Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission Consultation Paper: Protecting the Human Rights of People Born with Variations in Sex Characteristics in the context of Medical Interventions

Yellow flag with a purple circle shape in the middle representing intersex people / people with variations in sex characteristics.In September 2018 DPO Australia made a brief submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) Consultation Paper, Protecting the Human Rights of People Born with Variations in Sex Characteristics in the context of Medical Interventions.

Our submission asserts that the international human rights framework, including the growing body of human rights jurisprudence in this area, must underpin human rights protections of intersex people / people born with variations in sex characteristics.

Our submission supports, but does not restate the comprehensive human rights analysis and discussion outlined in the submission by Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) in response to the Consultation Paper. In this submission, we only focus on the concept of disability and the universality of legal capacity as articulated by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to elaborate and support the recommendations made by IHRA.

DPO Australia fully endorses the submission and associated recommendations provided to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) by IHRA.

Download DPO Australia submission:

Download IHRA submission:

Access AHRC Consultation Paper: