Jurist Slovakia anti-LGBTQ+ amendments threaten transgender individuals, rights group warns

[Dadparvar]

The Slovak Parliament must reject constitutional amendments that would limit individuals’ ability to legally change their gender identity, resulting in substantial harm to the LGBTQ+ community, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday.

Rado Sloboda, Director of Amnesty International Slovakia, condemned the proposed amendments as “draconian,” stating:

While the proposed changes specifically target the rights of LGBTI persons and reproductive rights, they also threaten the principle of primacy of EU and international law and undermine the application of international court rulings concerning a wide range of human rights issues…These draconian measures clearly breach EU law and international human rights treaties. On 25 September parliamentarians must take a stand for fairness, equality and dignity for everyone: reject these amendments and protect people’s human rights.

Amendment advocates have purported that the measures defend “the traditions, the cultural and spiritual heritage of our ancestors” in order to construct a “constitutional barrier against progressive politics.” Additionally, the amendment only authorizes adoption for married heterosexual couples, with very narrow exceptions. The legislation only recognizes two sexes and would make legal recognition of gender diverse individuals near impossible.

Amnesty previously called out the proposed amendments in April, stating that they unduly expropriated principles of international law such as “cultural and ethical issues.” A letter to the National Council of the Slovak Republic also expressed concern that the proposals would lead to “human rights regression”:

The proposal would allow a change of the gender marker in a person’s birth number only if they can prove, on the basis of a “genetic test,” that their gender was “incorrectly determined.” This would effectively deprive transgender (trans) people of the opportunity to have their gender identity legally recognised.

On September 1, UN Special Rapporteurs warned that the drafted amendments “remain inconsistent with Slovakia’s international human rights obligations in several respects,” including the rights to non-discrimination, to education, and to civil and political rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Currently, Slovakia has an equality index rating of 49 out of 100, making it the 68th most friendly LGBTQ+ country in the world. Public opinion on LGBTQ+ rights remains low, and non-binary gender recognition is legally unrecognized. Changing genders requires surgery in the country, and hate crime protections only extend to crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation, not gender identity.

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