Controlling bodies, denying identities
human rights violations against trans people in the Netherlands
Gedrukt boek
In 1985, the Netherlands was among the first European nations to adopt legislation granting transgender people - individuals whose gender identity differs from the sex assigned them at birth - legal recognition of their gender identity, albeit under onerous legal conditions. Over a quarter of a century later, the Netherlands has lost its leading edge. Legislation that at the time represented a progressive development is wholly out of step with current best practice and understandings of the Netherlands' obligations under international human rights law. Most egregiously, Dutch law allows trans people to change their gender on official documents only on condition that they have altered their bodies through hormones and surgery, and that they are permanently and irreversibly infertile. These requirements routinely leave trans people with identity documents that do not match their deeply felt gender identity, resulting in frequent public humiliation, vulnerability to discrimination, and great difficulty finding or holding a job. The conditions imposed by article 1:28 of the Civil Code violate transgender people's rights to personal autonomy and physical integrity and deny transgender people the ability to define their own gender identity, which the European Court of Human Rights has deemed to be one of the most basic essentials of self-determination. This report details the impact the current Dutch law has on the daily life of transgender people and analyzes the existing Dutch legal framework from a human rights perspective