Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 OII Europe Online Community Event and Conference for the first time was held completely online. Under the theme of “Staying Connected” we were delighted to once again be surrounded by our amazing community during the 3-day event consisting of a one-day public conference and a two-day closed community event. Over 94 participants registered for the event, for many this being their first ever Community event.
The program of the Public Conference on September 24th included panels on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a dialogue with allies on examples of good allyship and – last but not least – a session by intersex musicians! As always we were amazed by our speakers and their words. A big thank you to all our invited speakers and musicians!
The program of the Public Conference was one of the first events, to our knowledge, to include panels on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the intersex community with speakers from most regions of the world, as well as a panel on research ethics for allies working on the topic of intersex. All the panels also featured simultaneous interpretation into Spanish and French and live captions. Despite some minor technical difficulties the event went smoothly and successfully!
The program of the Public Event included the following sessions:
Keynote speech by Silvan Agius, Cabinet Expert of Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli, European Commission
COVID-19 and Intersex Panel, with the following speakers:
- Dan Christian Ghattas, Executive Director of OII Europe
- Hiker Chiu, Chair of Intersex Asia
- Gaby Gonzalez, Coordinator and activist for the human rights of intersex people in Argentina. Organisation Orquidea Intersexual
- Obioma Chukwuike, intersex and human rights activist, founder and Executive Director Intersex-Nigeria, and member of the African Intersex Movement
One Year Later: Intersex Activism in COVID-19 Times Panel Discussion with the speakers:
- Eliana Rubashkyn, intersex pharmacist, chemist and human rights activist, ILGA World Intersex Programme Officer
- Crystal Hendricks, Chair of Intersex South Africa
- Hiker Chiu, Chair of Intersex Asia
- Manuela Falzone, activist of IntersexEsiste and member of AISIA
- Mauro Cabral Grinspan, Executive Director, GATE Trans, Gender Diverse and Intersex Advocacy in Action
Good Practice in Research by Allies Panel Discussion with the speakers:
- Dr. Nikoletta Pikramenou, Aristotle University, ally-member of Intersex Greece
- Amets Suess Schwend, INIA, Intersex – New Interdisciplinary Approaches, Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada
- Dr. Ulrike Klöppel, member of the advisory board of Internationale Vereinigung Intergeschlechtlicher Menschen – OII Germany
- Surya Monro, INIA, Intersex – New Interdisciplinary Approaches, Professor in Sociology and Social Policy, University of Huddersfield, UK
- Régine Abadia, Film Director, director of the documentary “Entre Deux Sexes”
