gender reassignment

The trans persons´ human rights organisation Trasek and the LGBTI human rights organisation Seta together with 18 other youth, student and human rights CSOs published on October 26th 2012 an open letter to the government of Finland, demanding that the requirements violating human rights in the current gender reassignment act should be removed.

The signatories say that Finland should fulfill its international obligations such as recommendations made by the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe, and acknowledge its duty to implement the human rights of persons with diverse gender identities. One´s legal gender should only be based on selfdetermination and selfdefinition by the person. Requirements such as infertility or any medical treatment or diagnosis should be abolished as prerequisites for gender marker change.

According to the organisations, the government should see to it that a committee is formed without further delay to prepare the necessary legal changes. Representation by people affected by the gender reassignment act as well as human rights experts should be secured within the committee.

The organisations published the open letter after a leading government official had said in the media on October 12th that a potential reform process would possibly only be considered by the government after the next parliamentary elections that take place in 2015, due to budgetary restrictions within the ministry of social affairs and health.

More information:

Aija Salo, Secretary General, Seta – LGBTI Rights in Finland, paasihteeri@seta.fi

The whole letter in Finnish can be read here.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, published today a report on the human rights situation of Finland, based on a country visit in June. The human rights organization Seta – LGBTI Rights in Finland welcomes Muiznieks´ views.

The Commissioner urges Finland to abolish infertility and non-marriage as requirements for gender reassignment. He also demands that the specific protection needs of intersex persons, including intersex children, should be identified and addressed in cooperation with civil society organisations. These are requirements that have been strongly put forward by Seta and a wide range of other civil society organisations, but they were left out of the government´s National Plan of Action for human rights in early 2012.

According to the Commissioner, the reform of equal treatment legislation should address the current gaps concerning the grounds of sexual orientation, and special focus should be on the mandate and expertise of an independent monitoring mechanism, such as an ombudsman, within employment. The authorities should give particular attention to improving the protection afforded to trans people and intersex persons.

The Commissioner welcomes the explicit prohibition of homophobic hate crime in the Penal Code. He urges the Finnish authorities to extend the prohibition also to hate crime with specific reference to gender identity.

In the report it is stated that the government should assess whether the recently founded inter-ministerial network of contact persons for human rights can provide sufficient coordination for LGBTI-related issues, or whether a particular ministry should be entrusted with the task specifically.

Seta finds the Commissioner´s recommendations very important and central to the human rights situation of LGBTI people in Finland. Seta hopes that the authorities take action to implement the recommendation without further delay. For example, a decision has been made already in January in the ministry for social affairs and health to establish a working group for reviewing the law on gender reassignment but the decision has still not been implemented.

Report on Finland by the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks: https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1977837

More information about Seta´s views: Aija Salo, Secretary General, Seta – LGBTI Rights in Finland, email paasihteeri@seta.fi

gender reassignment

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