For an introduction to these issues, see our page on identification documents
In November 2016, a diverse group of people with intersex variations participated in a parliamentary briefing, including intersex women, intersex men and people with other gender identities, talking about the issues that concerned us: of isolation, unnecessary medicalisation, and lack of bodily autonomy. In March 2017, more than twenty current and future leaders of the…
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We announce publication of a joint consensus statement, the “Darlington Statement”, by Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex organisations and independent advocates, in March 2017. It sets out common priorities and calls to action by the intersex human rights movement in our countries.
The Darlington Statement is a joint consensus statement by Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex organisations and independent advocates, agreed in March 2017. It sets out the priorities and calls to action by the intersex human rights movement in our countries.
On 22 February 2017, co-executive director Morgan Carpenter spoke at an Australian Human Rights Commission RightsTalk, on “Creating Equality – The Role of Law in Protecting SOGII Rights”. The event was hosted by Human Rights Commissioner Ed Santow, with Anna Brown, Director of Advocacy and Strategic Litigation, Human Right Law Centre and Imam Nur Warsame,…
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We’ve had interviews like this piece, by Prospekt Magazine. Telling our personal stories is always challenging, bringing old wounds back to the surface. Alexander Berezkin, the interviewee in this article by Tatiana Kondratenko about intersex people in Russia, is to be congratulated. The problem with interviews like this is that Alexander’s story is incidental to…
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The intersex population is far more diverse than commonly understood. This page presents details based on a 2015 independent Australian sociological survey.
OII Australia and eight partner organisations collaborated in Rainbow Votes, coordinated by Corey Irlam. The Rainbow Votes coalition appreciates the comprehensive responses by the Australian Greens, Australian Labor Party and Liberal National Coalition to our 2016 LGBTI election survey. Members of the Rainbow Votes coalition of LGBTI rights and health organisations have assessed the content…
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Overnight, the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions has published an important guide to promoting and protecting human rights on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics. The guide was written by Chris Sidoti and Jack Byrne. The Australian Human Rights Commission is a member of the Asia Pacific Forum,…
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OII Australia and many other stakeholders were recently invited to respond to draft proposals for sex and gender identity standards. The proposed sex standard includes purported biological definitions of male, female and other, and the proposed gender identity standard reproduces the same purported biological definitions. We have significant concerns about these: ABS Proposed Sex Standard…
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OII Australia recently joined with the National LGBTI Health Alliance, A Gender Agenda, Transformative and Transgender Victoria to agree a joint submission to the federal Attorney General’s Department on non-binary recognition in the federal sex and gender recognition guidelines. It recommends that “X” be redefined as “non-binary”.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein opened an expert meeting on intersex: “All human beings are born equal in dignity and rights. Those foundational, bedrock principles of universality and equality mean that all of us, without exception, and regardless of our sex characteristics, are equally entitled to the protections of international human rights law.”
Overnight, the UN OHCHR released a long-awaited intersex fact sheet, as part of the Free&Equal campaign. Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. Being intersex is much more common than most people think – according to experts there are as many intersex people…
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