{"id":22823,"date":"2022-12-09T20:32:43","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T20:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=22823"},"modified":"2022-12-09T20:40:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T20:40:28","slug":"holyrood-dismantles-un-special-rapporteurs-arguments-against-gender-recognition-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2022\/12\/09\/holyrood-dismantles-un-special-rapporteurs-arguments-against-gender-recognition-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Holyrood dismantles UN special rapporteur\u2019s arguments against gender recognition reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article by Alex\/Rose Cocker was first posted by The Canary<\/a>. It shows the misrepresentation of the status of the UN special rapporteur, who has been used by those who opposed gender recognition reform, and then deals with the rapporteur’s arguments.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

HOLYROOD DISMANTLES UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST GENDER RECOGNITION REFORM<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On 29 November, the UN special rapporteur (SR) on violence against women and girls\u00a0wrote to the UK government<\/a>\u00a0to share her concerns regarding the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (GRR). The\u00a0Scottish Parliament<\/a>, along with\u00a0six women\u2019s rights <\/a><\/p>\n

groups<\/a>, have now responded \u2013 absolutely demolishing SR Reem Alsalem\u2019s arguments in the process.<\/p>\n

The GRR bill will allow trans people in Scotland to acquire a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) through self-identification (self-ID). This would mean they can avoid the lengthy panel process which is currently in place in the UK. The proposed bill has now undergone two public consultations and has\u00a0passed the first stage of becoming law.<\/a><\/p>\n

The special rapporteur\u2019s concerns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alsalem raised a series of concerns which will, by now, be quite familiar to anyone who has reason to pay attention to the transphobic and so-called \u2018gender critical\u2019 discourse on the internet. In fact, many of the leading lights of this discourse appear in\u00a0the SR\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0Twitter follows<\/a>. And, right on schedule, the letter was immediately seized upon by gender critical voices calling for the GRR Bill to be\u00a0reformed or scrapped altogether.<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0BBC<\/em>\u00a0was\u00a0quick to report on<\/a>\u00a0Alsalem\u2019s letter as a \u2018report from the UN\u2019. It originally ran with the headline \u201cUN report warns men could \u2018abuse\u2019 Scottish gender reforms\u201d. This was later corrected to \u201cUN expert warns men could \u2018abuse\u2019 Scottish gender reforms.\u201d\u00a0Pink News\u00a0<\/em>highlighted the misleading and transphobic nature of this distinction, as it lends far more weight to Alsalem\u2019s words than they are due.<\/p>\n

First and foremost<\/a>, Alsalem argued that:<\/p>\n

such proposals would potentially open the door for violent males who identify as men to abuse the process of acquiring a gender certificate and the rights that are associated with it.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the nine-page letter,\u00a0she also raised questions<\/a>\u00a0around the \u201cinsufficient clarity\u201d of the self-ID procedure, the \u201cduty to protect women and girls against violence\u201d, and \u201caccess to single sex spaces for women\u201d. Alsalem also touched on the \u201clack of clarity on the relationship between Scotland\u2019s Gender Recognition Act and the UK Equality Act\u201d. Regarding this last point in particular, she said:<\/p>\n

While I commend the Government for listening to the voices of transwomen, including organizations that represent them, I am concerned that the consultations for this proposal do not appear to have been sufficiently inclusive of other groups of women, most notably female victims of violence.<\/em><\/p>\n

The insinuation here is clear: the Scottish government listened to trans women and their allies, but ignored dissenting voices. Fortunately, however, this has no actual connection to reality.<\/p>\n

The response<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Scottish government responded in truly admirable fashion. It issued\u00a0a 13-page response<\/a>\u00a0with a point-by-point takedown of the SR\u2019s original letter. In particular, it stated unequivocally that the Scottish Human Rights Commission could not:<\/p>\n

identify any objectively evidenced real and concrete harm that is likely to result from the reforms. Indeed, the majority, if not all, of the concerns that have been outlined do not appear to have a relationship with the proposals that are set out in the Bill.<\/em><\/p>\n

Getting even more devastatingly specific, the response letter also pointed out the fact that Alsalem was contradicting the UN\u2019s own findings on their proposed reforms. The response quoted the United Nations independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, highlighting that:<\/p>\n

Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Argentina are examples of states that have implemented systems based on self-identification and eliminated pathologising requirements and where the numbers and outcomes in terms of social inclusion and the decrease in violence against trans and non-binary persons are remarkable. At the other end of the scope of worries, so to speak, the theoretical concerns that were raised in the process of adopting those processes have not materialised<\/em><\/p>\n

In a similar vein, the response mentioned that the committee overseeing the GRR Bill asked for evidence that the proposed reforms were unsafe for women and girls. However, \u201cno witness was able to provide concrete examples.\u201d This part is important. People will speak in hypotheticals on the abuse of gender recognition for trans people, but can\u2019t produce concrete proof of such fears materialising.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s groups in support<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Scottish Parliament\u2019s letter also pointed to the fact that there has already been a lengthy consultation on the process of the GRR Bill. Contrary to Alsalem\u2019s assertion, the public \u2013 including many women\u2019s rights groups for and against trans inclusion \u2013\u00a0were consulted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The two consultations undertaken in developing this Bill were open to all members of the public and represent two of the largest public consultations ever carried out by the Scottish Government. Responses to the consultation were subject to an independent analysis and we have published those reports<\/em><\/p>\n

In fact, six women\u2019s and domestic violence organisations in Scotland wrote their own response to the SR\u2019s letter. The response from Engender, JustRight Scotland, Scottish Women\u2019s Rights Centre, Scottish Women\u2019s Aid, Amnesty International Scotland, and Rape Crisis Scotland made many of the same points as the Scottish Parliament. It\u00a0stated that:<\/a><\/p>\n

We were surprised and disappointed that your letter was issued without consultation with human rights groups or specialist violence against women organisations in Scotland.<\/em><\/p>\n

The letter went on to highlight the intertwined nature of women\u2019s and trans liberation:<\/p>\n

We see the paths to equality and the realisation of human rights for women and trans people as being deeply interconnected and dependant on shared efforts to dismantle systems of discrimination.<\/em><\/p>\n

Delay, delay, delay<\/strong><\/p>\n

This whole saga \u2013 from the two rounds of consultation, to Alsalem\u2019s letter, to the\u00a0BBC<\/em>\u2019s misleading response, and the Scottish defence \u2013 is a microcosm of the \u2018debate\u2019 around trans rights and recognition. Gender critical voices will complain that trans rights will endanger women, but cannot provide actual proof of how this would happen. They claim we didn\u2019t hear them. But we did, and their complaints were simply at odds with the facts of the matter.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0GRC does little beyond<\/a>\u00a0allowing a trans person to register their birth, get married, and die under their true gender. Making the process of acquiring one less cumbersome is surely a good thing. That this has even a UN special rapporteur up in arms would be laughable, if it weren\u2019t such a crying shame.<\/p>\n

5.12.22<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

____________<\/p>\n

also see:-<\/p>\n

How anti-trans activists forced Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre into lockdown – Adam Ramsay, openDemocracy<\/a><\/p>\n

A TERF\/Far Right alliance has launched a new transphobic onslaught – Adrien Belarc, Left Voice USA)<\/a><\/p>\n

No ‘delays’ in trans rights: reform the GRA now – Leslie Cunningham, rs21<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following article by Alex\/Rose Cocker was first posted by The Canary. It shows the misrepresentation of the status of the UN special rapporteur, who has been used by those who opposed gender recognition reform, and then deals with the rapporteur’s arguments.\u00a0 HOLYROOD DISMANTLES UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST GENDER RECOGNITION REFORM On 29 November,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1858,8833,1875],"tags":[9152],"class_list":["post-22823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oppression-liberation","category-queer-liberation","category-scotland-against-unionism","tag-author-alex-rose-cocker"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.scot\/@rcfscotland\/109485618987709276","error":""},"views":5044,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22823"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22827,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22823\/revisions\/22827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}