Posted on 13. May 2020 in Legal Gender Recognition, Depathologisation, Health & Depathologisation

The Trans Rights Europe & Central Asia Index provides detailed information on the legal situation of all 47 Council of Europe member States and five Central Asian countries. The Index covers a total of 30 indicators in six legal categories: legal gender recognition, asylum, bias-motivated speech and violence, non-discrimination, health, and family.
- Existence of legal measures:
Criteria:
There is legislation in place for legal gender recognition and there is a procedure that provides consistent results.
- Existence of administrative measures:
Criteria:
There is a clearly established administrative procedure in place for legal gender recognition, or court decisions, and they provide consistent results.
- Name change:
Criteria:
There is a legal or administrative procedure in place that makes name change possible for trans people, and it provides consistent results. This includes deed poll1.
- Name change without age restriction (new):
Criteria:
There is a legal or administrative procedure in place that makes name change possible for trans people under 18, without any age restriction, and it provides consistent results. This includes deed poll2.
- Self-determination:
Criteria:
A point is awarded if all of the following criteria are met:
- LGR is based exclusively on the expressed wish of the person concerned e.g. by declaration
- Does not require third party involvement, e.g. judge, medical expert, intercessor
- Intersex status and/ or sex characteristics are not a contraindication.
- No diagnosis or psychological opinion required:
Criteria:
Diagnosis (such as Gender Identity Disorder, Gender Incongruence, or similar) or psychological opinion are not required for legal gender recognition.
- No compulsory medical intervention required:
Criteria:
Non-surgical medical interventions (such as medical examinations, assessments, hormone therapy) are not required for legal gender recognition.
- No compulsory surgical intervention required:
Criteria:
Surgical interventions are not required for legal gender recognition.
- No compulsory sterilisation required:
Criteria:
Sterilisation or proof of infertility are not required for legal gender recognition.
- No compulsory divorce required:
Criteria:
Divorce or single status are not required for legal gender recognition.
- LGR without age restriction (new):
Criteria:
The legal or administrative procedures in place for legal gender recognition have no age restriction, and they provide consistent results for minors.
- Self-determination based LGR without age restriction (new):
Criteria:
A point is awarded if all of the following criteria are met:
- There is no explicit age restriction for minors to change their legal gender
- LGR is based exclusively on the expressed wish of the person concerned e.g. by declaration
- Does not require third party involvement, e.g. judge, medical expert, intercessor
- Intersex status and/ or sex characteristics are not a contraindication.
- Gender non-binary recognition:
Criteria:
A point is awarded if:
- More than two gender marker options (“X”, “NB”, “other”, or other option(s)) are available in the public registry (e.g. Register of Births, etc.); and
- Available for those who seek it (not forced);
OR
- No mandatory recording of gender marker in the public registry (ability to opt out from recording of gender marker available to all, not only trans/intersex people).
Half a point is awarded if:
- More than two gender marker options (such as “X”) are available in passport only, and
- Available for those who seek it (not forced).
- Law:
Criteria:
Gender identity is expressly included in asylum law as a qualification criterion.
- Policy/other positive measures:
Criteria:
Gender identity is expressly included in policy/instructions/other positive measures. This only refers to actions based on a recurrent and continuing framework by state actors (ad hoc measures do not count).
Examples:
- Existence of specific measures in a general national LGBTI equality action plan
- Existence of a sectoral action plan in the area of asylum
- Hate crime law:
Criteria:
Bias based on the victim’s (perceived) gender identity is expressly included in hate crime legislation as an aggravating factor.
- Hate speech law:
Criteria:
Gender identity is expressly included in hate speech legislation as an aggravating factor.
- Policy tackling hatred:
Criteria:
Gender identity is included in a national strategy tackling hatred (hate crimes or hate speech). This only refers to actions based on a recurrent and continuing framework by state actors (ad hoc measures do not count).
Examples:
- Existence of specific measures addressing hatred in a general national LGBT equality action plan
- Existence of a specific sectoral action plan in the area of hate crime/hate speech covering LGBTI
- Existence of generalised training curricula for competent professionals (e.g. police officers, prosecutors, victim support services, judges)
- Existence of specialised dedicated structure(s) within the competent public authorities, with an expertise in the area of LGBTI hate crime/hate speech
- Employment:
Criteria:
Legislation prohibits discrimination in the field of employment and gender identity is expressly mentioned. Equivalent ground e.g. sexual identity, gender reassignment, etc. accepted too.
- Health:
Criteria:
Legislation prohibits discrimination in the field of health and gender identity is expressly mentioned. Equivalent ground e.g. sexual identity, gender reassignment, etc. accepted too.
- Education:
Criteria:
Legislation prohibits discrimination in the field of education and gender identity is expressly mentioned. Equivalent ground e.g. sexual identity, gender reassignment, etc. accepted too.
- Goods & services:
Criteria:
Legislation prohibits discrimination in the field of goods & services and gender identity is expressly mentioned. Equivalent ground e.g. sexual identity, gender reassignment, etc. accepted too.
- Housing (new):
Criteria:
Legislation prohibits discrimination in the field of housing and gender identity is expressly mentioned. Equivalent ground e.g. sexual identity, gender reassignment, etc. accepted too.
- Equality body mandate:
Criteria:
A national human rights institution / equality body is explicitly mandated to work on gender identity in its law/founding documents, or where the national human rights institution / equality body is systematically working on issues covering gender identity. Equivalent grounds (sexual identity, gender reassignment, etc.) are accepted too.
Equality action plan: covers action plans, which expressly include gender identity, and include specific measures for progress. Equivalent grounds (sexual identity, gender reassignment, etc.) accepted too. A full point is awarded when the action plan entails or is followed up with the following measures:
- Detailed projects or initiatives within the time span
- Allocation of resources (financial or human resources)
- Clear responsibilities for proper implementation
- Setup of monitoring procedure.
A half point is awarded when a part of these criteria are met.
Law (gender expression): Legislation prohibits discrimination and expressly includes gender expression.
- Depathologisation:
Criteria:
A point is awarded if all of the following criteria are met:
- No mental health diagnosis relating to trans identities in national clinical classification standards or equivalent; neither for adults/ adolescents nor for pre-puberty children
- Access to and cost coverage for trans-specific healthcare (TSHC) for adults/ adolescents is possible without requiring a mental health assessment or diagnosis.
- Access to and cost coverage for support services for pre-puberty trans and gender variant children is ensured without requesting a diagnosis of “Gender Incongruence in Childhood” (ICD11) or equivalent.
- Conversion therapy prohibited:
Criteria:
There are legal or policy measures in place prohibiting reparative or conversion therapy that is practiced against trans people.
- Parenthood Recognition (new):
Criteria:
A trans parent’s legal gender and name are recognized in their child’s birth certificate (or other documentation of kinship) and “mother” or “father” are used according to the parent’s legal gender.
- Non-binary parenthood recognition (new):
Criteria:
A point is awarded if:
- Regulations regarding recognition of parenthood can be aligned with available gender options where more than two gender markers are available, i.e. non-binary parents are able to be recognized as “parent” on their child’s birth certificate or other documentation of kinship; or
- All parents are recorded as “parent”.
1Deed poll is a written declaration used in the UK to change one’s name. It needs to be signed by the person concerned and two witnesses. www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll
2As above.