C-Fam warns WHO of the dangers of the future guide on the transgender issue
NEW YORK, Feb. 2 (C-Fam) The Center for Family & Human Rights (C-Fam) has issued a statement in response to the World Health Organization's (WHO) consideration of allegedly "gender-comforting" care.
Last year, the WHO announced plans to develop a guide on providing "gender-comforting" care for "transgender and gender-diverse" people, getting involved in an increasingly controversial area both medically and legally.
C-Fam responded to the WHO's call for comment and warned the UN health agency of the potential dangers of the project, urging them to abandon the project "in order to focus on WHO's mission to improve health care around the world."
From the beginning, the guide's development seemed to be supported by extremist transgender activists, the same activists who in 2018 took credit for updating the WHO's diagnostic manual to no longer classify gender dysphoria as a mental illness. C-Fam's comment points out that the guide's development group is made up of people who have financial or professional interests in the transgender medical industry.
The WHO has already repeatedly indicated that it includes "gender-comforting" interventions in the area of "sexual health", and the guide will likely include not only clinical information, but also legal and policy instructions that will be used to
pressure governments using the language of human rights.
The guide will also focus on training and educating health professionals, raising concerns about the rights of doctors and other health care providers who object to "gender-comforting" procedures on grounds of conscience.
C-Fam points out in its commentary that "comforting of the kind" interventions are highly experimental, although they can be lucrative for health systems, as they lead patients into lifelong hormone treatment, as well as surgeries that can cause serious and recurrent complications.
Moreover, such interventions are hardly "therapeutic", as they damage normal bodily functions, ostensibly with the aim of improving the patient's mental health, despite the fact that the WHO now states that these patients do not suffer from a mental health disorder.
Evidence of the long-term benefits to patients' mental health of "gender-conforming" care is weak and hotly contested, despite activists' claims that the science is established.
Similarly, the issue of transgender identity as a human rights issue is also highly controversial. To the extent that "gender" has been defined in international law, it has always been clearly linked to the binary understanding of man and woman. While some UN human rights experts and committees have recently begun pressuring countries to legally recognise gender changes, including on the basis of self-determination alone, these claims are disputed by other UN human rights experts. Moreover, while the independent experts working under the auspices of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights were unanimous in favour of transgender identity and its legal recognition, their views are not legally binding on UN member states.
In 2022, the WHO issued abortion guidelines, calling for the removal of all legal restrictions and a reduction in medical surveillance, in collaboration with extreme abortion activists. The agency seems ready to do the same when it comes to "gender-conforming" medical interventions. If they don't revise their plan, which could have harmful consequences for many vulnerable people, including children, at least they've been warned.
Last year, the WHO announced plans to develop a guide on providing "gender-comforting" care for "transgender and gender-diverse" people, getting involved in an increasingly controversial area both medically and legally.
C-Fam responded to the WHO's call for comment and warned the UN health agency of the potential dangers of the project, urging them to abandon the project "in order to focus on WHO's mission to improve health care around the world."
From the beginning, the guide's development seemed to be supported by extremist transgender activists, the same activists who in 2018 took credit for updating the WHO's diagnostic manual to no longer classify gender dysphoria as a mental illness. C-Fam's comment points out that the guide's development group is made up of people who have financial or professional interests in the transgender medical industry.
The WHO has already repeatedly indicated that it includes "gender-comforting" interventions in the area of "sexual health", and the guide will likely include not only clinical information, but also legal and policy instructions that will be used to
pressure governments using the language of human rights.
The guide will also focus on training and educating health professionals, raising concerns about the rights of doctors and other health care providers who object to "gender-comforting" procedures on grounds of conscience.
C-Fam points out in its commentary that "comforting of the kind" interventions are highly experimental, although they can be lucrative for health systems, as they lead patients into lifelong hormone treatment, as well as surgeries that can cause serious and recurrent complications.
Moreover, such interventions are hardly "therapeutic", as they damage normal bodily functions, ostensibly with the aim of improving the patient's mental health, despite the fact that the WHO now states that these patients do not suffer from a mental health disorder.
Evidence of the long-term benefits to patients' mental health of "gender-conforming" care is weak and hotly contested, despite activists' claims that the science is established.
Similarly, the issue of transgender identity as a human rights issue is also highly controversial. To the extent that "gender" has been defined in international law, it has always been clearly linked to the binary understanding of man and woman. While some UN human rights experts and committees have recently begun pressuring countries to legally recognise gender changes, including on the basis of self-determination alone, these claims are disputed by other UN human rights experts. Moreover, while the independent experts working under the auspices of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights were unanimous in favour of transgender identity and its legal recognition, their views are not legally binding on UN member states.
In 2022, the WHO issued abortion guidelines, calling for the removal of all legal restrictions and a reduction in medical surveillance, in collaboration with extreme abortion activists. The agency seems ready to do the same when it comes to "gender-conforming" medical interventions. If they don't revise their plan, which could have harmful consequences for many vulnerable people, including children, at least they've been warned.
