U.N. rights body adopts first resolution to protect rights of intersex people
The United Nations Human Rights Council voted to adopt a resolution designed to protect the rights of intersex people, the first initiative of its kind.
GENEVA — The United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday voted to adopt a resolution designed to protect the rights of intersex people, the first initiative of its kind that diplomats and rights groups described as an landmark moment for human rights.
Twenty-four countries voted in favor, twenty-three abstained and none voted against the resolution, which was spearheaded by Finland, South Africa, Chile and Australia.
The U.N. has cited experts as saying that 1.7% of babies are born intersex, defined as having sex characteristics that do not fit binary notions of male or female.
The resolution calls on states to “combat discrimination, violence and harmful practices against persons with innate variations in sex characteristics and address their root causes,” as well as help intersex people “realize the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”
It also requests that the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights publishes a report “examining in detail discriminatory laws and policies, acts of violence and harmful practices against persons with innate variations in sex characteristics, in all regions of the world.”
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