Call for action by the new government

IHRA is pleased to share our call for action by the new government. It includes calls for action to promote legislative reform, resource peer support and advocacy, reform medical codes, and provide redress.

Call for action on intersex health and human rights

1. National legislation to protect the human rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics in medical settings

1a. In the alternative, nationally consistent legislation to protect the human rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics in medical settings

2. National human rights-affirming standards of care for medical treatment involving people with innate variations of sex characteristics

3. National resourcing for peer and family support and advocacy services for people with innate variations of sex characteristics and our families, including a dedicated helpline

4. Reform to paediatric MBS item codes to end reimbursement incentives for unnecessarily early surgeries on children with innate variations of sex characteristics

5. Update sex/gender recognition guidelines to match the 2021 ABS Standard on Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation, to ensure accurate, respectful data collection in government and health systems

6. Update the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to implement protections for people with innate variations of sex characteristics on the ground of ‘sex characteristics’ rather than ‘intersex status’

7. Add missing protections in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)

8. Education curriculum reform to provide clear, accurate, human rights-affirming information about innate variations of sex characteristics

9. Redress for individuals subjected to harmful practices

Comments about the call for action

Morgan Carpenter, executive director, says:

These actions respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics, implementing recommendations by community, the Australian Human Rights Commission, UN Treaty Body recommendations to Australia, and key clinical and statistics institutions. Previous governments could have chosen to act on these recommendations and, while leading States and Territories are now starting to implement their own reform, we need clear, concrete and coherent action by the Commonwealth government.

Cody Smith, senior project officer, says:

With a new government comes new opportunities. Without the support of federally consistent legislation we have been scrambling to find support at the state level. It needs to be said that gaps in approach and understanding produce jurisdictions that cannot protect the human rights of intersex people.

What we need this government to remember is that the most straightforward choices that leave the strongest legacy, are those that protect human rights. This is a government that had a comprehensive LGBTIQ+ policy platform. Now they need to look to intersex orgs, their state based colleagues, as well as leadership from other parties to remember what their commitments to intersex human rights were.

This is where our allies can help make our needs known and use their voices to make us loud. We need this reform so our communities can recover from the trauma of stigma, shame, and medical violence that has been our truth for decades.

Michelle McGrath, a committee member of Intersex Peer Support Australia (IPSA), comments:

Absolutely necessary legal reform to end these harmful, non-consensual medical practices on children and allow us as adults, to move on with our lives. National legislation is the only way there can be consistency in the law to protect the lives of our Intersex community.

Explanatory information

Community, Australian Human Rights Commission, clinical and other policy frameworks that underpin these calls for action are as follows:

1. National legislation to protect the human rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics in medical settings

1a. In the alternative, nationally consistent legislation to protect the human rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics in medical settings

2. National human rights-affirming standards of care for medical treatment involving people with innate variations of sex characteristics

  • Legislation is necessary to set a framework and enforcement in the absence of evidence for medical practices
  • Implements recommendations 3 and 6 the 2021 AHRC report
  • Also implements calls for reform by UN Treaty Bodies, and the Darlington Statement
  • Key department: Health Department
  • Key organisations: IHRA, Intersex Peer Support Australia (IPSA)

3. National resourcing for peer and family support and advocacy services for people with innate variations of sex characteristics and our families, including a dedicated helpline

  • Existing services do not meet these needs; existing organisations have no public funding to provide these essential services, currently delivered by volunteers with a few staff funded by foreign philanthropy, see IHRA and IPSA’s funding prospectus
  • Implements recommendations 2 and 10 of the 2021 AHRC report, and underpins all other recommendations 1-12 by the AHRC
  • Implements call for reform by UN Treaty Bodies (CRC, CRPD, CEDAW, HRC), and the Darlington Statement
  • Key department: Health Department
  • Key organisations: IHRA, IPSA, with possible support by LGBTIQ+ Health Australia

4. Reform to paediatric MBS item codes to end reimbursement incentives for unnecessarily early surgeries on children with innate variations of sex characteristics

5. Update sex/gender recognition guidelines to match the 2021 ABS Standard on Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation, to ensure accurate, respectful data collection in government and health systems

  • Implementation will end an erroneous construction of intersex as a third sex/gender category, as intended in the 2013 Gillard government amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)
  • Implements an existing and current national ABS standard
  • Implements call for reform by the Darlington Statement
  • Supports a 2021 national standard for general practices by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
  • For further information, see Morgan Carpenter’s analysis of Australian data
  • Key departments: AGD, but implementation also by Health, DFAT and Services Australia
  • Key organisations: IHRA, LGBTIQ+ Health Australia

6. Update the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to implement protections for people with innate variations of sex characteristics on the ground of ‘sex characteristics’ rather than ‘intersex status’

  • Including provisions to support reasonable accommodations where needed
  • Implements best practice defined in the Darlington Statement, and the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10
  • Mirrors best practice reforms implemented in ACT, Victoria and Tasmania, and current proposals for reform in Queensland
  • Key department: Needs leadership from the AGD
  • Key organisations: IHRA, Equality Australia

7. Add missing protections in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)

  • Addresses the omission of protections on grounds of intersex status, but reforms should ideally offer protection on the ground of sex characteristics
  • Key department: Needs leadership from the AGD
  • Key organisations: IHRA, Equality Australia, Just Equal

8. Education curriculum reform to provide clear, accurate, human rights-affirming information about innate variations of sex characteristics

  • Aims to improve knowledge and reduce stigma, including incomprehension and distress faced by parents and prospective parents of infants with innate variations of sex characteristics
  • Implements recommendation 2 of the 2021 AHRC report
  • Underpins call for reform by UN Treaty Bodies (CRC, CRPD, CEDAW), and implements the Darlington Statement; for more information see 2021 resource by SHFPACT
  • Key department: Education Department
  • Key organisations: IHRA, IPSA, SHFPACT

9. Redress for individuals subjected to harmful practices

  • This should include access to reparative treatments and ongoing health care
  • Implements UN Treaty Body recommendations (CEDAW and CRPD) and the Darlington Statement
  • Key department: AGD
  • Key organisations: IHRA, IPSA

Download

The call for action and explanatory information are also detailed in the attached PDF and Word files.