Europe violating rights of transgender people: Amnesty

(BRUSSELS) - European Union nations are violating the rights of some 1.5 million transgender people estimated to be living across the continent, Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday.

The report, spotlighting the rights of people trying to change their legal gender, said procedures for gender recognition violate human rights in Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Belgium and Germany.

No procedure exists in Ireland though legislation is planned.

The report says that in many states people can change legal gender only if they are diagnosed with a mental disorder, undergo medical procedures such as hormone treatments and surgery resulting in sterilisation, and must prove that they are single.

"States should not force the choices of transgender people by making legal gender recognition dependent on surgeries, hormone treatment or sterilisation," said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International's expert on discrimination.

He said transgender people should be allowed "a quick, accessible and transparent procedure in accordance with the individual's own sense of their gender identity, while preserving their right to privacy and without imposing on them mandatory requirements that violate their human rights."