A report by Reem Alsalen, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, suggests that men should not be allowed in women’s sports.
In his report, Alsalen notes that men who identify as women have won 890 medals, shutting out more than 600 female athletes across 29 sports since many leagues have decided to allow men to compete as women.
For instance, one of the report’s recommendations is that women’s sports should be relegated to women only.
The report says that “in order to ensure safety and fairness in sport at all levels, they should,” before adding that sports should “Ensure that female categories in organized sport are exclusively accessible to persons whose biological sex is female.”
The report also suggests that athletes should be sex tested if there are doubts.
“In cases where the sex of an athlete is unknown or uncertain, a dignified, swift, non-invasive and accurate sex screening method (such as a cheek swab) or, where necessary for exceptional reasons, genetic testing should be applied to confirm the athlete’s sex. In non-professional sports spaces, the original birth certificates for verification may be appropriate. In some exceptional circumstances, such tests may need to be followed up by more complex tests,” the report says.
The report also notes that sports should “Protect the female category” and work to “restore women’s and girls’ rights.”
Still, the report also avers that transgender people should also enjoy their rights and should not be excluded from sports in general. At the same time, Alsalen says, “Children are entitled to safeguards in sport.”
This protection must also be extended to adult women since international law protects women’s and girls’ right to privacy, and transgender athletes put that privacy in danger.
“Under international law, women and girls also have a right to privacy, which would be forfeited by forcing mixed-sex spaces in sports locker rooms and other intimate facilities,” the report says.
“Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 stipulates that ‘no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation’ and that “everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks,” the report states.
Alsalen admitted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not explicitly mention sports, but it is “generally understood to fall within the broader framework of education and cultural participation.”
In the end, Alsalen insists that transgender athletes, while they certainly deserve their own rights, have no right to impose themselves on women and thereby impinge on women’s rights.
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