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.

(e.g. redress p:2015 i:cat to search for documents published in 2015 by the UN Committee against Torture that contain the word ‘redress’.)

(or click here to learn how to find what you’re looking for)

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..

We need your help!

You can help us!

This collection of sources will never be complete, if only because equality and inclusion of intersex persons will always require maintenance. Achieved rights can easily be taken away again. That’s why we like to hear it when you come across information that you think belongs on this website. Documents in languages other than English are also welcome – make sure you als provide an English translation of the part of the text that is about intersex.

If you have any documents that are currently missing from this website, please contact miriam.vanderhave@nnid.nl.

This is a work in progress

Thank you for visiting intersexrights.org!

We are still busy adding content. To be honest, at the moment there are only a few dozen pages with references to institutions, countries, recommendations, statements, and resolutions. That’s enough to test the functionality of the website. For the United Nations alone, about two hundred documents still need to be added. And then there are plenty of other documents that need to be added. Sorry we can’t help you right now, but we are working hard to make the website the most complete source of information on intersex rights.

Thank you for your patience!

Want to know more about
sex diversity?

This website only contains information about intersex rights. For information about sex diversity and intersex, please visit our other website: seksediversiteit.nl (Only in Dutch. Sorry, we’re working on a version in English)). Below you will find links to a number of frequently visited pages.