In 2015, Malta was the first country on the European continent to pass a law prohibiting any treatment or surgery on an intersex minor without their consent and to stipulate that “social considerations” are illegal grounds to justify any medical act.
Portugal followed in 2019, then Germany and Iceland in 2021. But, unlike Malta, the laws of these countries do not include certain intersex and certain grounds for excluding an intervention or remain ambiguous in their formulation. In Portugal, for example, apart from any vital emergency, no treatment or surgery is authorized. “before the moment when it appears [l’identité de genre de l’enfant] ». As for Germany, the interventions “necessary to cure or eliminate a functional disorder (…), without there being any real health risk at the present time, even if they will have the effect of modifying the physical appearance”, are allowed.
Minimum criteria
These texts are considered insufficiently “protectors”, according to OII Europe, the European branch of the International Intersex Organization. The OII is currently developing minimum criteria for considering a law to be a formal prohibition on intersex children working without their consent. The organization will unveil their content in early 2023.
Beyond, according to Dan Christian Ghattas, one of the founders of OII Europe, “the awareness of the need to legislate on the subject is gradually spreading ». Since 2020 for Belgium and 2021 for Denmark and Scotland, hate crimes and crimes against intersex people are punished. As for discrimination, it has already been condemned in four countries. “Europe is the continent that contains the most laws about intersex people, but there is still a lot to be done”, he concludes.