07.2017

Durante la 67a Sessione del Comitato dell’ONU per l’eliminazione della discriminazione contro le donne (CEDAW), prima che l’Italia fosse interpellata sulle Mutilazioni Genitali Intersex (inglese), le ONG hanno avuto la possibilità di informare CEDAW.

Leggi sotto la dichiarazione orale di 2 minuti di Claudia Balsamo, sostenitrice italiana dei diritti delle persone intersex e superstite di MGI: >>> PDF (en, 77kb) >>> Video (@ 9:10 min)

StopIGM.org
ONG Dichiarazione Orale CEDAW67 Italia, 03.07.2017
Claudia Balsamo

La ringrazio, Signora Presidente

Quando sono nata nel 1960, avevo l’aspetto di una bambina, ma dopo un’anno mia madre si accorse che avevo dei genitali atipici.

Seguirono innumerevoli esami da diversi medici. A quattro anni mi hanno aperto l’addome e hanno trovato dei testicoli normali.

Quando avevo undici anni, hanno asportato I miei testicoli e hanno tagliato il mio clitoride.

A causa della rimozione di parti del mio clitoride e delle cicatrice è veramente difficile per me di raggiungere l’orgasmo.

Dal 1985 ho cercato d’ottenere le mie cartelle mediche ma le mie richieste furono sempre rifiutate per motivi di “segreto professionale”.

Solo dopo che mio padre morì, nel 2007 o trovato qualche documenti nella sua scrivania, ma allora era troppo tardi, e i termini di prescrizione erano scaduti da tempo.

A tutt’oggi, vedo ancora una psicologa per affrontare tutto questo, e devo pagare per i costi di cura di mia tasca.

Come descritto nel nostro rapporto [1], in Italia tutte le forme di Mutilazione Genitali Intersex perdurano, pagate dallo stato.

I medici si vantano pubblicamente nei media di un forte aumento di chirurgie, [2] il Gruppo di Studio nazionale sul DSD pubblicamente promuove la pratica, [3] e cliniche italiane collaborano con progetti europei che promuovono intervenzioni involontarie. [4]

Queste violazioni sono state portate a conoscenza dello Stato ripetutamente, [5] e l’Italia è già stata rimproverata dal Comitato per I Diritti delle Persone con Disabilità (CRPD) [6] per permettere la continuazione delle Mutilazioni Genitali Intersex.

Tuttavia, lo Stato Parte fallisce nel esplicitamente vietare per legge e adeguatamente sanzionare o criminalizzare la pratica.

Grazie.

[1] 2017 CEDAW Italy NGO Report, see Annexe 2, p. 23-28, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2017-CEDAW- Italy-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM.pdf
[2] ibid., see A.8., p. 13-14
[3] Gruppo di Studie It-DSD (2015), “Differenze dello sviluppo del sesso”, p. 4, http://www.gruppodistudio-it-dsd.org/diffsvilup/1_ntroduzione_overview.pdf
[4] StopIGM.org (2017), “Open Letter of Concern to 6th I-DSD 2017, DSDnet, eUROGEN, Endo-ERN, DSD-Life and Affiliates”, /wp-content/uploads/Open_Letter_I-DSD_Copenhagen_2017.pdf
[5] 2017 CEDAW Italy NGO Report, see A.8., p. 13-14
[6] CRPD/C/ITA/CO/1, paras 45-46

>>> Bearing witness to IGM: UN-CEDAW67 Italy + CCPR120 Switzerland
>>> CEDAW67 Italy: UN Press Release on NGO Briefing english | français
>>> CEDAW67 Italy: Video Session 2 @ 1:58h

NGO Report to the 7th Report of Italy on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

>>> Download (PDF 650 kb)

Compiled by:
Claudia Balsamo
StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org

CEDAW67 > Testimony to Intersex Genital Mutilation in Italy

March 21, 2021July 9, 2017 by StopIGM.org

>>> italiano

Claudia Balsamo (left), with Daniela Truffer, after testifying to IGM in Italy to the
UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
Geneva 03.07.2017

At the 67th Session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), before Italy was questioned over Intersex Genital Mutilations, NGOs had the possibility to brief CEDAW (>>> podcast of the entire briefing).

Read below the 2-minutes oral statement by Italian intersex advocate and IGM survivor Claudia Balsamo:
>>> PDF (77kb) >>> Video (@ 9:10 min)

StopIGM.org
NGO Oral Statement CEDAW67 Italy, 03.07.2017
Claudia Balsamo

Thank you, Madame Chair

When I was born in 1960, I looked like a girl, but after a year my mother noticed I had atypical genitalia.

Countless exams by different doctors followed. At four they opened my abdomen and found normal testes.

When I was eleven, they removed my testes and cut my clitoris.

Due to the removal of parts of my clitoris and scarring, it’s really hard for me to achieve orgasm.

Since 1985 I tried to obtain my medical records, but I was always refused on grounds of “professional secrecy”.

Only after my father died, in 2007 I found some documents in his desk, but then it was too late, and statutes of limitations had long expired.

To this day, I still see a psychologist to deal with all this, which I have to pay for out of my own pocket.

As shown in our report [1], in Italy all forms of Intersex Genital Mutilation persist, paid for by the state.

Doctors openly boast in the media about a large increase in surgeries [2], the National DSD Study Group openly advocates the practice [3], and Italian clinics collaborate with European projects promoting involuntary interventions [4].

These violations have been repeatedly brought to the attention of the State [5], and Italy has already been reprimanded by CRPD [6] for permitting IGM to continue.

Nonetheless, the State party fails to explicitly prohibit by law and adequately sanction or criminalise the practice.

Thank you.

[1] 2017 CEDAW Italy NGO Report, see Annexe 2, p. 23-28, http://intersex.shadowreport.org/public/2017-CEDAW- Italy-NGO-Zwischengeschlecht-Intersex-IGM.pdf
[2] ibid., see A.8., p. 13-14
[3] Gruppo di Studie It-DSD (2015), “Differenze dello sviluppo del sesso”, p. 4, http://www.gruppodistudio-it-dsd.org/diffsvilup/1_ntroduzione_overview.pdf
[4] StopIGM.org (2017), “Open Letter of Concern to 6th I-DSD 2017, DSDnet, eUROGEN, Endo-ERN, DSD-Life and Affiliates”, /wp-content/uploads/Open_Letter_I-DSD_Copenhagen_2017.pdf
[5] 2017 CEDAW Italy NGO Report, see A.8., p. 13-14
[6] CRPD/C/ITA/CO/1, paras 45-46

>>> Bearing witness to IGM: UN-CEDAW67 Italy + CCPR120 Switzerland
>>> CEDAW67 Italy: UN Press Release on NGO Briefing english | français
>>> CEDAW67 Italy: Video Session 2 @ 1:58h

NGO Report to the 7th Report of Italy on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

>>> Download (PDF 650 kb)

Compiled by:
Claudia Balsamo
StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org

>>> Download PDF (831kb)

Pinkwashing of Intersex Genital Mutilations at the UN – CCPR120

March 21, 2021July 6, 2017 by StopIGM.org

When questioned over IGM practices at the UN, complicit States regularly deny the ongoing practice, then try to change the topic by switching to LGBT, SOGI, discrimination, civil registration language and issues instead – as can once more be observed in the following account of the intersex Q&A of Switzerland at the 120th Session of the Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) taken from the >>> corresponding UN press release:

(And yes, Switzerland is yet another State directly financing the ongoing genital mutilations of its intersex children – via the “Swiss Federal Disability Insurance (IV)” considering intersex as a “Birth Defect” no less, see NGO Report p. 8-10)

« Questions by Committee Experts

What was the position of the State party on the so-called corrective surgery on intersex children?

Replies by the Delegation

The Swiss anti-discrimination law did not have a special provision on sexual orientation and gender identity, but that would soon change. The draft bill tried to ensure that anyone speaking against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons was criminally liable. As for the Government’s attitude regarding surgery on intersex children, it believed that surgery should not take place unless it was absolutely necessary from the medical point of view. The civil registry could be modified with respect to sex changes.

Second Round of Questions by Experts

What were the practical steps taken by the State party to raise awareness among medical practitioners and the general public in order to prevent unnecessary genital reassignment surgery?

Replies by the Delegation

Switzerland was concerned about the issue of reconstructive surgery for intersex children. There had so far not been a case of reparations with respect to sexual reassignment surgery. »

How much longer?!

>>> Bearing witness to IGM @ CCPR120 Switzerland + CEDAW67 Italy

>>> CCPR120 > TRANSCRIPT + VIDEO: Switzerland Questioned over IGM
>>> CCPR120 UN Press release english | français
>>> Video Session 1 | Session 2

>>> CEDAW67 UN Press Release on NGO Briefing english | français
>>> Video Session 2 @ 1:58h

NGO Report to the 4th Periodic Report of Switzerland on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR)

>>> Download as PDF (809 kb)

Compiled by:
StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org
Intersex.ch
SI Selbsthilfe Intersexualität

>>> Download PDF (831kb)

Italy: «All forms of intersex genital mutilation persist, paid for by the State»

March 21, 2021July 5, 2017 by StopIGM.org

>>> UN press release, 13.07.2017:
« A representative of StopIGM.org provided the testimony of a person exposed to intersex genital mutilation as a child and said that all forms of intersex genital mutilation persisted in Italy, paid for by the State. Doctors openly boasted in the media about a large increase in surgeries, while the national institutions openly advocated the practice. Italy still failed to explicitly prohibit by law and adequately sanction or criminalize the practice. »

>>> July 2017: UN-CEDAW and HRCttee investigate IGM in Italy and Switzerland

IGM Practices in Italy: 2017 CEDAW Report
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex Anatomy
IGM in Italy• Complicity of the State • Harmful Practice
>>> Download as PDF (650 kb)

Mutilations génitales des intersexes devant l’ONU: «Cliniques italiennes collaborant avec des programmes européens»

March 21, 2021July 5, 2017 by StopIGM.org

>>> Communiqué de presse de l’ONU du 13.07.2017:

« StopIGM.org a exprimé sa préoccupation quant à la persistance des mutilations génitales des personnes intersexes financées par l’État. L’ONG s’est inquiétée du nombre croissant d’opérations de ce type pratiquées par des médecins qui en font la promotion dans des cliniques italiennes collaborant avec des programmes européens. »

>>> July 2017: UN-CEDAW and HRCttee investigate IGM in Italy and Switzerland

Geneva > UN-CEDAW and Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) investigate IGM in Italy and Switzerland – Govs deny + pinkwash

December 3, 2023July 4, 2017 by StopIGM.org

Bearing witness to IGM at the UN: Claudia Balsamo, Daniela Truffer, Geneva 03.07.2017
#CEDAW67 #ItalyCEDAW #CCPR120 #SwitzerlandCCPR #Torture #HarmfulPractice

CCPR120 Switzerland

During its 120th session, the UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) as the Treaty body monitoring implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) is investigating Intersex Genital Mutilations for the very first time!

StopIGM.org in collaboration with Swiss peer and parent’s self-help groups Intersex.ch and SI Global have been denouncing IGM practices in Switzerland as a violation of CCPR since 2014, with the Committee thereafter asking the Swiss State party questions on intersex and IGM in its List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LoIPR) under para 22. In their (non-)reply, Switzerland brought up the usual denial + pinkwashing in the State report (para 188).

During the 1st part of the State examination in Geneva on 03 July, Committee expert Christof Heyns therafter inquired about Switzerland’s position in the matter, with the Delegation (non-)replying with more of the same, repeatedly changing the topic to discrimination issues and “sex change in documents”. StopIGM.org is now hoping for follow-up questions in the 2nd Q&A session today …

UPDATE! Committee expert Yuval Shany asked a follow-up question about practical steps to raise awareness, prevent practice and guarantee rehabilitation for victims …The Delegation again insisted doctors would allegedly rrespect the right to self-determination and physical and mental integrity of intersex persons, then went on about “sexual reassignment” … Full transcript here.

>>> CCPR120 > TRANSCRIPT + VIDEO: Switzerland Questioned over IGM

>>> UN Press release english | français – both mention intersex
>>> Video Session 1 | Session 2

NGO Report to the 4th Periodic Report of Switzerland on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR)

>>> Download as PDF (809 kb)

Compiled by:
StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org
Intersex.ch
SI Selbsthilfe Intersexualität

Timetable CCPR120 Review of Switzerland July 2017:
• NGO Briefing Switzerland (closed): Mon 3 July >>> Intersex Statement
• NGO Lunchtime Briefing (closed): Mon 3 July
• Review of Switzerland: Mon 3 July 15-17h + Tue 4 July 10-13h CET
>>> TRANSCRIPT | Video Session 1 | Session 2
• The Concluding Observations for Switzerland including a stern reprimand for IGM practices (CCPR/C/CHE/CO/4, paras 24-25) were published at the end of the 120th CCPR Session, marking the very first reprimand for IGM by the Human Rights Committee (HRCttee)!

CEDAW67 Italy

Italy is once more up for review of IGM practices at the 67th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). StopIGM.org in Collaboration with Italian intersex advocate Claudia Balsamo have documented the ongoing practice in Italian clinics and the complicity of the State in a thematic NGO report and are now hoping for tough questions on IGM for Italy during the State review today …
>>> VIDEO + TRANSCRIPT: Italy Questioned over IGM

UPDATE 1: The testimony by Claudia Balsamo has been mentioned in the french + english UN press release:

«A representative of StopIGM.org provided the testimony of a person exposed to intersex genital mutilation as a child and said that all forms of intersex genital mutilation persisted in Italy, paid for by the State. Doctors openly boasted in the media about a large increase in surgeries, while the national institutions openly advocated the practice. Italy still failed to explicitly prohibit by law and adequately sanction or criminalize the practice.»

UPDATE 2: You can also hear the full statement on the now archived >>> video (starting at 9:10 min).

UPDATE 3: Literally in the very last minutes, Committe expert Patrizia Schulz asks about non-consensual surgeries on intersex children! Does the Stae party plan to ban this harmful practice? The Delegation issues a full denial, claiming only medically necessary surgeries would take place, although there is no recent data available. Patrizia Schulz quickly follows up, parents can not consent. Full transcripts to follow

>>> Video Session 2 (starting at 1:58)

NGO Report to the 7th Report of Italy on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

>>> Download (PDF 650 kb)

Compiled by:
Claudia Balsamo
StopIGM.org / Zwischengeschlecht.org

Timetable CEDAW67 Review of Italy July 2017:
• NGO Briefing Italy (public): Mon 3 July 15:00-16:15h CET
– to be transmitted live on webtv.un.org!
• NGO Lunchtime Briefing (closed): Mon 3 July
• Review of Italy: Tue 4 July 10-13h + 15-17h CET
– to be transmitted live on webtv.un.org!
• The Concluding Observations for Italy, hopefully with another severe reprimand for IGM practices, are due at the end the 66th CEDAW Session (24 July 2017 or soon after).

>>> Download PDF (831kb)