• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
OII Europe

OII Europe

Organisation Intersex International Europe

  • News
  • Demands
    • Malta Declaration
    • Statement of Riga
    • Vienna Statement
  • Areas of Work
    • Awareness Raising
    • Community & Capacity Building
    • Policy Work
    • Refugees & Asylum Seekers
    • Strategic Litigation
  • Resources
        • Policy Resources
          • European Union
          • Council of Europe
          • United Nations
          • Submissions
          • Issues - a short list
          • Infographics
        • Publications
          • Covid-19 ReportOur Report on the impact of Covid-19 on intersex people
          • Good Practice MapOur annual Good Practice Map highlights positive developments for intersex people in Europe
          • #MyIntersexStoryPersonal accounts by intersex people living in Europe
          • Publication ArchiveAll items listed under the category OII Europe Publications
        • Our Toolkits
          • Legal ToolkitProtecting Intersex People in Europe: A toolkit for law and policy makers
          • Parents' ToolkitSupporting your intersex child – A parents’ toolkit
          • Toolkit For AlliesStanding up for the human rights of intersex people – how can you help?
        • Organisation
          • OII Europe Flyer
          • Annual Reports
          • Job Opportunities
          • Becoming a Member of OII Europe
          • Frequently Asked QuestionsSome FAQ’s and searching the website
        • Further Advocacy Resources
          • Press ReleasesA selection of our press releases
          • TopicsThis section provides posts on dedicated topics
          • Videos
          • Intersex Voices
        • Community Resources
          • Community & Capacity BuildingLearn more about our Community & Capacity Building program
          • IntervisibilityMultilingual Community Website
          • Community PostsFind community-related posts & events listed here
          • Join our Newsletter
        • Campaign Websites & More
          • #MyIntersexStoryTestimonies of intersex people in Europe
          • Intersex LivesDreams, hopes, joys and worries of intersex people in Europe
          • 10 Years IIF10yr anniversary since the 1. International Intersex Forum (IIF)
          • Our Infographics sub-website
        • Additional projects
          • Strategic Litigation
          • Refugees & Asylum SeekersLearn more about our Refugees & Asylum Seekers Program
          • Translations
          • Areas of WorkSee also the menu item AREA OF WORK
        • USE OF OUR MATERIALS
          • For your considerationYou are welcome to share the information and materials you find on our website. If not indicated otherwise all of our publications are based on the Creative Commons Licence Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which means you can share it while not changing any of its content and appearance and properly attributing OII Europe (and other collaborators of the specific item). If you would like to translate or utilize parts or whole items please make sure you contact us beforehand. Thank you :)
  • About Us
    • About OII Europe
    • Board & Staff
    • Job Opportunities
    • Becoming a Member
    • Join our Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Donate

Intersex people in Europe face physical violence and harassment

May 22, 2020 by Editorial

Unfortunately, as the latest FRA LGBTI report reveals, many intersex people in Europe suffer from physical and sexual attack based on being intersex. They even turn out to be the most affected among all LGBTI people (see the infographic below).

Therefore, we appeal to the Yogyakarta Principles on on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, to urge the EU Member States to effectively protect intersex people’s fundamental right to be safe and free from harm.

In order to fulfill their obligation, States shall:

  • A. Take all necessary policing and other measures to prevent and provide protection from all forms of violence and harassment related to sex characteristics;
  • B. Take all necessary legislative measures to impose appropriate criminal penalties for violence, threats of violence, incitement to violence and related harassment, based on the sex characteristics of any person or group of persons, in all spheres of life, including the family;
  • C. Take all necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure that the sex characteristics of the victim may not be advanced to justify, excuse or mitigate such violence;
  • D. Ensure that perpetration of such violence is vigorously investigated, and that, where appropriate evidence is found, those responsible are prosecuted, tried and duly punished, and that victims are provided with appropriate remedies and redress, including compensation;
  • E. Undertake campaigns of awareness-raising, directed to the general public as well as to actual and potential perpetrators of violence, in order to combat the prejudices that underlie violence related to sex characteristics

(See The Yogyakarta Principles, 2006, Principle 5, as complemented by The Yogyakarta Principles plus 10, 2017, which added explicit reference to the sex characteristics).

If you want to learn more about intersex human rights violations, please visit our website and check out the Resources-section on our website


We created infographics about some of the issues intersex people in Europe face. You can find the link for the infographic on physical violence & harassement here:

PDF
PNG
PDF
PNG

Text contained in the Infographic follows here:
The Data displayed in this infographic is based on the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) LGBTI Survey Data Explorer & EU-LGBTI II (2019) Survey Report “A long way to go for LGBTI equality” Published on May 14th 2020

22% of intersex respondents experienced a physical and/or sexual attack for being intersex, in the five years before the survey, being the most affected among LGBTI people.

38% of intersex people at least once experienced violent in-person threats due to being intersex in the past 12 months before the survey, and 27% even six or more times.

  • Among all LGBTI respondents, trans (48%) and intersex (42%) experienced the highest rates of harassment for being LGBTI in the year before the survey.
  • Across the EU, intersex respondents indicate the highest rate (41%) of often or always avoiding certain locations.
  • 28% of intersex people experienced receiving offensive or threatening emails or text messages (SMS) six or more times, in the past 12 months before the survey due to being intersex. Even 39% of those between 15-17 years old! And 27% of intersex people experienced this at least once.

Intersex? Discrimination? Intersexphobia?

  • Intersex individuals are born with sex characteristics that do not fit the typical definition of male or female. This can become apparent at birth or later in life.
  • Reasons for Discrimination for being intersex can be based on gender expression, stature or other bodily appearances of an individual not conforming with the female or male norm.
  • Intersexphobia (or Interphobia) is when discrimination is based on intersex traits of a person. In sports this can lead to exclusion, ridicule & discrimination of intersex athletes.

Learn more here:
https://www.oiieurope.org (this page)
https://www.intervisibility.eu

Source of Data displayed: ©European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) LGBTI Survey Data Explorer & EU-LGBTI II (2019) Survey Report “A long way to go for LGBTI equality”
ISBN 978-92-9474-843-0 • doi:10.2811/667747 • TK-04-20-044-EN-N

Page updated: 11.01.2023

Filed Under: Europe, Infographics, Library Tagged With: Europe, FRA, harassment, Human Rights, intersexphobia, physicalViolence, Survey

Footer

INFORMATION

Intersex people from Ukraine

Support info here

Support
Policy Information
Data Protection & Privacy
Imprint

Social Links

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo

OII EUROPE
ORGANISATION INTERSEX INTERNATIONAL EUROPE e.V.
is a registered charitable non-for-profit-organisation
Court of Registration: Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany
Registry Number: VR 34983 B

Address: OII Europe, GSG Höfe, Helmholtzstraße 2-9, Gebäude 7, Aufgang A, 10587 Berlin GERMANY

Sign up and join our Newsletter today

WE THANK OUR FUNDERS!

European Union

Funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) of the European Union.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

And we are grateful for the support by our anonymous donors

PROJECT RISE!

European Union

The project „RISE! Fighting discrimination and increasing visibility of intersex people through capacity and knowledge building" was funded by the European Union's Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020).
The content of this project represents the views of the authors only and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.


COOPERATION PARTNERS

Heinrich Boell Foundation

OII Europe © 2012–2023
Unless otherwise specified the content of this website may be used by the following Creative Commons licence:
Creative Commons licence
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptReject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
CookieDurationDescription
__cf_bm30 minutesThis cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
is_unique5 yearsStatCounter sets this cookie to determine whether a user is a first-time or a returning visitor and to estimate the accumulated unique visits per site.
is_visitor_unique2 yearsStatCounter sets this cookie to determine whether a user is a first-time or a returning visitor.
sc_is_visitor_unique2 yearsStatCounter sets this cookie to determine whether a user is a first-time or a returning visitor.
vuid2 yearsVimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-cookie1 yearNo description
cookie
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo