Netherlands’ Laws Violate Transgenders Rights According To HRW
Posted: Tuesday, September 13, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington.
The Netherlands are normally law abiding people and their laws are normally just, I believe. However, their laws towards transgender individuals do seem rather radical and possibly in need of strong review.
Article 28 of the Dutch civil code requires transgender people to take hormones and undergo surgery to alter their bodies and be permanently and irreversibly sterilized before they can have their gender legally recognized on official documents. However, not every transgender person wants to undergo irreversible gender altering surgery. (Netherlands violates transgender rights: Expatica.com: September 13, 2011)
“The Dutch law causes anguish for trans people who have not had the required surgery,” said Boris Dittrich, advocacy director in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “Their documents do not match their deeply-felt gender identity. This leads to frequent public humiliation, vulnerability to discrimination, and great difficulty finding or holding a job.” Another person summed up the objections to article 28 this way: “The state should stay out of our underwear.” (Ibid)
There are many controversies throughout the world, one of the most prominent is that of Capital Punishment. The spectrum of views that exist concerning this and many other problems make it virtually impossible to be resolved to suit all people. And, although I agree with the stance put forth here in this instance concerning transgender people, I vehemently object to foreign busy bodies attempting to force any sovereign nation to accept their views on anything. These bodies of political appointees, including the United Nations consume trillions of dollars from the supporting nations, when their decisions only cause resentment and hatred between nations.
I realize that interaction between nations is highly important but to attempt to intervene in the business of other nations except for reasons of self defense, is wrong. Several European nations have already repealed laws of mandatory hormonal requirements and surgical procedures for their transgender identities. These nations include the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.
I suspect that the Netherlands will follow suit and do what is considered right by many people. The surgeries involved are major procedures and it requires considerable rehabilitation time which places a hardship upon working individuals.
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