From the introduction:
These written comments are submitted on behalf of OII Europe (Organisation Intersex International Europe e.V.), ILGA-Europe (European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association), and C.I.A. (Collectif intersexes et allié-e-s) pursuant to leave granted by the President of the Fifth Section.
The present case concerns the French authorities’ refusal to allow for the current “male” gender marker of the applicant, an intersex person, to be replaced by “neutral” or “intersex” on the birth certificate. The third-party interveners contrast the French authorities’ decisions with broader trends at the national, regional and international levels that favour recognizing gender identity on the basis of self-determination, including by allowing for the recognition of non-binary identities. In doing so, the present submission places the Court’s jurisprudence in a wider legal and policy context, drawing from regional and international comparative law.
The submission provides information about “intersex” as an umbrella term and the spectrum of variations of sex charateristics (II). It documents the violence and discrimination faced by intersex people due to lack of recognition of their human rights (III). It further reviews the current obstacles faced by intersex people seeking legal gender recognition, providing guidance on how to overcome them (IV). Last, the submission brings to light the emerging trend towards recognition of gender identity as non-binary by placing recent national, regional and international law developments in the context of Article 8 of the Convention (V).
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