Background

Operative Paragraph 1 of Resolution 55/14 requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report, examining in detail discriminatory laws and policies, acts of violence and harmful practices against persons with innate variations in sex characteristics (also known as intersex persons), in all regions of the world, and their root causes, and also examining best practices, including legal protection and remedies, especially when addressing the realization of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

Objectives

OHCHR invites States, the Advisory Committee, treaty bodies, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, regional mechanisms, academia, health professionals, national human rights institutions, civil society, including organizations representing intersex persons, and other relevant stakeholders to submit information, including with regard to:

1. Acts of violence and harmful practices against persons with innate variations in sex characteristics or intersex persons. Such violence may include medically unnecessary or deferrable interventions, which may be irreversible, with respect to sex characteristics, performed without the full, free and informed consent of the person. In the case of children, they may include interventions that do not comply with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
2. Other human rights violations, including discrimination. They may include discriminatory laws and policies that affect persons with innate variations in sex characteristics or intersex persons in all areas of life, including access to education, health, employment, sports, and social security, as well as restrictions on the exercise of legal capacity and in access to remedies and justice.
3. The root causes of violations of the human rights of persons with innate variations in sex characteristics or intersex persons and their impact. They may include stereotypes, misconceptions and inaccurate information, stigma and taboo.
4. Gaps, obstacles, and challenges faced by States and other stakeholders in addressing these human rights violations, and their root causes.
5. Information on good practices, including legal protections and other specific measures taken to:
   1. Prevent discrimination, violence, and harmful practices against persons with innate variations in sex characteristics or intersex persons;
   2. Ensure access to remedies, justice and accountability for human rights violations faced by persons with innate variations in sex characteristics or intersex persons;
   3. Advance the realization of the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (including in relation to human rights-based healthcare protocols and safeguards, access to information and medical records, access to counselling and support) as well as other human rights, for persons with innate variations in sex characteristics or intersex persons;
   4. Collect data, in line with human rights norms and standards, on persons with innate variations in sex characteristics or intersex people, including in relation to acts of discrimination, violence and harmful practices, and on the realization of their human rights, including the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health as well as other human rights;
   5. Collaborate with and develop partnerships between States and organizations representing intersex persons in addressing these human rights violations and upholding the human rights of persons with innate variations in sex characteristics or intersex persons.