Under intense questioning from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, a representative of the South African government stated:
“I think as a government we do regognize that being intersex is a sexual characteristic and not a medical condition, but at the same time we recognize that there are still practices where newborns and young children are being, surgeries are performed on them which are harmful.”
Several UN committees have been pressing this issue with multiple countries recently, and governments are taking notice! Thank you to the UN CRC for asking the right questions, and for following up on evasive answers, and to the South African government for taking an important first step towards addressing these ongoing human rights violations. And of course, congratulations and much appreciation to our colleagues at
Zwischengeschlecht, Legal Resources Centre, Iranti-org and Gender DynamiX, and to the late South African activist Sally Gross (of Intersex South Africa) and South African youth activist and interACT Youth member Nthabiseng Mokoena for their hard work educating the CRC about these violations in South Africa. More info at http://stop.
