Submission on the ACT government options paper on protecting the rights of intersex people in medical settings

IHRA has made a formal submission to the Australian Capital Territory government in response to the regulatory options paper, Protecting the rights of intersex people in medical settings, proposing a legal framework to protect infants, children, adolescents and adults from harmful practices in medical settings, recognition of the rights to bodily integrity and to access treatment.

We warmly welcome the leadership and work of the ACT government on this issue, and the commitment by Chief Minister Andrew Barr and his Department to implement human rights protections.

Our submission responds to a range of issues including:

• promoting supported-decision making in line with the evolving capacity of the child, and with regard to safeguards to prevent abuse and undue influence
• regulating supported and representative decision-making, including in relation to the kinds of procedures that can take place with those forms of decision-making
• regulation in respect of exempt and prohibited procedures
• concerns regarding the role of gender stereotypes that undermine confidence in clinical understandings of 'function' and determination of treatment for cancer risks
• our preference for a human rights framework, rather than a biomedical model
• proposals for an oversight body to oversee these processes and ensure transparency and accountability

More information

Submission in PDF format
Submission in DOCX format

ACT government regulatory options paper