Intersex Genital Mutilation, Global Inc.: Why we are targetting the ‘9th Joint Meeting of Paediatric Endocrinology’, Milan Sept 18-22

In Italiano:  >>> Volantino informativo (PDF)   >>> Le motivazioni delle proteste
>>>
Articolo nell’Espesso      >>> intersexioni.it


Foto: Peaceful Protests + Open Letter ’51 Annual Meeting of ESPE’ Intersex Mutilators, Leipzig 21.09.2012

>>> INFO + 8 PROTESTS   ‘9th Joint Meeting of Intersex Genital Mutilators’
>>> Preaching CAIS Castrations and Supposedly ‘High Cancer Risk’, again
>>> Open Letter of Concern to ‘9th Joint Meeting’ (PDF)

STOP Intersex Genital Mutilation!Zwischengeschlecht.org on FacebookIntersex Genital Mutilations is a global business, and the perpetrators are well organised in ‘subspecialities’ and ‘working groups’ within regular ‘western’ medical associations all over the world.

The ‘Global Intersex Mutilators’ Cartel’ consists not only of different medical branches, eg. paediatric surgeons/urologists/gynaecologists, paediatric endocrinologists, paediatric psychiatrists/psychologists, geneticists, sexologists, but as well of (backing) states, politicians, health care providers, etc.

Read moreIntersex Genital Mutilation, Global Inc.: Why we are targetting the ‘9th Joint Meeting of Paediatric Endocrinology’, Milan Sept 18-22

Peaceful Protests against ‘I-DSD’ Intersex Genital Mutilators, Glasgow June 7-9 2013: Report and Pictures

>>> Open Letter of Concern to ‘4th I-DSD Symposium 2013’ (PDF)
>>> VIDEO of the ‘I-DSD’ Protests in Glasgow | Excerpt Featured on ABC Nightline 
>>> ‘I-DSD’: ‘Cruel and inhuman’ surgeries – Press Release 07.06.2013

Protest #1, 07.06.2013, Wilson Medical School
(‘DSD Training Workshop for Young Investigators’), @10.31 am

STOP Genital Mutilation in Children's Clinics!Zwischengeschlecht.org on FacebookFirst, we’d like to thank everyone again who signed the Open Letter to the ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’, helped spreading the word or otherwise lent their support!

As always, during the protests we had honest and good conversations with people and parents concerned, other participants of various fields (even doctors), and many passers-by.

And once more we were delighted that also within the conference people called the perpetrators on their bullshit, and that this was reinforced by our peaceful protests outside and vice versa.

Protest #2, 07.06.2013, Sir Charles Wilson Building
(Venue ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’), @1.13 pm

Needless to say, also at the ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ both forms of objection to the inveterate mutilators were sorely needed. Despite one doctor, who, after realising the presence of persons concerned, quickly tidied up his presentation (i.e. silently taking out the “bloody slides” to make it more palatable, though of course without changing its tenor), many were shamelessly advocating medically not necessary surgeries on defenceless children, proving once more such conferences are anything else than a safe place for persons concerned.

Protest #2, 07.06.2013, Sir Charles Wilson Building, @ 1.16pm: Opening of the ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ (Centre: Prof Dr Olaf Hiort, Team Leader ‘EuroDSD’ and ‘DSDnet’).

Just two examples from Paediatric University Clinics represented at the the ‘4th Symposium’ to illustrate why countering the mutilators was important:

  • University Children’s Clinic Sao Paulo, Brazil: Paediatric endocrinologist Prof Dr Berenice Mendonca (also mentioned in the Open Letter to the ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ (PDF), and soon to be again prominently featured at the upcoming Global Intersex Mutilators’ Conference ‘9th Joint Meeting of Paediatric Endocrinology’ in September) made several deeply unsettling remarks during her presentation and the discussions, and continued unfazed despite disturbed reactions by persons concerned.

Protest #3, 07.06.2013, University of Glasgow, Main Gate
(‘Guest Lecture’ and ‘I-DSD Steering Committee Meeting’), @5.37 pm

  • University Children’s Clinic Ulm, Germany: Peaediatric surgeon Dr Gabriele Jergl-Corkin, boasted referring to collegue and co-contributor Dr Clothilde Leriche: ‘Over a 27 year period our specialized pediatric surgeon has operated over 600 children with CAH, performing clitoris reductions, vaginoplasties and reconstructions of the labia.’  (see ‘I-DSD Proceedings’ (PDF, p 25)

Protest #5, 08.06.2013, Royal Hospital for Sick Children – Yorkhill
(Homebase ‘I-DSD’ and ‘Scottish DSD Network’), @2.03 pm

Protest #5, 08.06.2013, Royal Hospital for Sick Children – Yorkhill, @12.13 pm:
Police writing up the details of all protesters after complaints from within Yorkhill.
(We got off scot-free in the end.)

  • Dr Clothidle Leriche (University Children’s Clinic Ulm, Germany) boasting in front of ‘CAH parents’ last fall, then ‘only’ counted ‘500 CAH girls operated on’, as well as ‘170 other children’ (again including ‘feminising procedures’ only), as Zwischengeschlecht.org revealed earlier this year (report in German). (Obviously, ‘masculinising’ genital surgeries, e.g. ‘Hypospadias Repairs’ were not included in this gruesome statistic at all …)

Protest #6, 08.06.2013, Sir Charles Wilson Building, @4.41 pm:
‘We demand: Comprehensive Information against Manipulation!’ 
Katrin Ann Kunze † at the 1st ‘Zwitter Demo’, State Court Cologne, 12.12.2007

  • The resulting figure of at the very least 900 children submitted to genital surgeries (as admitted by the University Children’s Clinic Ulm, Germany themselves) becomes even more unsettling when considering that their “specialized pediatric surgeon” Dr Clothilde Leriche favours “genital corrections between 9–12 months”, as Zwischengeschlecht.org revealed (in German).

Protest #6, 08.06.2013, Sir Charles Wilson Building, @4.09 pm
(Centre:  Prof. Dr. Inas Mazen (‘D$D-Life’, Cairo, Egypt)

  • Grand Total of these at least 900 children ‘feminized’ by medically not necessary, cosmetic genital surgeries admitted by the University Children’s Clinic Ulm, Germany themselves: With German hospital records leaked by Zwischengeschlecht.org in 2010 documenting a staggering profit for the hospital of Euro 8175,12 per pedo-vaginoplasty, at least 900 children sum up to 7.3 Millionen Euros + (or at the very least € 7’357’608.–).

Protest #7, 09.06.2013, Sir Charles Wilson Building, @10.06 am

All the more important that the mutilators continue feeling the pressure wherever they gather to promote their atrocities!

Protest #7, 09.06.2013, Sir Charles Wilson Building, @11.14 am:
Pedo Surgeon Prof. Dr. Pierre Mouriquand (Lyon, France)
tries in vain to hail a departing taxi.

>>> ‘I-DSD’: ‘Cruel and inhuman’ surgeries – Press Release 07.06.2013
>>> Open Letter of Concern to ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ (PDF)
 

VIDEO Action vs. ‘I-D$D’ Genital Mutilators!
4th I-D$D Symposium, Glasgow 2013
Thanks to Richard Duncker (MenDoComplain)

>>> on Vimeo

STOP IGM Primer:
What everyone should know about Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM)!

>>> Download (PDF, 1.95 MB)

Documentation
‘Intersex Genital Mutilations: History & Current Practice’

>>> Download (PDF, 2.4 MB)   [ TRIGGER WARNING!!! ]

Open Letter to ’51st Annual Meeting of ESPE’ 2012
Open Letter to ‘3rd EuroDSD Symposium’ 2011
Open Letter to ’11th EMBL/EMBO Conference’ 2010

Intersex Protests + Info: Glasgow 5-9 June 2013 ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’

Opening of the ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’, Sir Charles Wilson Building, Glasgow 07.06.13

>>> ‘I-DSD’: ‘Cruel and inhuman’ surgeries – Press Release 07.06.2013
>>> Open Letter of Concern to ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ (PDF) 

STOP Genital Mutilation in Children's Clinics!Zwischengeschlecht.org on FacebookLast year, the network of perpertrators ‘EuroDSD’ got re-branded ‘I-DSD’ and moved its HQ to Scotland, where it will host the ‘4th International DSD Symposium’ at the University of Glasgow. Ethical und human rights concerns re: Intersex Genital Mutilations are not part of the programme, again.
Zwischengeschlecht.org organises an Info Night on Wed 5th, 7pm and 7 Peaceful Protests a.o. in front of the Symposium
from Fri 7th – Sun 9th of June (dates after the break).

Help us reminding the perpetrators that it is NOT OK to mutilate defenceless children!

See also:
Open Letter to ’51st Annual Meeting of ESPE’ 2012
Open Letter to ‘3rd EuroDSD Symposium 2011’ in Lübeck (Germany)
Documentation ‘Intersex Genital Mutilations’ (PDF, 2.4 MB)   [ TRIGGER WARNING!!! ]

INFO NIGHT, Wednesday 5th June 19:00
“Intersex Genital Mutilations – Past and Present”
Dewar Room @ The Albany
44 Ashley Street, Glasgow, G3 6DS

7 PEACEFUL VIGILS + OPEN LETTERS, Fri 7th – Sun 9th
“STOP Intersex Genital Mutilations!”

Friday 7th June 2013
#1  08:30-12:45    Wolfson Medical School
#2  13:00-15:45    Sir Charles Wilson Building
#3  16:00-18:45    University of Glasgow, Main Gate

Saturday 8th June 2013
#4  08:30-10:00    Sir Charles Wilson Building
#5  11:00-14:30    Royal Hospital for Sick Children – Yorkhill
#6  15:30-17:45    Sir Charles Wilson Building

Sunday 9th June 2013
#7  08:30-14:00    Sir Charles Wilson Building

Locations:

Wolfson Medical School Building  (Fri 08:30-12:45)
University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
(“DSD Training Workshop for Young Investigators”)

Sir Charles Wilson Building  (Fri 13:00-15:45, Sat 08:30-10 + 15:30-17:45, Sun 08:30-14h)
Kelvin Way, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
(“4th I-DSD Symposium”)

University of Glasgow, Main Gate (Fri 16:00-08:45)
University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
(“Guest Lecture” / “I-DSD Steering Committee Meeting”)

Royal Hospital for Sick Children – Yorkhill (Sat 11:00-14:30)
Dalnair Street, Yorkhill, Glasgow, G3 8SJ
(“I-DSD Homebase”)

>>> Open Letter of Concern to ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ (PDF) 

See also:
Open Letter to ‘3rd EuroDSD Symposium 2011’ in Lübeck (Germany)
Open Letter to ’51st Annual Meeting of ESPE’ 2012
Documentation ‘Intersex Genital Mutilations’ (PDF, 2.4 MB)   [ TRIGGER WARNING!!! ]

 

«A Gonad For A Gonad, A Lust Organ For A Lust Organ» - Garry L. Warne (left) at the main entrance of '3rd EuroDSD Symposium', Lübeck 20.5.11Peaceful protest outside the Royal College of Surgeons of England, host of ‘ISHID 2011’,
with Open Letters to be delivered to ISHID and RCS, London September 18th 2011

‘I-DSD’: ‘Cruel and inhuman’ surgeries on children’s genitals

‘ISHID 2011’: Peaceful protest outside the University College Hospital Education Centre,
host of televised ‘ISHID 2011 Live Surgeries’ (‘refreshments included’), London 19.09.2011

Zwischengeschlecht.org on Facebook>>> ‘I-DSD’ Protests: Picture Report
>>> Open Letter of Concern to ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ (PDF)

Press Release by Zwischengeschlecht.org 07.06.2013:

Doctors at the ‘4th International DSD Symposium’ starting today advocate ‘genital corrections’ on toddlers described by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture as ‘rarely medically necessary, can cause scarring, loss of sexual sensation, pain, incontinence and lifelong depression and have also been criticized as being unscientific, potentially harmful and contributing to stigma.’ (A/HRC/22/53, paras 77, 76, 88)

Like at the 3rd ‘Symposium’ in Germany in 2011, the arriving doctors will be greeted by peaceful protests lead by survivors of such surgeries, reminding them that it is NOT OK to mutilate defenceless children.

A fact also reaffirmed by an Open Letter (PDF) with 58 signatories as international as the ‘Symposium’ itself, comprising persons affected, their organisations, partners, families, friends and allies, including renowned academics like Professor Milton Diamond.

While the 4th ‘Symposium’ as a commendable late addition features a small ‘Family/Support Group Parallel Session’ (a first!), one crucial element is still lacking:

Like its predecessors, the ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ utterly fails to include ethics and human rights considerations in its ‘Scientific Programme.’

A shame that falls back not only on the ‘Symposium’ itself, but also on its sponsors UK Medical Research Council, University of Glasgow, ‘Scottish DSD Network’ (formerly ‘Scottish Genital Anomaly Network’) and Yorkhill Children’s Charity, which will also be targeted by the protestors.

The international human rights group Zwischengeschlecht.org demands the prohibition of forced genital surgeries on children and adolescents with ‘atypical’ sex anatomy and “Human Rights for Hermaphrodites too!”

Persons concerned shall later decide themselves, if they want surgeries or not, and if yes, which.

Kind regards

Daniela Truffer / Zwischengeschlecht.org (President, person concerned)
Mobile: +41 76 398 06 50

Markus Bauer / Zwischengeschlecht.org (Research & Policy)
Mobile: +41 78 829 12 60

https://www.stopigm.org
http://humanrights.4hermaphrodites2.org

BACKGROUND

One to two in 1,000 children are born with ‘atypical’ or ‘ambiguous genitals.’ 90% of them are still submitted to non-consensual cosmetic genital surgeries and other invasive medical interventions at a very early age—without actual medical need, without evidence of any benefit for the recipients, but in blatant violation of their human rights.

The doctors call it ‘clitoris reductions,’ ‘penile reconstructions’ and ‘surgical challenges,’ hellbent on ‘correcting’ what they deem ‘too big clitorises’ and ‘imperfect penises’ as quickly as possible, putting pressure on confused parents to ‘fix’ the ‘disorder.’

Survivors experience these procedures as ‘Western Genital Mutilation’ and have been protesting against these systematic, massive and irreversible practices as a gross violation of physical integrity for over 20 years.

Yet still most paediatric endocrinologists and surgeons turn a blind eye to their victims’ pleas–as well as to the mounting evidence-based data on the negative impact of these irreversible cosmetic genital surgeries.

Case in point: The speakers and chairs of the ‘4th International DSD Symposium’ starting in Glasgow today (for referenced examples see the Open Letter, p 2).

>>> Open Letter of Concern to ‘4th I-DSD Symposium’ (PDF) 

>>> 7 Peaceful Protests: All the Dates, Places and Times 

STOP IGM Primer:
What everyone should know about Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM)!

>>> Download (PDF, 1.95 MB)

Documentation
‘Intersex Genital Mutilations: History & Current Practice’

>>> Download (PDF, 2.4 MB)   [ TRIGGER WARNING!!! ]

Open Letter to ’51st Annual Meeting of ESPE’ 2012
Open Letter to ‘3rd EuroDSD Symposium’ 2011
Open Letter to ’11th EMBL/EMBO Conference’ 2010

INTERSEX FACT SHEET ‘Western Genital Mutilation’, UPR 14, 2012

       

INTERSEX FACT SHEET    >>> PDF (75 kb)

Western Genital Mutilation
a.k.a. Cosmetic Genital Surgery performed on Children

Switzerland 14th Universal Periodic Review 2012

Summary:
Clitoris amputations and other cosmetic “genital corrections” in children’s clinics

Clitoris amputations on young girls have been prevalent in western medicine since the 19th century as therapy for a) masturbation, b) hysteria, and c) “enlarged clitoris”. While amputations motivated by a) and b) had been abandoned between 1900 and 1945, amputations of “enlarged clitorises” took a sharp rise after 1950 and became de facto medical standard on newborns in the 1960s, partly in combination with gonadectomies (castrations). Doctors argued, these amputations would not affect the ability to achieve orgasm. However, in the 1980s they switched to new techniques involving only partial removal of the clitoris, allegedly now preserving sexual sensation. In addition, a new trend emerged towards “masculinizing surgeries”. Since the 1990s, the persons concerned denounce all of these surgeries as “immensely destructive of sexual sensation”, as western genital mutilation, and as violation of their right to physical integrity and self-determination. 2011, UN-CAT criticized cosmetic “genital corrections” and recommended  investigations into the practice (CAT/C/DEU/CO/5 [>>> PDF, 474 kb], point 20. “Intersex people”, p. 6-7).

14th Universal Periodic Review

In 2012 for the first time an NGO of persons concerned and supporters from Switzerland, Zwischengeschlecht.org, is asking the Human Rights Council for help in order to abolish these harmful practices. See issue 18 from Swiss NGO Coalition’s Submission (p. 9):

18. Cosmetic genital surgery performed on children

About 1 child in 1000 is born with “inconclusive“ physical sexual characteristics (hermaphrodism, intersex, disorders of sex development). Such children are very frequently operated on “for cosmetic reasons” at a baby age. Those affected often see these operations as unwanted surgery without medical necessity and evidence. Furthermore, such interventions represent an infringement to the right to physical integrity and self-determination.

Recommendation

Switzerland should establish a commission to deal with the issues of those affected by the consequences of cosmetic genital surgery in an unbiased and fair manner.

In the name of the persons concerned, we petition the members of the Human Rights Council to consider their pleas and to help forcing the Swiss government to abandon mutilating cosmetic surgeries on defenseless children.

Contact:
Daniela Truffer, person concerned and founding member of Zwischengeschlecht.org
info_at_zwischengeschlecht.org
Mobile +41 76 398 06 50

>>> intersex.shadowreport.org
>>> humanrights.4hermaphrodites2.org
>>> stop.genitalmutilation.org  
  

STOP IGM Primer:
What everyone should know about Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM)!

>>> Download (PDF, 1.95 MB)

Documentation
‘Intersex Genital Mutilations: History & Current Practice’

>>> Download (PDF, 2.4 MB)   [ TRIGGER WARNING!!! ]

Open Letter to ’51st Annual Meeting of ESPE’ 2012
Open Letter to ‘3rd EuroDSD Symposium’ 2011
Open Letter to ’11th EMBL/EMBO Conference’ 2010

Photo: UNHRC UPR #14, Geneva 20.10.2012

STOP IGM Primer Download: ‘STOP Intersex Genital Mutilations!’

STOP IGM Primer:  What everyone should know about Intersex Genital Mutilations, 
the ongoing 20 Year Fight to End it,
and 17 Years of Peaceful Intersex Protests!

>>> Download (PDF 1.95 MB)

Zwischengeschlecht.org on Facebook Be informed – Take part in ending IGM!

Documentation
‘Intersex Genital Mutilations: History & Current Practice’

>>> Download (PDF, 2.4 MB)   [ TRIGGER WARNING!!! ]

UN-Special Rapporteur on Torture criticises IGM Practices as Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (CIDT) – Documentation “Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM): History & Current Practice”

L.t.r.: Holly Greenberry (Intersex UK), Daniela “Nella” Truffer (StopIGM.org), UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez, Mauro Cabral (Justicia Intersex), Makus Bauer (StopIGM.org).

At the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT), Juan E. Méndez, presented his ground-breaking report >>> “Torture and Cruel, Inhuman Or Degrading Treatments in Health-Care Settings” (PDF) including several paras addressing IGM Practices (e.g. 77, 76, 88):

2013: UN SR Torture, A/HRC/22/53, 1 February 2013, paras 77, 76, 88: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.53_English.pdf

77. Children who are born with atypical sex characteristics are often subject to irreversible sex assignment, involuntary sterilization, involuntary genital normalizing surgery, performed without their informed consent, or that of their parents, “in an attempt to fix their sex”, [107] leaving them with permanent, irreversible infertility and causing severe mental suffering.

76. […] These procedures [genital-normalizing surgeries] are rarely medically necessary,[106] can cause scarring, loss of sexual sensation, pain, incontinence and lifelong depression and have also been criticized as being unscientific, potentially harmful and contributing to stigma (A/HRC/14/20, para. 23). […]

88. The Special Rapporteur calls upon all States to repeal any law allowing intrusive and irreversible treatments, including forced genital-normalizing surgery, involuntary sterilization, unethical experimentation, medical display, “reparative therapies” or “conversion therapies”, when enforced or administered without the free and informed consent of the person concerned. He also calls upon them to outlaw forced or coerced sterilization in all circumstances and provide special protection to individuals belonging to marginalized groups.

 
Zwischengeschlecht.org/StopIGM.org welcomed the report by presententing to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT), Juan E. Méndez,

a) the following documentation on IGM practices:

>>> Download (PDF, 2.4 MB)   [ TRIGGER WARNING!!! ]

Zwischengeschlecht.org on FacebookThis documentation contains leaks from notable medical publications 1763-2012, outlining how intersex children and adults have been systematically submitted to medical display, gruesome medical experiments and various forms of genital mutilations on an industrial scale for more than 60 years, and proving that the crimes against intersex people without doubt constitute at least cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or even torture.

A seperate chapter documents in words and pictures the current 3 most frequent medically not necessary, irreversible cosmetic genital surgeries on children with Variations of Sex Anatomy a.k.a. Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM).

>>> Download Documentation (PDF, 2.4 MB)   [ TRIGGER WARNING!!! ]

b) together with Ann Tamar-Mattis (Advocates for Informed Choice, AIC), in a private meeting with Juan E. Méndez we discussed a >>> Joint Statement (PDF) by StopIGM.org and AIC addressing some concerns with the report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Be informed – Take part in ending IGM!

STOP IGM Primer:
What everyone should know about Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM)!

>>> Download (PDF, 1.95 MB) 

Zwischengeschlecht.org on Facebook

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

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

Asking to meet OHCHR representative re: Intersex Genital Mutilations

Zwischengeschlecht.org
Human Rights for Hermaphrodites Too!

Subject: Asking to meet OHCHR representative re: Intersex Genital Mutilations

Dear Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights

Delegates of the European human rights group Zwischengeschlecht.org and of the US based organisation Advocates for Informed Choice (AIC) will be attending the 22th UNHRC session, regarding the SRT’s report A/HRC/22/53 on Monday March 4th, and a related side event on Tuesday March 5th.

On this occasion we would like to ask if we could meet with a representative of the OHCHR to elaborate on our concerns, and to offer our future assistance.

Preferable times for us to meet would be Tuesday morning or noon, march 5th, or Monday late afternoon after 4 pm, march 4th. From our side we would be 2-4 delegates attending.

Our organisation’s fields of interest and expertise are

a) generally human rights violations against children and adults born with atypical sex anatomy, or medically speaking children and adults diagnosed a.o. with intersex conditions or Disorders of Sex Development/DSD, already mentioned by OHCHR a.o. in A/HRC/19/41 (para 57), and

b) specifically the concerned children’s submission to — in the wording of the SRT’s report A/HRC/22/53 (para 76, 77) — “forced genital-normalizing surgeries … performed without their informed consent, or that of their parents, ‘in an attempt to fix their sex’,  … [that] are rarely medically necessary, can cause scarring, loss of sexual sensation, pain, incontinence and lifelong depression and have also been criticized as being unscientific, potentially harmful and contributing to stigma”, and furthermore “involuntary sterilization … leaving them with permanent, irreversible infertility and causing severe mental suffering”.

Members of Zwischengeschlecht.org and AIC have contributed a.o. to the german CEDAW Shadow Report 2008, the Swiss NGO Coalition’s UPR Shadow Report 2012, and entered solicited testimonies to the WHO regarding the upcoming statement on sterilization, and the current report of the SRT regarding abuses in health care settings.

We apologize for the short notice and hope you will find time to meet and talk with us.

Kind regards

Daniela Truffer, Markus Bauer / Zwischengeschlecht.org

Markus Bauer Mobile +41 (0)78 829 12 60
Daniela Truffer Mobile +41 (0)76 398 06 50

Zwischengeschlecht.org
P.O.B. 2122
CH-8031 Zurich

https://stopigm.org
http://zwischengeschlecht.org

Intersex Genital Mutilation: ‘Groundbreaking’ Report by Swiss National Ethics Commission

The Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics has published a much lauded paper titled ‘On the management of differences of sex development. Ethical issues relating to “intersexuality”‘.
>>> Download in English (PDF) 
>>> German  >>> French  >>> Italian

The report comes after 5 years of political initiatives initiated by Zwischengeschlecht.org, first in state parliaments and thereafter in the federal parliament, always adamant on including multiple members of parliament and covering the entire political spectrum. As a direct result of the federal interpellation in 2011, the Swiss Federal Government requested the National Ethics Commission to write a report, which was recently published. In the introduction, the Commission acknowledged that it is “largely thanks to the efforts of self-help/advocacy groups” that “increasing attention is now being paid to the topic of “intersexuality” in the media and in professional circles – including the fields of medical law and ethics – both nationally and internationally.”

Zwischengeschlecht.org as well as the Swiss parents’ self-help group participated in hearings of the commission. As Daniela Truffer (Zwischengeschlecht.org) said in her adress on occasion of the presentation of the report: “This is the very first time [in Switzerland], that an official body took the persons affected seriously, listened to their concerns and translated them into concrete recommendations.” The pragmatic report was also met with applause internationally, e.g. OII Australia called it ‘ground-breaking’ and German scholar Heinz-Jürgen Voß titled ‘Short, knowledgeable, largely clear’. We were also told by multiple persons concerned that they actually wept while reading the report because they were so moved by its contents.

Highlights of the Commission’s recommendations include (p. 18-20):

1. The suffering experienced by some people with DSD as a result of past practice should be acknowledged by society. The medical practice of the time was guided by sociocultural values which, from today’s ethical viewpoint, are not compatible with fundamental human rights, specifically respect for physical and psychological integrity and the right to self-determination.

4. Protection of the child’s integrity is essential. Given the uncertainties and imponderables involved, a psychosocial indication cannot in itself justify irreversible genital sex assignment surgery in a child who lacks capacity.

11. In a case of DSD, it must be possible for the sex recorded in the official registration of births to be unbureaucratically amended. […]

12. There should be a legal review of the liability implications of unlawful interventions in childhood, and of the associated limitation periods. Questions of criminal law, such as the applicability of offences of assault (Art. 122 and 123, StGB) and the prohibition on genital mutilation (Art. 124, StGB), should also be investigated.

We have no illusions that this report is only a first step, although a significant one. However, unless these recommendations are now translated into political actions and finally legislation, it’s obvious that the status quo of unabashed intersex genital mutilations in our children’s clinics is bound to continue …

>>> Full Report in English (PDF)  >>> German  >>> French  >>> Italian

“My childhood was filled with pain, surgery, skin grafts, and isolation”

Tiger Devore: “Growing up in the Surgical Maelstrom”

Tiger Howard Devore, PhDI spent many years in surgery whose purpose was to make me pee at the end of my penis [‘Hypospadias Repair’]. I’ve had sixteen surgeries on my genitals, and they performed ten operations by age ten, pretty regularly once a year. If they had just left my urinary meatus [pee-hole] where it was, at the base of my penis right by the scrotum, I could have avoided at least twelve of those surgeries.

My childhood was filled with pain, surgery, skin grafts, and isolation. I remember when school vacation came, the other kids went somewhere fun. I went to the hospital during vacation, so I wouldn’t miss too much school. When vacation was over, I would return to school, often not yet healed from the latest surgery. Sometimes I went back to school with tubes coming out of me, and stitches and scars, and I couldn’t walk well.

Each year they performed surgery on me, and I watched and felt how rapidly the surgery would break down each time. They couldn’t have missed it, either—there’s no reason for some of the work that they did on me outside of arrogance or incompetence.

The tube that most men pee through is not made of skin, it’s made of a special kind of tissue that can handle contact with urine, and be continuously moist and warm without breaking down or becoming infected. The tubes that they made for me out of skin from other parts of my body broke down over and over, and I regularly get bladder infections. And I still have to sit to pee. I have never been without fistulae [holes in the penis where the surgery has broken down], and I’ve had the entire tube replaced twice, with large skin grafts. If they had just let me pee sitting down, neither I nor my family would have had to suffer all of that—the expense, the pain, the repeated surgeries, the drugs, the repeated tissue breakdowns and urine leaks. It would have been just fine to have a penis that peed out of the bottom instead of the top, and didn’t have the feeling damaged.

>>> Full Text:Tiger Howard Devore: “Growing up in the Surgical Maelstrom” (ISNA) 
• Also in: Hanny Lightfoot-Klein: Children’s Genitals Under the Knife, p 172-175
• Also in: A. Dreger (Ed): Intersex in the Age of Ethics, p 79-82
Tiger Devore’s Homepage

VIDEO 2 ‘Unnecessary & harmful’ – IGM Type 1: ‘Hypospadias Repair’ – Tiger Devore
VIDEO 1 Tiger Devore talks IGM Type 1, Part1/4: ‘Clitoral Cutting vs. Hypospadias Repair’
Open Letter of Concern to ‘6th ISHID Hypospadias Workshop’ and affiliated Clinics
>>> Intersex Protests vs. ‘6th I$HID Hypo Live Mutilation Workshop’, 21.-24.06.2015

>>> Honouring Tiger @ Protests vs. ‘D$Dnet’, 10.06.2015