Trans passport options are among the positive steps listed in the report. An update on New Zealand's progress on transgender and gay rights issues has been presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. It was part of a sweeping looking at New Zealand’s progress in promoting and protecting human rights, which was presented to the Council by Justice Minister Judith Collins in Geneva last night. The document lists marriage equality and the encompassing changes to adoption rights, and the introduction of transgender passport options, as positive recent steps. It says work still needs to be done on ensuring “equitable access to health services and health outcomes for transgender people”. The report also touches again on the sticking point between the Human Rights Commission and the Government over whether discrimination on the grounds of gender identity is prohibited under the Human Rights Act as sex discrimination. The official document was prepared by the New Zealand government and the Human Rights Commission as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. It’s New Zealand’s second UPR, with the first in 2009. All 193 UN member countries are required to be examined and report on their human rights performance every four and a half years. Here is the full sexual orientation and gender identity section of the report: New Zealand has taken several recent steps to improve the rights of lesbian gay bisexual transgender, intersex and questioning (LGBTIQ) persons. In May 2013, the New Zealand Parliament adopted marriage equality legislation: The Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013, which specifies that a marriage is between two people regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. As a result, same-sex married couples will be eligible, under the Adoption Act 1955, to apply jointly to adopt a child. The Government has also taken steps to improve the rights of trans-gender people since 2009. The Marriage Amendment Act, for example, enables people to continue to be married regardless of a change in their legal gender. New Zealand also introduced transgender passport options in December 2012 to remove unnecessary obstacles for applicants wanting to record a change in their gender identity. A passport may now be issued in an applicant’s preferred sex, including “X” (indeterminate/unspecified), without the need to amend these details on the applicant’s birth or citizenship record. Policies were also updated to reflect that, since 2009, certain overseas-born transgender people may also seek a declaration from the Family Court recognising their preferred sex as well as the 2008 Family Court decision, which confirmed that courts will take a “case-by-case” approach to applying the relevant statutory threshold and that applicants do not necessarily need to have full reassignment surgery. The New Zealand Human Rights Commission has received complaints from transgender people of discrimination on the basis of disability and sex. Its complaints process provides one way of addressing such discrimination. The Ministry of Health changed its guidelines on availability of gender reassignment surgery in 201112 but work still remains to ensure equitable access to health services and health outcomes for transgender people. The Commission considers that amendment to the grounds of discrimination in the Human Rights Act to specifically include gender identity would help to clarify some of the issues. The Government’s view is that discrimination on the grounds of gender identity is already prohibited under the Human Rights Act as sex discrimination.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 28th January 2014 - 3:34pm