An independent expert commission of the German Equality Body presented today its final report [1] on how to improve gender equality. The commission made substantive recommendations on the rights of trans and intersex persons alongside the issues of gender pay gap and sexual harassment.
Transgender Europe’s Senior Policy Officer Richard Köhler, member of the expert commission comments:
“The report sends a strong signal: Trans people are part of this society, we must deal with and improve their lives and the issues they face. We need to ensure that their human rights are upheld in Germany.”
The newly founded national association Trans* e.V. welcomed the “clear language of the commission” and called upon policy makers and other actors to follow-up with concrete action. [2]
Co-chair of the Commission, Prof. Allmendinger, and head of the German Equality Body, Christine Lüders emphasized that issues faced by trans and intersex people are human rights issues and must not be trivialized.
The commission also recommends limiting the recording and display of gender markers on public documents as much as possible and sees urgent need for legal reforms in the gender recognition procedures. A new option “other” should be made available and changes of registered gender and name should be simplified. The Commission calls for an end to label trans people as mentally ill (depathologisation) and wants to see criminal sanctions introduced for non-consensual medical interventions in young intersex persons.
Richard Köhler further: “There is urgent need for reforms. Trans people in Germany are still left alone with a substantive amount of discrimination. Germany lags behind in Europe. Changes for an explicit protection against discrimination and a human rights compatible legal gender recognition procedure are overdue. The German Government should urgently show political leadership and implement the recommendations of the expert commission.”
ENDS
Notes:
[1]
Report of the Expert Commission “Gleiche Rechte – gegen Diskriminierung aufgrund des Geschlechts”
[2]
Press statement of Bundesvernand Trans* e.V.i.Gr.