Universal Periodic Review

Ensure free and timely access to appropriate health-care for all, including LGBTI+ persons, children and adolescents where the young person has sufficient maturity to provide informed consent

Proponent:

Remarks to progress by Liga (last modified Dec 31, 2024):

In the „Concluding Observations“ on the situation of children’s rights in Austria, published in March 2020, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child called for a ban on the performance of medically unnecessary treatments or surgical interventions on children with variations in gender development (intersex children).   These measures should only be carried out if they are safe and can be postponed until the children concerned are able to give their consent on the basis of an informed decision (see paragraph 27, lit a). However, there is no concrete information on the exact steps to implement these recommendations (see Convention on the Rights of the Child as PDF: here). On 10 May 2024, the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) published new recommendations to Austria concerning the protection of intersex people (see CAT recommendations to Austria 2024: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=2749&Lang=en). In points 42 and 43 of its „Concluding Observations“, the committee expressed the desire for legal regulation to prohibit non-medically necessary interventions on intersex children. Furthermore, the committee recommended that people who have undergone such treatments should be adequately compensated and that counselling and support structures should be set up. These recommendations build on those made by the CAT in 2015, in which Austria was already called upon to ensure the protection of intersex people from harmful interventions. Despite this call, Austria has not yet implemented any corresponding measures, which is why it now seems important to reiterate the recommendations.   VIMÖ has submitted an alternative report to the UN Committee in which the procedures practised in Austria are scientifically documented. The report shows that there are more than 1,000 hospital discharges of children and adolescents with variations in sex characteristics every year. Many of these discharges are associated with operations that can be categorised as intersex genital mutilation (IGM) (see alternative VIMÖ report: https://vimoe.at/2024/04/25/oesterreich-vom-un-ausschuss-gegen-folter-cat-geprueft-veroeffentlichung-unseres-ngo-berichts-und-bedeutende-antwort-oesterreichs/). During the hearing on 17 April 2024, Austria admitted that such operations continue to be carried out. Reference was also made to existing legal regulations intended to protect minors from such interventions;The European Commission’s LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025 calls for an end to this „genital mutilation of intersex people (see: here). International organisations, including the UN, the European Parliament and the European Commission, also support the end of these practices. Other European countries such as Malta, Greece and Germany have already passed corresponding laws.