MEP requests revoke of article affecting human rights of transgender and intersex persons in Hungary

Lisbon, 15 April 2020 – MEP Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA) joins a call for the European Parliament to revoke ‘article 33’, a law that would effectively deny access to legal gender recognition procedures to transgender and intersex persons in Hungary.

At issue are amendments to Article 33, which propose, for instance, to change in the national registry and identity documents the Hungarian word "nem", meaning both “sex” and “gender”, with an expression signifying “sex at birth”.

The letter states that “the amended phrase would designate primary sex characteristics and chromosomes, recording individuals’ sex by birth in the national registry of birth, marriages and deaths, which could not later be changed”. 

These procedures secure recognition of transgender and intersex persons’ legal gender by national administrations and afford them protection against further discrimination. Blocking access to these procedures is in clear contravention of European human rights standards and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights following the Grand Chamber Judgement of Goodwin v. UK. 

Furthermore, the Hungarian Constitutional Court ruled in June 2018 that recognition of transgender people and their potential name change relates to the fundamental right to dignity. 

MEPs therefore make a call to revoke article 33 in Hungary and to ensure that quick, transparent and accessible frameworks for legal gender recognition, respecting the principle of self-determination, are provided in the country.

Read the full letter here:

Share this post