PACE Adopts a Resolution on the Rights of Transgender People

The resolution calls for an accessible procedure for the legal recognition of gender identity, the abolition of the requirement of sterilization, divorce, and psychiatric diagnoses.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted, with an overwhelming majority, the comprehensive Resolution 2048(2015) “Discrimination against transgender people in Europe,” which asserts the need to respect the human rights of transgender persons.

The Assembly calls upon Member States to respect, protect, and fulfill transgender persons’ rights to not be discriminated against and to facilitate quick, transparent, and accessible legal gender recognition based on self-determination. 

The resolution calls upon member states to:

·         Adopt explicitly trans-inclusive anti-discrimination and hate crime legislation and measures;

·         Adopt quick, transparent and accessible legal gender recognition procedures, based on self-determination, without further limitations based on a person’s characteristic, including age;

·         Abolish sterilization and other medical requirements such as a mental health diagnosis or a divorce requirement in legal gender recognition;

·         Ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in all decisions concerning children;

·         Consider including a third gender option in identity documents for those who seek it;

·         Make gender reassignment procedures, such as hormone treatment, surgery and psychological support, accessible for transgender people, and ensure that they are reimbursed by public health insurance schemes;

·         Amend classifications of diseases used at national level and advocate the modification of international classifications, making sure that transgender people, including children, are not labeled as mentally ill, while ensuring stigma-free access to necessary medical treatment;

·         Be pro-active with concern to spreading of information, raising awareness, and training, particularly for professional groups.

Earlier, the Council of LGBT Organizations of Ukraine proposed to include a separate section to protect the rights of the LGBT community in the draft of the National Human Rights Strategy (NHRS).