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Organisation Intersex International Europe e.V.

OII Europe

OII Europe's vision is of a world where * intersex persons can fully enjoy their fundamental rights * the right to physical integrity, bodily autonomy, and self-determination of all people, including but not limited to intersex individuals, is guaranteed * intersex persons are respected and celebrated as being a part of human diversity and society OII Europe works in particular towards the following goals: * Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM) and other non-consensual medical and other treatment is abolished across the EU * Intersex people are protected under the ground of "sex characteristics" or, explicitly, under the ground of "sex" under EU and national law * Data on the situation of intersex persons in all their diversity is available across the EU * Intersex asylum seekers and refugees are welcome in the EU and their rights are protected

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Mélissa Camara (Member of the European Parliament)

16 Jul 2025 · Lutte contre les LGBTphobies

Meeting with Francesco Zoia Bolzonello (Cabinet of Commissioner Hadja Lahbib)

25 Jun 2025 · Discuss the current situation of intersex people in the EU, recent developments, protection gaps and OII Europe’s work to advance intersex persons rights.

Meeting with Saskia Bricmont (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

31 Mar 2025 · Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation

Meeting with Philippe Roux (Head of Unit Health and Food Safety) and The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and Transgender Europe

5 Mar 2025 · Biannual meeting on LGBTI issues

Meeting with Ana Carla Pereira (Director Justice and Consumers) and

30 Jan 2025 · Exchange of views on LGBTIQ Equality and more particularly on intersex equality

Meeting with José Gusmão (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Transgender Europe and

20 Oct 2023 · Public hearing/roundtable: ‘The Implementation of the 'LGBTIQ Equality Strategy'’

Response to Amendment of the EU rules on victims’ rights

26 Sept 2023

Please find OII Europe's feedback in an attached submission below.
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Meeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Amnesty International Limited and

14 Sept 2023 · Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence

Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for opinion) and The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and Transgender Europe

10 Jul 2023 · Equality Bodies

Meeting with Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and Transgender Europe

10 Jul 2023 · Equality Bodies

Meeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

26 Apr 2023 · Intersex Genital Mutilation

Meeting with Ana Gallego (Director-General Justice and Consumers)

8 Mar 2023 · Rights of Intersex people

Meeting with Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion)

14 Nov 2022 · Gender equality

Meeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and EUROPEAN TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION and

27 Oct 2022 · Proposal for a Directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence

Response to Preventing and combatting gender-based violence

18 May 2022

OII Europe highly welcomes the Commission’s proposal, as it addresses the widespread inequity still prevalent in our societies of which gender-based and domestic violence and the specific vulnerability of women and sex and gender minorities are one of the most horrifying aspects. This proposal has the strong potential to set a new standard of protection against some forms of gender-based violence and we applaud the Commission for this initiative. We are, however, concerned about the fact the proposal seems to be not fully inclusive of all forms of gender-based violence, including violence against all LGBTIQ persons, who are among the most vulnerable parts of the population in regards to being victims of gender-based and domestic violence, as the 2019 FRA LGBTI survey showed. Given the limited scope of the proposal on violence against women and domestic violence, we would encourage to expand the list of intersectional experiences under consideration, to include women and girls in all their diversity, including LBTIQ women more comprehensively. In its LGBTIQ Equality Strategy, the Commission underlines that “LBTIQ women can experience discrimination both as women and as a LBTIQ person”. In its EU Gender Action Plan III, it notes that “[w]omen and girls with disabilities, of minority groups, migrant women and girls, LGBTIQ are among the groups particularly at risk”. LBTIQ women victims’ experiences have some specificities compared to other women, such as fear of LBTIQ-phobic reaction and lack of trust in law enforcement authorities preventing them from reporting crimes to the police, risks of discrimination and re-traumatisation when facing non-sensitive and uneducated support services, including healthcare, etc. Intersex women and girls in particular face a still prevalent lack of knowledge about the existence of persons with variations of sex characteristics and about their specific violence they face. As a result professionals working with victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence most often cannot accommodate their needs. The attached recommendations contain proposals of amendments, along with explanations, aimed at building on that potential to foster an approach that is more inclusive of the experiences and needs of LBTIQ women and girls and to ensure that these are considered and addressed effectively through the directive. Suggestions for amendments to recitals and articles were added to the respective text. We would like to encourage the European Commission and EU member states to work, in the future, towards legislative and policy measures that ensure a truly inclusive approach to all forms of gender-based violence in order to leave no one behind. This approach would be in line with the European Parliament resolution on identifying gender-based violence as a new area of crime which highlights that gender-based violence targets women and girls in all their diversity and LGBTIQ+ persons alike.
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Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament) and European Digital Rights and

19 Apr 2022 · Roundtable: Gender-based Violence

Response to Amendment of the EU rules on victims’ rights

20 Dec 2021

Intersex persons, i.e., persons born with a variation of sex characteristic, are at high risk of becoming victims of gender-based and domestic violence as well as bias motivated hate speech and hate crime. Intersex persons' personal accounts and an increasing number of research reports on the lived situation of intersex people, show the high degree of discrimination, violence and hate-motivated acts intersex individuals are regularly subjected to. The Victims’ Rights Directive, in its current form, does not yet recognize intersex people as victims of bias motivated crime, in particular gender-based violence, and as victims with specific needs. The attached submission presents data on the scope of violence intersex people face, points out the specific needs of intersex victims, and puts forward recommendations on how these needs and specific situations of intersex victims can be better addressed through the Victims’ Rights Directive.
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Response to Extension of the list of EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime

20 Apr 2021

Evidence and research show that intersex people are regularly victims of hate speech and crime. The seriousness of these crimes, their severe impact and the lack of awareness among the society, the lack of education among law enforcement officials as well as the reluctance of the public authorities to collect and publish accessible data reveal the need to • establish protective legislation with proportionate and effective legislative measures which includes intersex people on the ground of sex characteristics or explicitly under the ground of sex • educate the general public as well as law enforcing authorities about the nature of these crimes The only EU legal instrument which, to a certain limited extent, protects LGBTQ and intersex victims is the EU’s Victims’ Rights Directive. However, as the 2020 European Commission report on its implementation shows the directive is still not implemented to the full extent across EU Member States; the report also showed severe shortcomings in the transposition of several of its articles were identified in several Member State. Article 22 of the Directive obliges EU Member States to identify specific protection needs of the victims who have suffered a crime committed with a bias or discriminatory motive. This, up to this date, has clearly not been the case for intersex people. But even for vulnerable groups who have been more on the radar of authorities and national monitoring bodies, the situation has not become better but worse: As the European Commission has pointed out in its EU Strategy on victims' rights (2020-2025), despite EU Member States efforts, hate crime in the EU is increasing. Research and reports presented in this submission show that intersex people, as all LGBTIQ people, are clearly among the most vulnerable groups in regards to becoming victims of hate crime and hate speech. The European Commission has highlighted this fact in its Victim’s Rights Strategy and points out that hate crime disproportionately affects certain communities, including LGBTI+ people. The strategy therefore emphasizes the need to harmonise EU rules and the need of both transnational action and targeted measures to meet special needs of the more vulnerable groups. Including hate speech and hate crime in the list of EU crimes in Article 83(1) TFEU will not only allow to address the still prevailing lack of protection of intersex people. It will also allow to address the particularly serious nature of hate speech and hate crime and their cross-border nature requires common cross-border standards. The cross-border dimension of these crimes stems from • the application of existing EU law, i.e., the Freedom of Movement Directive, which entitles every resident of an EU Member State, including every intersex person living in the EU, to enjoy freedom of movement between EU members states without having to fear and be at risk that the protection against hate speech and crimes end at the border • the cross-border dimension of the anti-gender movement, including ultra-right-wing and fundamental religious groups who reach out to a cross-border audience and train their members across borders while particularly targeting LGBTIQ people, which is a strong call to the EU, as a cross national body, to take a firm stand against these activities and hence establish a cross-border protection • the nature of the crimes itself in an age where online communication has become universal and information is easily accessible and can easily be distributed across national borders If one minority is discriminated against in the EU, all minorities are at risk of exclusion and persecution. Intolerance and hatred towards a minority endanger peaceful coexistence and are able to make society as a whole, and this includes the European Union in its totality and not only its members states, more unstable.
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