EUROPE: FIRST, DO NO HARM: ENSURING THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN WITH VARIATIONS OF SEX CHARACTERISTICS IN DENMARK AND GERMANY

First Do No Harm, by Amnesty International. Published May 9, 2017.

This report documents the human rights violations faced by intersex children and adults in Denmark and Germany. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur01/6086/2017/en/

Every year, children are born with sex characteristics – genitals, gonads, hormones, chromosomes or reproductive organs – which vary from the established norms for ‘male’ and ‘female’. In this report, Amnesty International documents the specific human rights violations faced by children with variations of sex characteristics in Denmark and Germany, and the lifelong effect of these violations. The report focuses in particular on subjection to non-emergency invasive and irreversible surgeries and other medical treatments. These interventions may violate human rights, including the rights of the child, the right to physical and bodily integrity and the right to the highest attainable standard of health.