“Despite growing awareness of their situation, in 2020 intersex people continue to suffer in their daily lives and see their dreams frustrated as a consequence of unnecessary medical and surgical interventions, often practised on intersex infants and children without their consent,” said Fourat Ben Chikha (Belgium, SOC), General Rapporteur on the rights of LGBTI people, on the occasion of Intersex Awareness Day 2020 (26 October).
“A growing body of international law, as well as the Assembly’s own ground-breaking resolution on the rights of intersex people, is calling for an end to non-consensual surgery and medical interventions, and to discrimination against them in all fields of life,” he underlined.
“On Intersex Awareness Day, as we listen to the stories, hopes and dreams of intersex children and adults, and learn more about the harsh realities they face, I call on all European governments to put an end to the alteration of intersex children’s bodies without their consent. Respecting intersex people’s physical integrity and bodily autonomy means, quite simply, allowing intersex people to be themselves – and it is one of many vital steps we must take to guarantee their human rights,” he concluded.
PACE
