Ensuring health and bodily integrity: towards a human rights approach for people born with variations in sex characteristics. Australian Human Rights Commission, 2021. Authors: Michael Frommer, John Howell, Edward Santow, Dr Susan Cochrane, and Bruce Alston.
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s report, Ensuring health and bodily integrity: towards a human rights approach for people born with variations in sex characteristics, seeks to provide a pathway forward to address a challenging set of human rights issues that can have significant personal impacts if not addressed.
Past consideration of the issues in this Report has not resulted in the introduction of adequate protections, despite the significance of the issues.
Ultimately, this report is about putting into place better protections for children who do not have the legal capacity to make life altering decisions for themselves. Many of the most controversial and contested interventions have occurred when individuals were infants, or as children too young to be able to provide their own consent. Decisions about these procedures have often been made based on prevailing social attitudes and the available research base – both of which have changed in important ways over recent years.
- Download final report on human rights for intersex people – PDF
- Download Summary Report – PDF Word
- Fact Sheet 1: Guide to recommendations – PDF Word
- Fact Sheet 2: Consent – PDF Word
- Fact Sheet 3: Medical necessity – PDF Word
- Fact Sheet 4: Clinical practice – PDF Word
- Fact Sheet 5: Independent panels – PDF Word
- Fact Sheet 6: Authorisation of medical interventions – PDF Word
- Fact Sheet: Responsible reporting guidelines – PDF