Muhammad Y.Y. The Legal Basis for the Human Right to Gender Correction

Abstract

The right to physical integrity and the right to choose one’s sexual identity are considered two basic human rights recognized by international treaties and conventions, and from them emerge many different choices and concepts, including the rights of transgender people. Likewise, on the national scale, the position on sexual transformation is different.  From one country to another, there is a difference between someone who supports the human right to change his gender and someone who rejects and criminalizes it. Therefore, we will discuss both the position of national legislation on gender transformation and the position of international and regional charters and agreements.

 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued in 1948 AD became the basic rule and main reference for rights and freedoms. Although at first it was considered merely a declaration that did not have any capacity to bind people under international law, because it gained great moral value, no country can deviate from it. It is the basis for what followed.  Of the international covenants and agreements related to human rights, the issuance of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is only the result of the success of the Universal Declaration, and then the formation of the International Bill of Human Rights.

 The Issue of determining human sex is not an arbitrary issue, but is subject to several medical criteria, based on:

 Its basis is determining gender and thus performing sexual transformation on Its basis.

 There are many reasons for changing sex. Some of them may be the result of disturbances in the secretion of hormones, while others may be the result of a psychological condition formed as a result of wrong upbringing or exposure to assault such as rape.

 The comparisons between sex correction and sex change confirm that both concepts include a surgical medical procedure that targets the human reproductive organs. They differ In that sex change is not based on the existence of any necessity that requires it, whereas in sex correction in the case of a hermaphrodite, there are real reasons that require medical work to be performed.  The person suffers from dual reproductive system.

 There are many Internal legislations in countries that have permitted sexual conversion according to certain conditions and controls that include conducting examinations prior to the conversion process. Among the first countries that recognized these rights were Sweden, the Netherlands, and Italy. As for Arab legislation, we did not find any legislation that deals with the issue, neither by banning nor by permitting it.

 The human right to sexual transformation finds its support in international and regional declarations and conventions, which guarantee non-discrimination on the basis of sex and guarantee the right to life and freedom from torture.