CRC77 > Spain 10th European State Reprimanded for Intersex Genital Mutilation by UN

By seelenlos on Sunday 18 February 2018, 19:51 - Permalink

Photo: Markus Bauer and Daniela Truffer (StopIGM.org) with the collaborative intersex NGO report on Spain
at the 77th CRC Session, Palais Wilson, Geneva 22.01.2018

Press Release by StopIGM.org, 19.02.2018:

During its 77th Session the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) examined Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM) in Spain. Intersex NGOs StopIGM.org and Brújula Intersexual, in collaboration with Spanish IGM survivors and parents, provided the Committee with compelling evidence of IGM being practiced allover Spain today, including in public university children's hospitals in Madrid (despite a pro-forma law against it), Barcelona and Málaga.

The Committee has now sternly reprimanded Spain for IGM.

In its Concluding Observations, CRC not only condemned IGM in Spain as a “harmful practice” according to the Convention (CRC art. 24 (3) – like FGM), but further explicitly obliged Spain to “prohibit” the practice, and to “ensure that intersex children and their families receive adequate counselling and support”! (Full binding CRC recomemendation see below.)

StopIGM.org and Brújula Intersexual welcome this clear verdict, marking
• the 10th European state reprimanded for IGM by a UN Treaty body
• the 10th reprimand for IGM by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• the 20th reprimand to a European state for IGM by a UN Treaty body
• the 29th UN Treaty body reprimand for IGM so far, and
• now 18 states reprimanded in Europe, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Daniela Truffer, IGM survivor and founding member of StopIGM.org, said:

“These joyful and encouraging even numbers should not detract from the alarming fact that intersex human rights at the UN are currently in a state of crisis: Massive instrumentalising and misrepresentation of intersex and IGM by LGBT and transgender NGOs have so far nearly cut in half the number of new UN Concluding observations, namely from 13 recommendations in 2016 to a mere 7 in 2017, with some Committees effectively having stopped issuing further recommendations altogether.

Nonetheless, as these strong new recommendations by CRC demonstrate, if intersex people and organisations stand united, provide solid evidence, and clearly and strongly refuse instrumentalising and misrepresentation by 3rd party groups, UN Committees will still recognise intersex human rights, and continue to unmistakably condemn IGM practices as the serious human rights violation that they are.”

Please find below the binding CRC77 intersex recommendations in full + session video and transcripts + the NGO reports leading to CRC condemning IGM in Spain:

IGM Practices in Spain: 2017 CRC NGO Report
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex Anatomy
IGM in Spain • Complicity of the State • IGM is Harmful Practice
>>> English (PDF, 815 kb) >>> Español (PDF, 335 kb)

>>> Endorsement of Intersex NGO Report by CoPPA: English | Español
>>> TRANSCRIPT+VIDEO: Spain questioned over Intersex Genital Mutilatons
>>> CRC77 > UN Press Release: "Genital Mutilation of Intersex Children in Spain"

CRC77: Binding Intersex Recommendations for Spain

>>> CRC/C/ESP/CO/5-6 (PDF) --> para 24

“E. Violence against children (arts. 19, 24 (3), 28 (2), 34, 37 (a) and 39)

Harmful practices [art. 24 (3)]

24. The Committee recommends that the State party prohibit unnecessary medical or surgical treatment from being performed on intersex children, when those procedures entail a risk of harm and can be safely deferred until the child can actively participate in decision-making. It also recommends that the State party ensure that intersex children and their families receive adequate counselling and support.”

>>> Intersex human rights at the UN are under attack!!!

Intersex Genital Mutilations • 17 Most Common Forms
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex Anatomy
IGM – Historical Overview • What is Intersex? • How Common are IGMs?
>>> Download PDF (3.65 MB) >>> Table of Contents

IGM as a Harmful Practice: 2015 UN-CRC Briefing
• IGM: A Survivor's Perspective • Intersex Movement History
• What are Variations of Sex Anatomy? • What are IGM Practices?
• IGM and Human Rights • Conclusion: IGM is a Harmful Practice
>>> Download PDF (3.14 MB) >>> Table of Contents

Eliminating IGM practices by holding the perpetrators accountable via well-established applicable human rights frameworks, including Inhuman Treatment and Harmful Practices – Presentation @ UN expert meeting on Intersex Human Rights

>>>Download PDF (831kb)

STOP Intersex Genital Mutilations in Children's Clinics!