TAG: intersex rights

Sexual politics in August 2016

In August, the Rio Olympic Games provided a privileged stage for the critical observing of gender and sexuality performances. Several SPW partners positively and generously responded to our invitation to share their views on this peculiar scene. Fernando Seffner, for example, wrote the article Rio 2016: the “Sexual Games”? that glances over sexuality at large. […]

Capturing Semenya

As the women’s 800m approaches, headlines about Caster Semenya proliferate — once again, seven years after she won the World Championship in the 800m and became a news headline, we have been saturated with “debates” about her presence on the track. This year, these stories unfold in striking contrast with those celebrating other athletes who dominate their events.

Body shaming is an intersex issue

Please note that this post contains distressing images. It intersperses quotations about intersex infants and children with quotations about the bodies of public figures. Body shaming is an intersex issue, perhaps even more than any other issue. It stunts people’s lives and provides rationales for harmful medical interventions. If you want to know why openly […]

Sri Lanka: Discrimination on Grounds of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

(New York) – Transgender people and others who do not conform to social expectations about gender face discrimination and abuse in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 63-page report, “‘All Five Fingers Are Not the Same’: Discrimination on Grounds of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in Sri Lanka,” finds that […]

Letter: trans candidates for UN Independent Expert on SOGI rights

Trans organisations signing this letter, and the activist networks they represent, celebrate the Resolution [on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity] passed on 30 June 2016 at the UN Human Rights Council.[1] We consider the appointment of an Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual […]

Intersex Genital Mutilations: UN Women’s Rights Committee Reprimands France

France is the 1st ever country to be reprimanded for IGM by 3 different UN treaty bodies, having previously been reprimanded by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in February 2016, and by the Committee against Torture (CAT) in May.

Report: The Growing Movement Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People

The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice has launched the report We Are Real: The Growing Movement Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People. Available in English, Spanish, Russian, and forthcoming in Chinese, We Are Real seeks to share and promote relevant knowledge and understanding of intersex issues and activism to people across the world––particularly funders and other actors […]

Sexual politics in July 2016

Between July 12th and 15th, right before the Durban International AIDS Conference, SPW organized a seminar in Umhlanga, the Northern District of the City. Thirty four researchers and activists from the Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe discussed key trends in sexual politics at regional and country levels as well as in specific domains […]

International coalition launched for LGBTI equal rights

In Uruguay on Wednesday an international coalition was launched for equal rights worldwide for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. Foreign minister Bert Koenders and his Uruguayan opposite number Rodolfo Novoa jointly opened the conference, which the Netherlands and Uruguay co-organised. Government representatives attended from every continent. Several countries, including South Africa, the […]

Sexual politics in June 2016

The proposal launched in May by the LAC 5 countries for the creation of a Special Mandate on Human Rights and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (reported by SPW) has taken its course. On June 30th at the 32 Session of the UN Human Rights Council a resolution was adopted that establishes the mandate of […]

The creation of a UN SOGI mandate

On June 30th the Human Rights Council, after a complex and difficult negotiation has voted a resolution that establishes the mandate of and Independent Expert on Human Rights and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. In, May SPW has reported on this upcoming process and now we offer a brief compilation of statements and first analyses […]

INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON SOGI: WHAT WOULD REAL SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

In what was described as a dramatic milestone by human rights activists working on the promotion and protection of human rights on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, members of the United Nations at the 32 session of the Human Rights Council voted a resolution that provides a new mandate for an independent expert that will be responsible for reporting violence suffered by people on the grounds of their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, globally.