Dear Friends,

I want to draw your attention to the current situation in Sweden regarding forced sterilisation of trans* persons. You may be aware that sterilisation is a requirement under the current legislation before the State will recognise their gender. There was recently hope that this anachronistic requirement would be removed when steps began to have the legislation repealed. However, under pressure from conservative forces, it was announced last week by members of the government that the proposed changes would not be going ahead.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women has explicitly condemned discrimination on the basis of gender identity in its General Recommendation No. 28 as well as repeatedly in reviews of various State Parties. Sweden has been a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women since 1980. Not only has it failed to date to act on its legal obligations under the Convention in this regard but now that momentum for change has begun, the government’s continuation of the status quo is exacerbating its failures.

AllOut has created a campaign together with RFSL to lobby the government in this regard. Please condemn all discrimination based on gender identity and support this campaign by encouraging its friends and partners to sign on and distribute the information contained in the link below:

Stop Forced Sterlisation