What does it mean to be an “intersex” person?
The National Health Service, UK, states that “Not everyone is born biologically male or female. Intersex is an umbrella term that can refer to a wide range of totally natural body variations in human beings, which means their body, either visibly or not, is not totally male or totally female, or is a combination of the two. Intersex people come from all walks of life; it is likely that you have friends, family or colleagues who are intersex. Some intersex people only have minor hormonal differences that are not visible – others may have internal or external anatomy that appear as both male and female, or as neither.”
There are a lot of reasons for someone to be born intersex, usually to do with their chromosomes. It is not a disability. Being an intersex person is just part of the natural variations in everyone that make us all unique human beings. Yet many intersex persons and their close ones face discrimination, violence and harassment due to their identity.
What are some violations that happen, especially on infanticide for intersex people?
The UN Human Rights report on discrimination against intersex persons states that intersex people do face human rights violations, and these include violence, infanticide and unnecessary medical interventions which are performed without their full, free and informed consent. Discrimination for intersex persons can also happen in employment, healthcare, education, sports, access to services, and efforts to modify their names and sex markers in official records. Intersex people also find it hard to get their medical records and access justice and remedies for the abuse and violations they face.
Some countries consider intersex children and their mothers as cursed, witches or victims of witchcraft, often resulting to infanticide. The Committee against Torture, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Human Rights Committee raised concerns about the infanticide of intersex children and require States to combat it.
What kind of violence do intersex people face?
Intersex people face different kinds of violence including verbal and physical abuse, harassment and bullying. According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report on discrimination against intersex persons, a survey conducted in Latin America from 2021 and 2022, showed that 20 per cent of intersex people faced violence such as being touched or groped without their consent, verbal abuse and sexual assault. One in five people of intersex civil society organisations reported vandalisms of their events or infrastructure, and offices. Two thirds reported threats against people from the intersex community, and the majority reported high levels of online harassment.
Reports also show that intersex children get neglected, abandoned, denied healthcare, education or nutrition. Some of them even conceal or isolate intersex children, leaving a negative effect on their well-being and development. Other reports document physical and psychological harm through forced traditional treatments or traditional rituals. Further reports described humiliating genital examinations that intersex people have gone through, including display, and photography. Intersex people have described this experience as traumatic, shaming, and a form of sexual abuse in some cases.
What are medically unnecessary interventions that are performed on intersex people?
Intersex children and infants are undergoing hormonal treatments, unnecessary surgeries, and other medical interventions to modify their physical appearance and traits to fit the stereotypical male or female bodies. These procedures violate the human rights of intersex persons when performed without full, free and informed consent of the individual. These violations also include their rights to freedom from torture, their rights to physical and mental integrity, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to health.
This practice also violates the right to sexual and reproductive health and the right to informed consent in the context of health. These “sex-normalizing” surgeries performed on intersex children are not always medically necessary and are mostly done because of doctors’ and parents’ preferences or discomfort around societal expectations and cosmetic appearance of male and female bodies. Human rights experts called for the prohibition of this harmful practice and urged States to uphold the autonomy of intersex children and adults.
What kind of discrimination are Intersex people at risk of?
Intersex people face discrimination in different forms such as in healthcare, employment, education, sport and other areas. Intersex people face discrimination on intersecting factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, and disability, among others. The lack of visibility, and awareness around intersex issues, and the lack of protection and secrecy around intersex variations worsens the stigma, isolation, and discrimination that intersex people may face in their lifetime.
What are some barriers to accessing justice and the remedy?
The unnecessary medical interventions are mostly performed without full, free and informed consent during infancy or early childhood. There are those whose rights have been violated are unaware of or unable to address the damage that has been caused to them until later in life. Intersex people as mentioned before, do not have access to their medical records and the procedures that they underwent through childhood, or they face long delays in getting a hold of them. Due to these legal limitations, most countries cannot offer suitable remedies for intersex people whose rights have been violated through these interventions.
What are some root causes of these human rights violations?
These violations against intersex people are misconceptions, misinformation, taboo, stigma and stereotypes. Parents often do not receive or receive only partial/ incomplete or misleading information about their child’s diagnosis. This includes the information on what it means to be intersex, therefore what it means to have innate variations in sex characteristics and the potential negative and long term of medically unnecessary interventions on the physical and psychological health and human rights of their child.
What are the conclusion and recommendation?
Intersex people are entitled to the same human rights and protections as everyone else. They continue to face multiple human rights violations including infanticide, medically unnecessary interventions without informed consent, violence and harmful practices, discrimination in education, healthcare, employment, housing, sports, legal documentation, and access to services.
These violations are often driven by stigma, stereotypes, misinformation and misconceptions. Although awareness has improved due to the work of intersex advocates and organisations, over 90% of the UN Member States have not yet introduced adequate legal or policy protections.
Noe
Communication Volunteer YQA
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