INTERSEX RIGHTS

My body, my life, my decision

This website concerns the rights of intersex people¹The complete definition of intersex is: Intersex is the lived experience of the socio-cultural consequences of being born with a body that does not fit within the normative social construction of male and female. Sociologists, lawyers, and biologists use the term intersex, while physicians and other health professionals usually talk about DSD (Disorders/Differences of Sex Development). The words differ, yet they are mostly describing the same group of people. The words stand for different approaches to sex diversity. and intends to give the most complete overview possible of recommendations of treaty committees of the United Nations, resolutions of political bodies, declarations of intersex organisations etcetera.²You will see that the core message of all documents on this website is: ‘respect the right to self-determination and the right to bodily integrity of intersex people’. However, more is needed than just respecting those rights. Intersex turns out to be an important, but often invisible, ground of discrimination, as a result of which intersex people are often excluded by the rest of society. This aspect is also discussed in the documents on this website.

The information is intended for intersex people who want to learn from the work that has already been done and scientists who are conducting research into the social aspects of intersex. The website is also useful for policy makers who want to integrate intersex into regional, national, and local policy.

Intersexrights.org is a website published by Stichting NNID, the Netherlands organisation for sex diversity, as a service to the intersex community, scholars, policy makers, and anyone else interested in intersex rights.  Both sex diversity and intersex mean that the biological sex is a spectrum with an infinite number of variations. Intersex is a smaller group within the whole of sex diversity. According to research, this smaller group often has to face discrimination³This has been confirmed through research by the European Commission and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency.. In addition, some intersex people suffer from medical treatment that is considered a serious violation of human rights⁴As noted by several treaty committees of the United Nations. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament have called on member states to respect and protect the rights of intersex people..