Categoies
International Updates
Japan urged to end forced sterilization on transgender persons
Human Rights Watch and other rights-based groups have urged Japan to end forced sterilisation on transgender community in the country. Despite taking some positive steps to reduce discrimination against the LGBTI community, Japan’s legal gender recognition procedure- which allows transgender people to be recognized as their gender identity- requires applicant seeking legal gender change to […]
Petition to bar consensual sex outside marriage rejected by Indonesian court
Indonesia‘s constitutional court rejected a controversial petition to bar all consensual sex outside of marriage with a narrow margin of five out of nine judges voting against the petition in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country. The petition was put forward by a group of conservative academics and activists who had demanded that definition of adultery […]
Turkey allows Muslim clerics to conduct civil marriages despite protests
Activists and opposition politicians have raised concerns over a marriage law that will now allow Muslim clerics to conduct civil marriages, amidst the fear that the law will lead to an increase in the number of child brides. The move has been described as a blow to women’s rights and secularism. Previously, only state officers […]
Philippines lifts ban on 51 contraceptives
The Phillipine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has effectively revoked a supreme court order from 2015 that had temporarily banned 51 female hormonal contraceptive products by establishing that these contraceptives do not induce abortion. The temporary restraining order (TRO) was issued by the Supreme Court (SC) on contraceptives more than two years ago and was […]
Greece adopts new law to permit change of gender status
Amidst strong opposition from the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greek government passed a legislation that will enable its citizens to determine and change their gender identity legally on all official documents without the need for psychiatric evaluation or medical intervention. The law will allow trans individuals to affirm their desired gender identity from the age […]
Malta introduces third gender marker in official documents
The Maltese Minister for European Affairs and Equality, alongside Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms, Citizenship and Simplification of Administrative Processes announced that citizens of Malta may now apply to have their gender identity marked as “X” on all official documentation, including passports, identity cards, and residence permits. Those wishing to change their identity marker must take […]
Finland refuses revision of ‘Trans Act’, mandates sterilization as pre-requisite to changing gender identity
The Finnish government rejected the recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Council to reform the ‘Trans Act’. The current law mandates that those wishing to legally change their gender identity status must undergo forced sterilization and mental screening. The UNHRC recommendations included revision of the Trans Act by abolition the needs for sterilization or […]
Austria bans women from wearing face veils in public places, becomes fifth European country to do so
The Austrian legislature has enacted a new law to ban the use of niqabs and burqas. Although the law bans all face coverings, including scarves, it has been widely understood as targeting Muslim women. The ban also imposes a hefty fine of Euro 175 for every violation. Austria is the fifth European country to ban […]
ECHR upholds Romanian law that allows stay of prison sentence for mothers, but not fathers
The European Court of Human Rights has held that differential treatment of male and female convicts in the stay of execution of their prison sentences on the grounds of parenthood is not discriminatory. In this case, the application for a stay of execution of prison sentence of the applicant, the father of a child under […]
EU Declaration on prevention of FGM and forced marriage
EU’s Steering Committee for Human Rights has released a declaration on the need for intensification of efforts to prevent and combat female genital mutilation and forced marriage. The declaration calls upon member states to criminalise female genital mutilation and forced marriage irrespective of religious beliefs, formulate legislation and programmes which enable reporting of cases and […]