Today, on the 14th of February 2019, the European Parliament has adopted a landmark Resolution on the Rights of Intersex People. By adopting this resolution, the European Parliament sets a clear standard within the European Union for the protection of intersex people’s bodily integrity and human rights. The resolution complements the ground-breaking 2017 intersex resolution ‘Promoting the human rights of and eliminating discrimination against intersex people’ adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
“We applaud the European Parliament for issuing this outstanding resolution”, says Kitty Anderson, Co-Chair of OII Europe. “It is clearly based on an in-depth knowledge about the human rights violations that intersex people face in within the European Union.”
“ILGA Europe enthusiastically celebrates this historic resolution as the fruit of enormous labour on the part of intersex activist across Europe”, adds Evelyn Paradis, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe.
In its resolution, the European Parliament “strongly condemns sex-normalising treatments and surgery” and encourages Member States to adopt legislation that protect the bodily integrity of intersex people “as soon as possible”. It also confirms that intersex people are “exposed to multiple instances of violence and discrimination in the European Union” and calls on the European Commission and the Members States to propose legislation to address these issues. Read more via Oii Europe