Victor Madrigal Borloz, The UN special rapporteur on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity said in a statement he was concerned that stigma and prejudice against trans women could be behind efforts to postpone consideration of the bill – which still has a phase into Scotland Parliament go – or weaken it.
Scotland remains part of the UK but has its own decentralized government and parliament, which oversees a variety of domestic affairs including the economy, health, justice, rural affairs and housing.
Slandered, stigmatized
Mr Madrigal-Borloz described trans women as “among the most maligned, disenfranchised and stigmatized people on the planet”.
He said that while working in dozens of countries in the past, he has witnessed “shocking acts of violence they are subjected to, including killings, torture, beatings and systematic social exclusion from health, employment, shelter and education”.
Legal Recognition, under “Self-Identification”
He expressed concern at the misrepresentation of the long-established position within the UN itself – including the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR – on the need to legally recognize the gender identity of transgender, non-binary and other gender-differentiated persons through systems of self-identification.
He said that UN legal bodies that have looked at the issue “have consistently found that legal recognition of gender identity through self-identification” is the “most efficient and appropriate way” to ensure human rights are upheld.
He added that he “is yet to hear from a country where this is not the case”.
“Unfounded Myths”
He dismissed “unfounded myths” in the past that “misrepresented lesbian women and gay men as predatory — and causing great harm.”
Today, the same “harmful narratives have been repackaged and used against trans women,” Mr Madrigal-Borloz claimed.
Mr Madrigal-Borloz said the state has a duty to take action and protect against violence against women and girls in all its diversity, which has been at the heart of recommendations from his own office and other UN bodies.
“Arbitrary obstacles to legal recognition of gender identity actively violate state human rights obligations and are by definition authoritarian and anti-democratic,” he said.
Standard includes 350 million
The self-identification standard is already the norm for an estimated 350 million people worldwide, he added, and does not support concerns about “rapid males” undermining any of the arguments being made against trans women by skeptics in Parliament.
Special rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council investigate and report on a specific human rights issue or situation in a country. The positions are honorary and the experts are not paid for their work.
