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The Future: Intersex Shaping Inclusive Laws

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Intersex Rights

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Abstract

After having examined the situation of intersex rights in both regional and international levels, it can be observed that jurisdictions are still “struggling” to accommodate intersex. Intersex rights are explicitly protected only in few countries while there is a global trend for implicit protection of intersex. According to the findings of this research, this tendency can be justified if we consider the legal evolution of “sex” and “gender”. Intersex movements have been advocating for intersex rights only since the 1990s and therefore the legislator, confronted with a relatively new reality, seems “hesitant” to challenge the male/female binary as it is well-founded in both societies and the law. “Sexual orientation” and “gender identity” issues were addressed first as they became visible prior to issues surrounding “intersex” and/or “sex characteristics” and in the absence of explicit and comprehensive intersex rights’ frameworks, intersex people benefit from frameworks on SOGI rights even though they do not address their specific needs. A typical example is legal recognition where the developments on the field of “gender identity” have been major during the previous years and many jurisdictions around the globe tend to apply existing “gender identity” frameworks on intersex to protect their rights while intersex do not identify with the binary as trans individuals do. Under the same token, legal frameworks on “sexual orientation” have impacted intersex as well and especially their right to marry and found a family.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    OII Europe, Malta Declaration, (1 December 2013).

  2. 2.

    United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, Intersex Awareness Day, “End violence and harmful medical practices on intersex children and adults, UN and regional experts urge”, 2016.

  3. 3.

    OII Europe, Malta Declaration (1 December 2013).

  4. 4.

    Habermas (2010), p. 467.

  5. 5.

    Foucault (2012a), p. 53.

  6. 6.

    T-551/99, para. 29.

  7. 7.

    Andrew (2009), p. 47.

  8. 8.

    Butler (2004), p. 21.

  9. 9.

    Idem.

  10. 10.

    OII Europe, Statement of the 1st European Intersex Community Event, Vienna, 2017.

  11. 11.

    Idem.

  12. 12.

    Council of Europe (2015), pp. 37–40.

  13. 13.

    Waldron (2009), p. 2.

  14. 14.

    See Papantoniou (1983).

  15. 15.

    Stamatis (2005), p. 822.

  16. 16.

    Idem, p. 824.

  17. 17.

    Waldron (2009), p. 2.

  18. 18.

    T-450A/13, para. 6.2.

  19. 19.

    Law No. 38/2018, Article 7 (3).

  20. 20.

    Ben-Asher (2006), p. 51.

  21. 21.

    Butler (2004), p. 6.

  22. 22.

    Kasimatis (1980), p. 154. See also Jellinek (2011).

  23. 23.

    See Kasimatis (1980), Manesis (1982), Tsatsos (1988) and Peters (2016).

  24. 24.

    Idem, p. 156.

  25. 25.

    Human Rights Committee (HRC), CCPR General Comment No. 16, para. 1.

  26. 26.

    See Airey v. Ireland, Application No. 6289/73, judgement of 9 October 1979 and Marckx v. Belgium, Application No. 6833/74, judgment of 13 June 1979.

  27. 27.

    See Johnston et al. v. Ireland, Application No. 9697/82, judgment of 18 December 1986.

  28. 28.

    Pretty v. The United Kingdom, Application No. 2346/02, judgment of 29 April 2002, paras. 70-78.

  29. 29.

    TGEU Position Paper on Gender Markers, 2018, p. 1.

  30. 30.

    Darlington Statement, 2017, para. 12.

  31. 31.

    Public Statement by the Asian Intersex Movement, 2018, para. 19.

  32. 32.

    Council of Europe (2015), p. 25.

  33. 33.

    Legislatura 365, Modifica diversos cuerpos legales para regular, en igualdad de condiciones, el matrimonio de parejas del mismo sexo.

  34. 34.

    The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, House of Representatives, Marriage Amendment Bill 2017.

  35. 35.

    Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013, Section 2 amended.

  36. 36.

    Greek Law regulating the Civil Union.

  37. 37.

    See Büchler and Cottier (2015), pp. 115, 127 and 131–132.

  38. 38.

    Herring et al. (2015), Debate 1 “What is a family?”.

  39. 39.

    Idem, p. 11.

  40. 40.

    See also Eekelaar and Nhlap (1998).

  41. 41.

    Okin Moller (1989), pp. 183–184.

  42. 42.

    Idem, p. 184.

  43. 43.

    Morgan and Douglas (1994), p. 52.

  44. 44.

    OII Europe, Malta Declaration (2013), “Demands”.

  45. 45.

    Public Statement by the African Intersex Movement, 2017, “Demands”.

  46. 46.

    Darlington Statement, 2017, para. 9.

  47. 47.

    OII Europe, Statement of Riga, 2014, para. 2.

  48. 48.

    OII Europe, Statement of the 1st European Intersex Community Event, 2017.

  49. 49.

    Darlington Statement, 2017, para. 11.

  50. 50.

    E/C.12/GC/20, 2009, para. 32.

  51. 51.

    See Jallow v. Bulgaria, 2012; S.V.P. v. Bulgaria, 2012; Kell v. Canada, 2012; A.S. v. Hungary, 2006; R. P. B. v. the Philippines, 2014; M.W. v. Denmark, 2016, among others and inquiries (in particular, concerning Mexico (2005) and Canada (2015)).

  52. 52.

    United NatIons Free & Equal, Fact Sheet “Intersex”.

  53. 53.

    Council of Europe (2015), p. 43.

  54. 54.

    See Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

  55. 55.

    MOVILH, “Camara de Diputados aprueba incorporar a niños y niñas LGBTI en proyecto de ley sobre derechos de la infancia”.

  56. 56.

    ILGA Europe and OII Europe, 2015, p. 15.

  57. 57.

    Constitution, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia Nos. 33/91-I, 42/97, 66/2000, 24/03, 69/04, 68/06, and 47/13.

  58. 58.

    See Sect. 1.4.1.

  59. 59.

    Garland and Mitchell (2018), p. 21.

  60. 60.

    UN Women, “A brief history of the Commission on the Status of Women”.

  61. 61.

    UN Sustainable Development Goals, “Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.

  62. 62.

    Council of Europe (2015), p. 2.

  63. 63.

    Okin Moller (1989), p. 184.

  64. 64.

    Habermas (2010), p. 469.

  65. 65.

    OII Europe, Malta Declaration (2013), “Demands”.

  66. 66.

    P. v S. AND Cornwall County Council Opinion of Advocate General Tesauro delivered on 14 December 1995, para. 17.

  67. 67.

    OII Europe, Statement of Riga, 2014, objective 1.

  68. 68.

    Tobler (2014), p. 541. See also Palk and Grunsted (2018).

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  1. Athens, Greece

    Nikoletta Pikramenou

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  1. Nikoletta Pikramenou
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Pikramenou, N. (2019). The Future: Intersex Shaping Inclusive Laws. In: Intersex Rights. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27554-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27554-9_5

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