Geneva, 19 December 2017 - Many countries in every region of the world still have barriers to overcome when it comes to legal gender recognition, a report from The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) has shown.

Officially launched during the 7th ILGA Asia conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in December 2017, and now in its second edition, ILGA’s Trans Legal Mapping Report is a worldwide compilation of laws and processes for trans and gender-diverse people to change their sex/gender markers and names on official identity documents.

“Every region in the world has restrictive processes, including surgical and other unreasonable requirements, for trans people just to be who they are” says coordinator and co-author Zhan Chiam, Senior Programme Officer, Gender Identity and Gender Expression at ILGA. “At the same time, there have been amazing developments in 2017 that should be celebrated - such as in Mexico, Botswana, Germany, and a win in the European Court of Human Rights. All of these successes are included and detailed in the report.”

The document is now available for download in English, and will soon also be available in Spanish.