AIC is delighted to announce that on Dec. 5, 2014, thanks to the hard work of attorney John Chigiti and his team, Kenya took a significant step in recognizing intersex human rights. Colleague and Kenyan attorney, John Chigiti, won a case concerning the issuance of a birth certificate to an intersex born child, “Baby A.” Mr. Chigiti and AIC legal director, Anne Tamar-Mattis, have collaborated and supported one another in their similar work (taking place in two different continents) on legal cases involving the rights of intersex children. Kenya’s “law did not contemplate the existence of these category of people. The constitution nonetheless has come to the aid of such children. It is now possible for them to acquire the much needed statutory documents like birth certificates (Chigiti 2014).”
Case Highlights:
- Officials didn’t know how to accurately describe the sex of Baby A. when they were born.
- Baby A. was not given a sex marker on their identity documents.
- Chigiti represented Baby A. and their family in a Kenyan court case.
- The court declared that every Kenyan has a human right to have identity documents and gender markers on those documents.
- The court acknowledged that they weren’t able to mandate a new and separate intersex status (which would affect the whole country) as a gender marker because this case only represented one person.
- Instead, the court directed the legislature to convene and research an appropriate response to the creation of a gender marker for Baby A. (and possibly other children born with intersex traits).
Significantly, the Kenyan court directed the legislature to investigate and make rules that protect the human rights of intersex people. AIC congratulates attorney Chigiti and the court for this significant step forward!
John Chigiti’s Op- “Kenya: We Need a Legal Framework for Intersex Children”
“Baby A.” Court Ruling (.pdf)
Reuters: “Kenya Takes Step Towards Recognising Intersex People in Landmark Ruling“
