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A UN expert urged the UK government on Tuesday to protect women’s rights by maintaining single-sex spaces and services. The appeal comes as a draft Code of Practice is pending approval by the country’s Parliament, of which some members consider the draft a “deliberate rollback of minority rights in the UK for trans people.”
The UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, contended that single-sex spaces and services are important to protect women’s and girls’ right to privacy and from male violence. She argued that asking about the sex of a person who seeks access to a single-sex service or space is a legitimate measure that strikes a proportionate balance between protecting women’s equal enjoyment of human rights and minority rights.
Alsalem expressed disappointment in parliamentary resistance against the draft guidance that protects single-sex spaces and services, adding that “[t]he public reaction to the EHRC’s draft Code of Practice demonstrates how fragile the protection of women’s rights remains, and how readily the rights of women and girls to safety, privacy and dignity are challenged.”
The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission drafted the Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations in May. The code clarified that organizations may provide single-sex services if providing joint services is not sufficiently effective. Gender-affected activities can also lawfully exclude transgender people, if the exclusion is necessary to ensure safety or fairness. The parliamentary scrutiny stage ended on July 9; it is now awaiting the Minister for Women and Equalities to bring it into force.
The Green Party expressed its disapproval of the draft code on July 9. The party argued that the draft code offers no oversight mechanism to protect transgender people from discrimination. The party also argued that the draft code expanded the restrictions on transgender rights, violating articles 8 and 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Seema Malhotra, the minister for equalities, however, clarified during parliamentary debates that the draft code does not have the effect of depriving transgender people of their access to services. She said, “Providers could provide mixed-sex facilities or specific support for trans people. We believe service providers will be able to find the right balance for everyone.”
The draft code followed an April 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling in which the court held that the country’s Equality Act 2010 adopted the biological definition of sex. Accordingly, trans women do not enjoy the legal protection afforded to women by the act.
In February, a separate group of UN experts called on the UK government to ensure that the draft code would “enable transgender people to lead safe and dignified lives,” urging the government to refrain from allowing routine sex-based exclusion or verification. The experts viewed that these routine measures might be impermissible under international human rights law.
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The UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, contended that single-sex spaces and services are important to protect women’s and girls’ right to privacy and from male violence. She argued that asking about the sex of a person who seeks access to a single-sex service or space is a legitimate measure that strikes a proportionate balance between protecting women’s equal enjoyment of human rights and minority rights.
Alsalem expressed disappointment in parliamentary resistance against the draft guidance that protects single-sex spaces and services, adding that “[t]he public reaction to the EHRC’s draft Code of Practice demonstrates how fragile the protection of women’s rights remains, and how readily the rights of women and girls to safety, privacy and dignity are challenged.”
The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission drafted the Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations in May. The code clarified that organizations may provide single-sex services if providing joint services is not sufficiently effective. Gender-affected activities can also lawfully exclude transgender people, if the exclusion is necessary to ensure safety or fairness. The parliamentary scrutiny stage ended on July 9; it is now awaiting the Minister for Women and Equalities to bring it into force.
The Green Party expressed its disapproval of the draft code on July 9. The party argued that the draft code offers no oversight mechanism to protect transgender people from discrimination. The party also argued that the draft code expanded the restrictions on transgender rights, violating articles 8 and 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Seema Malhotra, the minister for equalities, however, clarified during parliamentary debates that the draft code does not have the effect of depriving transgender people of their access to services. She said, “Providers could provide mixed-sex facilities or specific support for trans people. We believe service providers will be able to find the right balance for everyone.”
The draft code followed an April 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling in which the court held that the country’s Equality Act 2010 adopted the biological definition of sex. Accordingly, trans women do not enjoy the legal protection afforded to women by the act.
In February, a separate group of UN experts called on the UK government to ensure that the draft code would “enable transgender people to lead safe and dignified lives,” urging the government to refrain from allowing routine sex-based exclusion or verification. The experts viewed that these routine measures might be impermissible under international human rights law.
The post UN expert urges UK to protect women’s rights, maintaining single-sex spaces and services appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.