Editing Reproductive rights (section)

==Intersex and reproductive rights==
{{See also|Intersex}}
Intersex, in [[human]]s and other [[animal]]s, is a variation in [[sex]] characteristics including [[chromosome]]s, [[gonad]]s, or [[genital]]s that do not allow an individual to be distinctly identified as male or female. Such variation may involve genital ambiguity, and combinations of chromosomal [[genotype]] and sexual [[phenotype]] other than XY-male and XX-female.<ref name="Money">{{cite book |last=Money |first=John |author-link = John Money |author2=Ehrhardt, Anke A. |title=Man & Woman Boy & Girl. Differentiation and dimorphism of gender identity from conception to maturity |year=1972 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0-8018-1405-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/manwomanboygirl00mone }}</ref><ref name="Dreger">{{cite book |last=Domurat Dreger |first=Alice |title=Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex |year=2001 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0-674-00189-3 }}</ref> Intersex persons are often subjected to involuntary "sex normalizing" surgical and hormonal treatments in infancy and childhood, often also including sterilization.<ref name="coe1952">[http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=20174&lang=en Resolution 1952/2013, Provision version, Children's right to physical integrity], [[Council of Europe]], 1 October 2013</ref><ref name="SenateOnSterilisation">[http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Involuntary_Sterilisation/Sec_Report/index Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia], [[Australian Senate]] Community Affairs Committee, October 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-15/carpenter-its-time-to-defend-intersex-rights/5093966 It's time to defend intersex rights], Morgan Carpenter at [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]], 15 November 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/australian-parliament-committee-releases-intersex-rights-report281013 Australian Parliament committee releases intersex rights report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115130147/http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/australian-parliament-committee-releases-intersex-rights-report281013/ |date=15 January 2016 }}, [[Gay Star News]], 28 October 2013.</ref><ref name="swissnek">[http://www.bag.admin.ch/nek-cne/04229/04232/index.html?lang=en&download=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1ad1IZn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCKfX96f2ym162epYbg2c_JjKbNoKSn6A-- On the management of differences of sex development, Ethical issues relating to "intersexuality", Opinion No. 20/2012] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620231438/http://www.bag.admin.ch/nek-cne/04229/04232/index.html?lang=en&download=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1ad1IZn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCKfX96f2ym162epYbg2c_JjKbNoKSn6A-- |date=20 June 2013 }}, Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics, November 2012.</ref>

UN agencies have begun to take note. On 1 February 2013, Juan E Mendés, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, issued a statement condemning non-consensual surgical intervention on intersex people. His report stated, "Children who are born with atypical sex characteristics are often subject to irreversible sex assignment, involuntary sterilization, involuntary genital normalizing surgery, performed without their informed consent, or that of their parents, "in an attempt to fix their sex", leaving them with permanent, irreversible infertility and causing severe mental suffering".<ref name="untorture">[http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.53_English.pdf Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture], [[Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights]], February 2013.</ref> In May 2014, the [[World Health Organization]] issued a joint statement on ''Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, An interagency statement'' with the [[OHCHR]], [[UN Women]], [[UNAIDS]], [[UNDP]], [[UNFPA]] and [[UNICEF]]. The report references the involuntary surgical "sex-normalising or other procedures" on "intersex persons". It questions the medical necessity of such treatments, patients' ability to consent, and a weak evidence base.<ref>[http://oii.org.au/27189/who-and-other-un-agencies-issues-statement-on-involuntary-or-coerced-sterilisation/ WHO/UN interagency statement on involuntary or coerced sterilisation], [[Organisation Intersex International Australia]], 30 May 2014.</ref> The report recommends a range of guiding principles to prevent [[compulsory sterilization]] in medical treatment, including ensuring patient autonomy in decision-making, ensuring non-discrimination, accountability and access to remedies.<ref>[https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/gender_rights/eliminating-forced-sterilization/en/ Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, An interagency statement], [[World Health Organization]], May 2014.</ref>