Intersex people are reportedly facing more violence, harassment and discrimination than LGBTQI people as a whole, according to a report published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on Wednesday 17 September.
The document, drawn up on the basis of the 2023 LGBTIQ survey, which gathered the responses of 1,920 intersex people from around 30 countries, shows a worsening of attacks on their fundamental rights since 2019.
A third of intersex people said they had been physically or sexually assaulted in the last five years, compared with 22% in the previous survey. Similarly, hate-motivated harassment has intensified in recent years. This is borne out by the fact that 74% of respondents claim to have been a victim in 2023, compared with 42% in 2019.
Moreover, this proportion is well above the figure for LGBTIQ people as a whole, which stands at 55%.
However, the proportion of intersex people surveyed who say they are discriminated against in everyday life (61%) remains the same as in 2019.
The workplace is the first to be affected by this phenomenon, with 38% reporting that they have experienced unequal treatment at work.
This perpetual and increasing exposure to violent situations and behaviour is not without consequences for the mental health and living conditions of the people concerned, who suffer a significant deterioration as a result. In fact, 53% of intersex people had considered suicide in the year preceding the survey, compared with 37% of all respondents.
In addition, 6% of intersex people said they had slept rough, compared with 1% for other LGBTIQ groups and 0.2% for EU citizens in general.
In light of this, FRA Director Sirpa Rautio issued a statement calling for an “urgent response” and “targeted support”. For this, the report urges the EU and its Member States to end non-vital medical interventions without consent, to ban conversion practices, to improve anti-discrimination laws and to combat harassment that starts at school.
To read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/igx (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)