The UN Human Rights Committee has made a powerful call to recognise the human rights of intersex people, including through ending irreversible medical treatment that is not absolutely medically necessary, and that takes place before a child can comprehend and provide informed consent.
In November 2017, SBS Insight screened a program on the medicalisation of intersex people. Several IHRA members and directors participated, as well as parents and clinicians. The full episode is available to view online.
Clinicians are increasingly raising their voices in opposition to forced and coercive interventions, including Physicians for Human Rights and the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association. More action is needed – particularly in Australia.
Tony Briffa has written for the Intersex Day Project on becoming the world’s first openly intersex elected public official. In 2009 and 2010 I was elected to the position of Deputy Mayor, and in 2011 I was elected Mayor. I am currently an elected Councillor. This all means that I became the first publicly ‘out’…
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26 October is intersex awareness day, and events are taking place in multiple capital cities across Australia, and in cities elsewhere, all around the world. These hopefully provide a chance for individuals to find out more about intersex people, our lives, and the human rights issues we face. The last year has been both exciting…
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Intersex Awareness Day events will take place across multiple capital cities in Australia this year, including Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney. They include music, film screenings, talks and discussions.
OII Australia was pleased to participate alongside the AIS Support Group Australia held a breakfast and panel at Australia’s federal Parliament House in Canberra on 19 October. The event took place on the last joint (House and Senate) Parliamentary sitting day before Intersex Awareness Day on 26 October. Around 20 Senators and Members of the…
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OII Australia has submitted a shadow report to the UN Human Rights Committee, endorsed by the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia, Disabled People’s Organisations of Australia, National LGBTI Health Alliance, and People with Disability Australia.
Intersex people are diverse: some of us are married, or able to marry legally in Australia, while others of us are not. OII Australia supports a YES vote. We encourage our members, supporters and broader constituency to vote YES for marriage equality, and we encourage you to talk with your family, friends and colleagues about…
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A UN Treaty Body, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has issued a recommendation to Australia on intersex human rights for the first time. The recommendation expresses concern about involuntary or coerced medical interventions.
OII Australia has submitted a shadow report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, endorsed by the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia, Disabled People’s Organisations of Australia, National LGBTI Health Alliance, and People with Disability Australia.
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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