On December 10, 2012, a group of over two dozen intersex organizations and leaders from around the world, spearheaded by the Organisation Intersex International (OII), and our affiliates in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South and North America, published and delivered an open letter titled, “A Call for the Inclusion of Human Rights for Intersex People”, to the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. http://oii-usa.org/1040/oii-usa-director-hida-vilorias-call-inclusion-intersex-human-rights-today-united-nations-high-commissioner-human-rights-navi-pillay/
On behalf of these signatories, we would like to thank the United Nation’s Office of Human Rights for their willingness to engage in subsequent dialogue regarding the inclusion of intersex people in the struggle for human rights and anti-discrimination protections.
In a message screened during a conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Oslo, Norway, held on April 15th and 16th, 2012, Ms. Pillay stated that, “More states than ever now recognize that their legal duty to protect everyone from violence and discrimination extends also to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imuvlSrO4V4&feature=youtu.be
On May 13th, 2013, in the “Statement by Navi Pillay United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia”, Ms. Pillay stated, “For all the progress of recent years – and there has been remarkable progress – many States are still reluctant to acknowledge the extent of violence and discrimination meted out to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex.” http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13335&LangID=E
We thank Ms. Pillay for her inclusion of intersex people in these recent statements, and look forward to the continued inclusion of intersex people in the promotion of human rights for all.