Dr Mitchell Travis presents expert evidence to the Council of Europe's conference on 'Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People'

The conference is organised by the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Unit, in conjunction with Iceland’s Presidency of the Council of Europe.

On Thursday 26 January 2023, the School of Law’s Dr Mitchell Travis presented expert evidence to the Council of Europe's conference on 'Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People' in Strasbourg. 

Dr Travis joined the conference to discuss physical integrity, bodily autonomy and comprehensive medical and social care for intersex people. 

This conference was a really important step in advocating for the needs of people with variations in sex characteristics throughout Europe. The recommendations which will be developed over the next two years will prioritise the voices of these communities alongside evidence from legal experts. I’m excited to see what we can achieve together.  

Dr Mitchell Travis

While raising awareness of the situation of intersex people in Europe, the conference aims to launch the work on a new Draft Committee of Ministers Recommendation on equality of rights of intersex people that will be prepared by the Council of Europe working group on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (GT-ADI-SOGI) of the Committee on Anti-Discrimination, Diversity and Inclusion (CDADI), by 2025. 

Dr Travis is the co-author (with Fae Garland) of the book “Intersex Embodiment: Legal Frameworks beyond Identity and Disorder” (Bristol University Press, 2022).