New Council of Europe Issue Paper on Human Rights and Gender Identity

Wednesday 29 July 2009

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, has published an expert Issue Paper on Human Rights and Gender Identity.

The Issue Paper makes the point that agreed international human rights standards, such as the right to life, physical integrity and the right to health care, apply equally to all people, including transgender persons. Likewise, they have the right to be protected against discrimination on the labour market.

"Council of Europe member states should do more to stop transphobia and discrimination against transgender people. The situation of transgender persons has long been ignored and neglected, although the problems they face are very real and often specific to this group alone. They experience a high degree of discrimination and intolerance in all fields of life, as well as outright violence. Transgender persons have been the victims of brutal hate crimes, including murder, in some European countries” said Commissioner Hammarberg.

The full Issue Paper can be read online at:
http://tinyurl.com/gi-issue-paper


Twelve key recommendations are made by the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights in the Issue Paper.

Member states of the Council of Europe should:

1. Implement international human rights standards without discrimination, and prohibit explicitly discrimination on the ground of gender identity in national non-discrimination legislation. The Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity should be used to provide guidance for national implementation in this field;

2. Enact hate crime legislation which affords specific protection for transgender persons against transphobic crimes and incidents;

3. Develop expeditious and transparent procedures for changing the name and sex of a transgender person on birth certificates, identity cards, passports, educational certificates and other similar documents;

4. Abolish sterilisation and other compulsory medical treatment as a necessary legal requirement to recognise a person’s gender identity in laws regulating the process for name and sex change;

5. Make gender reassignment procedures, such as hormone treatment, surgery and psychological support, accessible for transgender persons, and ensure that they are reimbursed by public health insurance schemes;

6. Remove any restrictions on the right of transgender persons to remain in an existing marriage following a recognised change of gender;

7. Prepare and implement policies to combat discrimination and exclusion faced by transgender persons on the labour market, in education and health care;

8. Involve and consult transgender persons and their organisations when developing and implementing policy and legal measures which concern them;

9. Address the human rights of transgender persons and discrimination based on gender identity through human rights education and training programmes, as well as awareness-raising campaigns;

10. Provide training to health service professionals, including psychologists, psychiatrists and general practitioners, with regard to the needs and rights of transgender persons and the requirement to respect their dignity;

11. Include the human rights concerns of transgender persons in the scope of activities of equality bodies and national human rights structures;

12. Develop research projects to collect and analyse data on the human rights situation of transgender persons including the discrimination and intolerance they encounter with due regard to the right to privacy of the persons concerned.