Zwischengeschlecht (literally "between sexes") is a human rights advocacy group campaigning on

intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bin ...

bodily autonomy issues. The group demonstrates outside medical events where surgical interventions are discussed or performed, engages with the media, and participates in consultations with human rights institutions.

Advocacy

Physical integrity and bodily autonomy

Zwischengeschlecht were consulted by the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics in the preparation of an Opinion report, ''On the management of differences of sex development, Ethical issues relating to "intersexuality"'' in November 2012.On the management of differences of sex development, Ethical issues relating to “intersexuality", Opinion No. 20/2012
Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics, November 2012. The report is notable for making a clear apology for damage done to intersex people in the past, and up until the present. It recommends deferring all "non-trivial" surgeries which have "irreversible consequences". The report also recommended criminal sanction for non-medically necessary genital surgeries. The organization actively campaigns for recognition of

intersex medical interventions Intersex medical interventions, also known as intersex genital mutilations (IGM), are surgical, hormonal and other medical interventions performed to modify atypical or ambiguous genitalia and other sex characteristics, primarily for the purposes ...

as forms of "intersex genital mutilation", including through submissions to UN institutions. In March 2017, Zwischengeschlecht reported that the UN had made 22 concluding observations on the performance of UN member states according to their international treaty obligations. This included 14 countries, across in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania.

Protection from discrimination

In 2016, Zwischengeschlecht described actions to promote equality or civil status legislation without action on banning "intersex genital mutilations" as a form of pinkwashing. The organization has previously highlighted evasive government statements to UN Treaty Bodies that conflate intersex, transgender and LGBT issues, instead of addressing harmful practices on infants.

Identification documents

Zwischengeschlecht have described media coverage of moves to create a third gender classification as "silly season fantasies"; the main goal is to stop intersex genital mutilations.

Visibility work

The group demonstrates outside medical events where surgical interventions are discussed or performed, and engages with the media.

International activities

Zwischengeschlecht participated in the third

International Intersex Forum The International Intersex Forum is an annual event organised, then later supported, by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe that and organisations from multiple regions of the world, and it is believed to be the first and only such intersex event. Predec ...

in late 2013, and also contributed to a joint statement to the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...

on 11 March 2014. NGO-Bericht an UN-Kinderrechtsausschuss kritisiert Intersex-Genitalverstümmelungen, fordert gesetzgeberische Massnahmen
Zwischengschlecht, 28 March 2014

References

External links

Zwischengeschlecht

Zwischengeschlecht
{{intersex Intersex medical and health organizations Intersex rights organizations Human rights organisations based in Switzerland Medical and health organisations based in Switzerland Intersex rights in Switzerland