The Growing Visibility of Intersex Demands at the United Nations: A Review of the Treaty Bodies’ Concluding Observations

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing visibility of intersex people’s issues and experiences of human rights violations amongst international human rights institutions and monitoring bodies. At the United Nations, to date, there are more than 500 treaty bodies’ concluding observations taking notice of human rights abuses against intersex persons and calling member states to fulfil their human rights obligations. This paper follows the inclusion and visibility of intersex issues in the text of the United Nations treaty bodies’ concluding observations. I looked for explicit mentions of the word “intersex” in treaty bodies’ report documents and reviewed how the concluding observations and recommendations of these bodies resonate with demands coming from intersex activist groups. I found that the main issues included in the treaty bodies’ reports concern intersex genital surgeries (IGS), autonomy claims, and demands for redress and support mechanisms, and while these issues have gained visibility, there are also a number of demands by intersex activists that remain less visible, if not invisible altogether. This paper aims at providing evidence of the increasing visibility and awareness of human rights monitoring bodies have over intersex people’s rights.

Intersex Epistemologies? Reviewing Relevant Perspectives in Intersex Studies

“…The reviewed authors question the human rights violations that intersex people face, denouncing the practice of non-consensual surgeries on the sex characteristics of intersex newborns, children, and adolescents (Ammaturo 2016b;Bastien-Charlebois and Guillot 2018;Bauer et al 2020;Carpenter 2016Carpenter , 2018aCarpenter , 2018bCarpenter , 2020Crocetti et al 2020a;Davidian [2011Davidian [ ] 2013Ghattas 2013;Guillot 2018;Mestre Martínez 2022;Monro et al 2019;Paechter 2021;Winter Pereira 2022;Zelayandía-González 2023). Furthermore, they identify a lack of adequate health care throughout their lifespan (Berry and Monro 2022;Crocetti et al 2020b;Crocetti et al [2023] 2024), as well as dynamics of social discrimination and exclusion in different contexts (Carpenter 2020;Sterling 2021;Winter Pereira 2022).…”

“…Intersex studies also provides a review of the historical development of local, regional, and international human rights-based intersex activism over the last decades in different world regions (Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice 2016; Bauer et al 2020;Chase 2013;Crocetti et al 2020a;Davidian [2011Davidian [ ] 2013Davis 2015;Haller et al 2022;Karkazis 2008;Rubin , 2019Suess-Schwend 2022von Wahl 2021;Winter Pereira 2022). The reviewed authors analyze the demands of regional and international intersex networks, identifying the protection of the right to bodily integrity and cessation of non-consensual surgeries performed on the sex characteristics of intersex newborns, children, and adolescents as main demands (Ammaturo 2016b;Bastien-Charlebois and Guillot 2018;Bauer et al 2020;Carpenter 2016Carpenter , 2018aCarpenter , 2018bCarpenter , 2020Crocetti et al 2020aCrocetti et al , 2020bDavidian [2011Davidian [ ] 2013Grabham 2007;Guillot 2018;Mestre Martínez 2022;Monro et al 2019;Paechter 2021;Sterling 2021;von Wahl 2021;Winter Pereira 2022;Zelayandía-González 2023). Furthermore, they review the lobbying activities of intersex activist groups and networks in international and regional human rights bodies (Bauer et al 2020;Rubin 2019;Winter Pereira 2022).…”

“…The reviewed authors describe the engagement of regional and international human rights bodies with intersex issues, such as the UN, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, or the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, analyzing their resolutions and recommendations (Bauer et al 2020;Carpenter 2020;Garland and Travis 2022;Garland et al 2022;Pikramenou 2019;Ravesloot 2021;Sterling 2021;Travis 2015;Winter Pereira 2022;Zelayandía-González 2023). They also review the implementation of their recommendations in national contexts (Carpenter 2018b;Duggan and McNamara 2021;Garland and Travis 2022;Ní Mhuirthile et al 2022;von Wahl 2021).…”

From Harmful Practices and Instrumentalisation, towards Legislative Protections and Community-Owned Healthcare Services: The Context and Goals of the Intersex Movement in Australia

“…While multiple analyses of the early intersex movement in the United States and Canada exist (an early insider perspective can be read in (Chase 1998)), and recent legal attention has focused on advocacy within the international human rights system (Bauer et al 2019;Lum 2021;Zelayandia-Gonzalez 2023), fewer studies have considered the goals and work of the contemporary intersex movement outside of North America, and no comparable peer-reviewed analysis has yet been published on intersex advocacy in Australia. The intention of this paper is to present a coherent overview and analysis of community responses to policy and public incoherence.…”

Psychosocial Care for Infants, Children and Adolescents with Variations of Sex Characteristics: Results from a Pan-European Survey

“…Human rights bodies have called for restrictions on medically unnecessary surgeries, implementation of anti-discrimination laws, the rights to private life and physical integrity, and respect for bodily autonomy (7,18,19). Malta, Portugal, Iceland, Germany, Greece and Spain have legally prohibited medically unnecessary surgical interventions, but not all of them have de ned legal consequences if the prohibitions are breached (20,21). The legal restrictions on medical practices aim to support the implementation of improved medical care, including the provision of psychosocial support (22,23).…”