The Malta declaration is the statement of 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. Predeces ...

, which took place in

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, in 2013. The event was supported by the

ILGA Ilga or ILGA may refer to: * Ilga (river), a river in Russia, tributary of the Lena * International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, or ILGA * Illinois General Assembly, in the United States * Ilga, a Latvian feminine given ...

and

ILGA-Europe ILGA-Europe is the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. It is an advocacy group promoting the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people, at the European level. I ...

and brought together 34 people representing 30

organisations An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

from multiple regions of the world.First ever international intersex forum
, ILGA-Europe (Creative Commons statement), 6 September 2011First ever international intersex forum
, ILGA, 7 September 2011 The declaration affirmed the existence of intersex people, and demanded an end to "discrimination against intersex people and to ensure the right of bodily integrity, physical autonomy and self-determination". For the first time, participants made a statement on birth registrations, in addition to other human rights issues:

The declaration

The forum called on:

Signatories

The Forum was organized by ILGA Europe's Silvan Agius and

Ruth Baldacchino Ruth Baldacchino (born 1979) is an LGBT and intersex activist, former Co-Secretary General of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA World), and Senior Program Officer for the first intersex human rights fu ...

, and three intersex activists selected from an open call application process managed by ILGA Europe:

Mauro Cabral Mauro Cabral Grinspan, also known as Mauro Cabral, is an Argentinian intersex and trans activist, who serves as the executive director of GATE. A signatory of the Yogyakarta Principles, his work focuses on the reform of medical protocols and law ...

, of Argentina,

Mani Bruce Mitchell Mani Bruce Mitchell (born 1953) is an intersex activist and counsellor from Wellington, New Zealand. In 2021, Mitchell was recognised as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Early life Mitchell was born and raised in the central Nort ...

, of New Zealand, and

Hida Viloria Hida Viloria (born May 29, 1968) is a Latine American writer, author, producer, and human rights activist. Viloria is intersex, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming, using they/them pronouns. They are known for their writing, their intersex and n ...

Intersex Campaign for Equality The Intersex Campaign for Equality (IC4E) is a NGO, non-governmental organization that advocates for the intersex human rights, human rights of intersex people. It was formerly the US affiliate of Organisation Intersex International. History and s ...

. Attending participants included

Sean Saifa Wall Sean Saifa Wall is a published speaker, researcher, and long-time advocate for intersex rights. He is a queer, transgender, and intersex man of color and former president of Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth. He approaches his work to end i ...

and

Pidgeon Pagonis Pidgeon Pagonis (born 1986) is an American intersex activist, writer, artist, and consultant. They are an advocate for intersex human rights and against nonconsensual intersex medical interventions. Early life and education Pagonis was born in ...

for AIC (now

interACT Advocates for Informed Choice, dba interACT or interACT Advocates for Intersex Youth, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization using innovative strategies to advocate for the legal and human rights of children with intersex traits. The organizati ...

Morgan Carpenter Morgan Carpenter is a bioethicist, intersex activist and researcher. In 2013 he created the intersex flag, and became president of Intersex Human Rights Australia (formerly OII Australia). He is now a co-executive director. In 2015, he cofounded ...

and Tony Briffa from

Organisation Intersex International Australia Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) is a voluntary organisation for intersex people that promotes the intersex human rights, human rights and bodily autonomy of Intersex rights in Australia, intersex people in Australia, and provides educatio ...

, Intersex Austria Holly Greenberry from

Intersex UK Intersex UK is an organisation by and for intersex people (those born with differences of sex development or variations of sex anatomy) in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Intersex UK works to protect the bodily autonomy and civil rights of inter ...

Miriam van der Have Miriam van der Have is an intersex human rights activist and woman with androgen insensitivity syndrome. She is a co-founder and co-chair of OII Europe e.V in 2015, co-founder and managing director of NNID Foundation in the Netherlands and memb ...

and Inge Intven of Nederlandse Netwerk Intersekse/DSD (NNID), and representatives of

Zwischengeschlecht Zwischengeschlecht (literally "between sexes") is a human rights advocacy group campaigning on intersex bodily autonomy issues. The group demonstrates outside medical events where surgical interventions are discussed or performed, engages with th ...

, and IVIM/OII Deutschland

Adoption and legacy

The declaration has been cited by numerous human rights institutions around the world, including

intersex human rights Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals, that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies." Intersex peop ...

papers published by the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

Commissioner for Human Rights The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent and impartial non-judicial institution established in 1999 by the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the council's 46 member states. The ...

, and the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions, and by organizations allying themselves with the intersex human rights movement. In 2015, Malta adopted world-first legislation to protect intersex infants and children from non-consensual medical interventions. In March 2017, the Malta declaration was acknowledged by a consensus "Darlington Statement", published by

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

intersex community organizations and others. The statement calls for legal reform, including the criminalization of deferrable

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 ...

on children, an end to legal classification of sex, and improved access to peer support.

References

{{Intersex Events about intersex Intersex rights Intersex rights in Malta 2013 in Malta

The declaration

Signatories

Adoption and legacy

See also

References