intersex.shadowreport.org

>>> CESCR 2010 Shadow Report as PDF (261 kb)

1. Summary

2. Questions to the German Federal Government

3. Contents

1. Summary

This parallel report to the national report of the Federal Republic of Germany, on the basis of the beliefs and experiences of the authors, this shadow report is devoted to revealing the denied human rights of intersexed people according to the UN covenant on social, economical, and cultural human rights (CESCR).

Within intersexual people both, female and male physical characteristics can be found. But next to the variety of their sex chromosomes and/or genitalia, in the majority of cases, no further pathological criteria exist. Despite, in Germany as well as in numerous other countries, intersexed persons are target of irreversible medication and surgery from early childhood on. As a consequence, these medical interferences result in life-long obligatory medical treatment.

In the majority of cases, intersexed children are medically treated in order to visually and mentally adjust them to what is perceived as being “female” in the respective cultural contexts. This is done although a medical indication as well as a quality control (art. 12 general comment no. 14 on the CESCR) is completely absent.

There are also cases however in which medical scientists try to adjust intersexual persons to a male gender - including the wrongful extraction of completely intact female genitals and sexual organs, with brutal consequences concerning the possibility of motherhood, self perception and body image, as well as sexual self determination. 

These persons are forced into a gender whereby they loose their natural, individual development potential. The necessity of medical interferences is justified through social aspects, for instance, the concern that the intersexual child without clearly defined sexual characteristics could become a victim of sexual discrimination.

Official estimates classify approximately 80,000 - 120,000 people who live in Germany today, with a medical classification of being “intersexed” (“DSD”, Disorder of Sexual Development).

The aim of this shadow report is to clarify the physical, psychological and social situation of intersexual people in Germany, with the goal of a full-fledged realization and implementation of the economical, social, and cultural human rights, among them especially of the human right to health (art. 12 CESCR) of all intersexed persons. Germany has to fulfill its obligation to protect for the economical, social, and cultural human rights, it must not ignore any longer the violation of the rights of the social pacts against intersexed people.

Connected with this shadow report is the hope, that the CESCR committee will work towards the application respectively accomplishment at Germany of the human rights of intersexed people arising from the CESCR.

The intersexed people provide their own shadow report because of the very specific forms of violence and discriminations they are exposed to.

Intersexuality touches on a multitude of universal human and women’s rights. This shadow report concentrates on depicting human rights violations on the basis of lacking implementation of articles 2 - 5 (underlying principles of the CESCR: equality, non-discrimination, and state obligations), article 9 (social security), article 10 (family), article 12 (health), and article 15 (participation in the achievements of scientifical progress). 

All human rights are universal, interdependent and interrelated. Following Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), “every human being is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms can be fully realized”. CESCR stresses it its preamble, that „in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalinable rights of all members of the human family, is the foundation to freedom, justice, and peace in the world.“ This is appreciated by the intersexed people with great respect.

Given the sense of universal and interdependent human rights, the concerns of intersexual people will need to be communicated to other UN treaty bodies (particularly to the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Committee on the Elimination of the Discrimination of Women (CEDAW), the Children's Rights Committee, and the Committe against Torture, as well as to the Special Rapporteurs for the protection against torture and violence against women and children.

2. Questions to the German Federal Government

1. What will the Federal Government undertake to ensure, that the dignity, the right to a life free of discrimination, and the health (Artikel 1 UDHR, art. 2 CESCR, art. 12 CESCR) are made feasible also for intersexed people?
 
2. Which steps will the Federal Government take to ensure, that also people classified as intersexed can fully enjoy the rights of the CESCR?
 
3. When will the Federal Government start a dialogue with the affected people, with the NGO?
 
4. Why has the Federal Government not taken any steps yet to ensure, that medical treatment standards are introduced for people classified as intersexed, which suffice the requirement of the ratified UN treaties? 
 
5. What will the Federal Government do to ensure, that, from now on, no irreversible medical interventions on intersexed people take place without the free informed consent of the intersexed people themselves? 
 
6. By means of which measures does the Federal Government make sure, that people classified as intersexed can participate in the achievement of scientifical progress?
 
7. Why does the Federal Government tolerate the traditional cosmetical interventions on the genitalia of people/children classified as intersexed, and why does it regard them as higher than the right to the best possible health?
 
8. When will the medical professional associations be demanded by the Federal Government to introduce non-discriminating treatment standards with active participation of the people affected? 
 
9. How does the Federal Government want to protect the human right to health of people classified as intersexed with regard to enforced sexually norming treatments within the scope of the two gender system?
 
10. Which legal initiatives will the Federal Government gesetzlichen realize in order to guarantee the social inclusion of people classified as intersexed?
 
11. When does the Federal Government propose to include the term „sexual variants“ into its laws and regulations? 
 
12. Will the German Government during the next four years promote or support a truth commission which contributes to the public awareness and which regulates the compensation (according to Canadian model) of intersexual people injured by medical treatment or non-treatment?

3. Contents

Foreword / Executive Summary.............................................................................................6
Questions to the German Government.................................................................................8
 
1. Preamble and Part II of the CESCR (Articles 2-5).........................................................9
1.1. Application of the CESCR in Germany........................................................................9
1.2. Definition – What is Intersexuality?...........................................................................11
1.3. No official Contacting of the Intersexed People by the Federal Government yet,
positive Developments in several provinces, with regard to the , and by the Ethics
Council........................................................................................................................12
 
2. Right to Participation in the Achievements of Scientifical Progress
(Art. 15 Par. 1 lit. b + Par. 2 CESCR)............................................................................15
2.1. The Gender Theories by Prof. Dr. John Money violate Human Rights......................15
2.2. Outdated Specialist Literature.....................................................................................18
2.3. Lack of Participation in the Achievements of scientifical Progress because of
Off-Label Use of Medicaments...................................................................................19
 
3. Right to Health (Art. 12 CESCR)...................................................................................19
3.1. Medical Experiments on Human Beings, Violated of the Informed Consent............19
3.2. Gonadectomy (Castration)..........................................................................................22
3.3. Genital Amputation ....................................................................................................23
3.4. Irreversible Genital Surgery on Minors and Adults ...................................................24
3.5. Medical Treatment according to the civil status instead of according to Health
Requirements..............................................................................................................24
3.6. Hormone Substitute Therapy and Off-Label-Use of Medicaments............................25
3.6.1. Consequences of adequate Hormone Substitutition Therapy..........................26
3.6.2. Consequences of paradox Hormone Therapies (paradox HT).........................26
3.6.2.1. Physical und Psychosomatc Consequences of paradox HAT..............26
3.6.2.2. Psychological Consequences of paradox HAT....................................28
3.6.3. Off-Label-Use..................................................................................................29
3.7. Documentation of Treatment .....................................................................................30
3.8. Effective Legal Protection..........................................................................................30
3.9. Consequences of Treatment in Scope of Medical Definition.....................................31

4. Social Security and Right to National Insurance (Art. 9 CESCR)..............................31
4.1. Health Insurances........................................................................................................32
4.2. Disability.....................................................................................................................33
 
5. Protection of the Family (Art. 10 CESCR)....................................................................35
5.1. Violation of the special Protection of the Family by Letting happen Violations of the
Human Rights of the Child.........................................................................................35
5.2. Violation of the special Protection of the Family by Disruption of
the Parent-Child-Relation...........................................................................................35
5.3. Insufficient Social Security.........................................................................................36
 
6. Special Mechanisms.........................................................................................................37
6.1. A Possibility of Reconciliation: Truth Commission to Raise Awareness on the
Violation of Human Rights of Intersexed People.......................................................37
 
7. Claims and Recommendations........................................................................................38
7.1. The Claims of the Persons Concerned........................................................................38
7.2. Necessary Aid Programs for Persons Concerned.......................................................38
 
**Addendum – Case Studies – Links...................................................................................39
1. Case Study Christina T.......................................................................................................39
2. Case Study Frances............................................................................................................39
3. Links...................................................................................................................................39
-Milton Diamond, Hazel Glenn Beh