The Yogyakarta Principles

The Yogyakarta Principles were drafted in 2006 by an international group of human rights experts in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Background

The Yogyakarta Principles were drafted in 2006 by an international group of human rights experts. They describe how existing international human rights law relates to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Yogyakarta plus 10

In 2017, an addition was published (Yogyakarta Principles plus 10), including principles concerning sex characteristics (intersex), the rights of stateless people and the right to truth.

Status

The principles are not a treaty and are not legally binding. However, they are frequently cited in the case law of human rights courts, such as the European Court of Human Rights, in reports by UN bodies and in the policies of states and NGOs. genderlobby.nl describes who develops these norms and how they take root in the Netherlands in its article on WPATH, ILGA and the Yogyakarta Principles.

Development

The text was adopted in November 2006 during a meeting at Gadjah Mada University and presented in Geneva in March 2007. The 29 signatories were lawyers, academics, former UN officials and representatives of advocacy organisations, including Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. States were not involved in drafting the text.

What they say about gender identity

The third principle concerns legal recognition. It states that the gender identity each person defines for themselves is integral to their personality and that no one may be forced to undergo medical treatment in order to have that identity recognised. This principle became the basis for self-identification legislation. The 2017 addition goes further and calls on states to end the registration of sex in identity documents.

Criticism

Critics point out that the principles project the authority of international law without having been negotiated or accepted by states. They were drafted by a small group of experts, and the implications for sex-based rights were not addressed during the drafting process. Robert Wintemute, a professor of human rights in London and one of the signatories, openly said in 2021 that he regretted this: according to him, the position of women had not been considered. See also UN resolutions on gender, international rights and the Dutch Transgender Act.