How Lawyers Can Help Protect And Promote The Human Rights Of Intersex People

We have a long history of pro bono work supporting organizations and individuals across the LGBTQIA+ community.

Intersex issues and rights are often not widely understood, but intersex people—the “I” in LGBTQIA+—need support for challenges that the intersex community face and to address the human rights abuses they experience.

Organisation Intersex International Europe (OII Europe) is the umbrella organization for European human-rights-based and intersex-led human rights organizations in Europe. We are collaborating with OII Europe on a pro bono project to help build capacity for strategic litigation on intersex rights. OII Europe is also supported by the A&O Shearman Foundation to drive forward its wider strategic objectives.

Awareness of intersex issues

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that do not fit binary definitions of male and female relating to sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, or hormonal and chromosomal patterns. These differences can become apparent at birth or later in life. People with intersex bodies may have a female, male, non-binary, or intersex gender identity or any other gender identity.

They face discrimination and challenges across education, employment, health, housing, and sport. They also experience violence, including forced and coercive medical interventions and intersex genital mutilation (IGM). IGM often happens at an early age without the person’s informed consent and can lead to long-term health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic illness, and disability.

The FRA LGBTIQ Survey 2023 revealed that:

• 57% of intersex respondents who underwent surgery said it happened without their or their parents’ informed consent.
• Almost half (49%) did not give their consent to hormonal treatment. 

While the OII Europe Good Practice Maps reveal that good practice has been slowly growing since 2013, still only six European countries have prohibited IGM. However, even these countries do not provide all the safeguards necessary for full protection.

OII Europe was founded in 2012 and registered as a non-profit in Germany in 2015. It works with 32 member organizations to protect intersex human rights in Europe, in Central Asia, and the Maghreb region. Its executive director, Dan Christian Ghattas, explains:

“We’re working towards a world where intersex people are accepted, their existence is well-known, recognized, and protected by law. A world where people are free from discrimination and harm: particularly IGM, but also other harmful medical and non‑medical practices.

“The organization combines advocacy at EU, Council of Europe, and UN levels with national-level support. Legal expertise is key to turning this advocacy into action through both strategic litigation, supported by OII Europe, and cases pursued by individuals.”

OII Europe convened the European Intersex Strategic Litigation Network in 2020, which meets twice a year to discuss high-level issues, exchange knowledge with legal experts, and build arguments together.

The most significant strategic milestone so far was the adoption, in 2025, of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation on Equal Rights for Intersex Persons—the first international legal instrument dedicated to the rights of intersex people. OII Europe also plays a key role in numerous individual cases before the European Court of Human Rights on topics including IGM, legal gender recognition, and asylum.

Our collaboration with OII Europe

Since 2025, we have been working with OII Europe to develop a collaborative project harnessing the resource of multiple law firms—an intersex case law database to strengthen OII Europe’s strategic litigation program. This will improve access to comparative legal resources, support evidence-building, and enable more effective use of litigation and quasi-judicial mechanisms to advance intersex rights across jurisdictions.

Dan recently hosted a firmwide event in our Frankfurt office, sharing insights on the lived experiences of intersex people, the current international legal context, OII Europe’s work, and how lawyers can support intersex rights. 

Alastair Livesey, counsel in our international dispute resolution group, has worked on numerous LGBTQIA+ pro bono projects.

“I probably know more than most people about the rights and characteristics of intersex individuals, but I still learned a huge amount from Dan’s presentation.

“It gave me the opportunity to talk to colleagues about how we can support our internal community and sparked ideas for other projects we might take on to push forward our inclusion and pro bono programs. It’s great that we now have a community of talented, interested advocates and allies who can understand and support intersex rights and the intersex community effectively.” 

We are continuing our LGBTQIA+ pro bono commitment

“We have longstanding relationships with our LGBTQIA+ pro bono partners,” continues Alastair. “We’ve invested time, effort, and energy to build trust with these partners and in the wider community, which means there are good opportunities for our lawyers to work on cutting-edge LGBTQIA+ rights matters.

“Our established and busy human rights practice also means that there’s a lot of knowledge and expertise within the firm, in particular in advising and leading on strategic litigation. The maturity of our practice means we can work with confidence on mandates that are ensuring the basic fundamental rights of our community are respected.”

• We work regularly with two organizations that are similar to OII Europe: ILGA‑Europe and TransGender Europe (TGEU). We recently advised them on a new bill in the Portuguese parliament that could potentially roll back LGBTQIA+ rights.
• We support the LGBT Foundation with its charity governance and advise the organization on how recent legal developments in the UK might impact its health and well-being provision.
• We assist with third-party interventions in cases before the European Court of Human Rights. We often help our pro bono partner organizations file expert briefs to the court on, for example, what a particular law is and how it applies to people in a particular jurisdiction.
• We have partnered with GiveOut, a community foundation that supports LGBTQIA+ organizations worldwide and particularly in the Global South and East. We have worked with its partner organizations to develop litigation strategies, provide legal training, and build capacity for activists and journalists working on LGBTQIA+ rights and related issues. The firm has also contributed to GiveOut’s Urgent Response Fund.
• We have supported the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, a think tank that performs LGBTQIA+ legal research, to help it file a complaint in state court after the New Jersey government denied a request from the Williams Institute to access public marriage records. The matter is ongoing.

To read more about our pro bono work visit our pro bono page.

FAQ

What is OII Europe?

Organisation Intersex International Europe (OII Europe) is a registered non-profit based in Germany. It is the umbrella organization for intersex-led human rights groups across Europe. 

How does OII Europe support intersex people

Through advocacy, strategic litigation, awareness-raising, and supporting people through campaigns and events, including Intersex Awareness Week and Europe Goes Purple.

How is A&O Shearman involved?

We are collaborating with OII Europe to scope the creation of an intersex case law database, leveraging the pro bono resource of multiple law firms. This will support OII Europe’s strategic litigation program by:

• improving access to comparative legal resources and case law
• supporting evidence-building and
• enabling more effective use of litigation and quasi-judicial mechanisms. 

What other LGBTQIA+ pro bono work does A&O Shearman do?

A&O Shearman has an established LGBTQIA+ pro bono practice and extensive experience in human rights law. As well as contributing to individual legal matters, we provide our pro bono partner organizations with strategic guidance to support their broader advocacy work.

Our commitment to LGBTQIA+ rights is reflected in our culture. We are rated in the top 100 of the Corporate Equality Index 2026 as a leader in LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and we were awarded silver status as a Top Global Employer in the Stonewall Global Workplace Equality Index 2025.