In 2017, a similar statement came from Amin Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Health in the UAE: “We want to clarify the difference between the terms ‘sex change’ and ‘sex correction surgery’, as sex change surgery remains illegal in the UAE.”
In Egypt, in 2020, Osama Abdel-Hay, head of the medical syndicate’s sex correction committee indicated that the committee only approved intersex cases for surgery. Meanwhile, Morocco amended its civil status law in 2021 to only allow surgery and legal gender recognition for individuals medically identified as intersex.
As a result, transgender people in these countries who seek surgery are faced with having to travel abroad to countries like Thailand or Turkey. Or they can have the surgery in underground, expensive and ill-equipped clinics at home. The surgeries can be risky and lead to medical complications that these clinics can’t cope with, as was the case with Ezz El-Din, a 26-year-old transgender man who died after botched surgery in an underground Egyptian clinic.
Legal recognition
Even those who are wealthy and privileged enough to find a way to have surgery are still faced with another major challenge – obtaining legal gender recognition (LGR). Because these Sunni Muslim-majority countries rely on principles of Sharia in their civil registration laws, judiciaries reject requests for new papers, citing Sharia as the reason.
In 2004, a Kuwaiti appeal court rejected a request from a transgender woman to be granted LGR; in 2016, an Egyptian administrative court refused the same request from a transgender man; and in 2019, the UAE’s Federal Supreme Court rejected a request from three transgender men.
These three judgements came from three different jurisdictions, but they all cited the same reason – that the plaintiffs underwent “sex change” surgeries and not “sex reassignment” surgeries. Therefore, they had violated Sharia and would not be granted LGR.
State persecution
Denying LGR often leaves transgender people marginalised and vulnerable, facing limits on their rights to access healthcare, employment, and housing. Furthermore, authorities in these countries often use laws regarding “public decency”, “crossdressing” and “sodomy” to arrest, harass and prosecute transgender people.
In 2017, two Pakistani transgender women were “tortured to death” by the police in Riyadh, after authorities raided a house and arrested 35 people for “cross-dressing”. In 2020, a transgender woman was sentenced to three years in prison in Egypt for “inciting debauchery” and in 2021, a Kuwaiti transgender woman was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 1,000 Kuwaiti dinars ($3,315) for “misusing phone communication” by “imitating the opposite sex”.
All these policies and practices violate transgender people’s fundamental rights, including the right to health, education, employment, housing, enjoyment of life, bodily integrity and equality before the law. Authorities in Egypt, Oman, UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Kuwait and elsewhere should allow transgender people access to gender-affirming medical care, should drop the term “sex correction” or “gender correction” and should revise the definition of “sex reassignment” to include the transgender population.
These states should also establish clear and accessible legal gender recognition mechanisms modelled on an individual’s right to self-identification. Furthermore, religious authorities should reform their positions on transgender issues and stop their interference in medical matters.
Comments
We encourage anyone to comment, please consult the oD commenting guidelines if you have any questions.