Conducting a National Inquiry into Systemic Patterns of Human Rights Violation • As it related to citizenship (official documents issued by the State, the situation of citizens born overseas and privacy-related rights), the Inquiry found that most transgender people could not obtain official documents that contained consistent and accurate information about their gender identity and that many experienced difficulty having their right to privacy respected by agencies holding personal information. • While the Inquiry’s terms of reference were limited to transgender people, intersex people also made submissions relating to such issues as medical procedures performed on children, young people with intersex variations and the lack of access to full medical records. Process of the Inquiry and participants In developing the Inquiry process and procedures, emphasis was placed on participation of and accountability to the widest possible range of transgender people. The understandable anxiety that many transgender people have about disclosure, and their dislike of sensationalist, voyeuristic media coverage, meant that the Inquiry had to offer people a range of ways to contribute to the proceedings. Confidentiality had to be guaranteed when it was requested. At the same time, the Inquiry team was conscious that the voices and experiences of transgender people are crucial to both public and official understanding and support for change. To build awareness of and confidence in the Inquiry, initial briefings about the Inquiry were held in four main cities during August and September 2006. Public and private hearings were held throughout the country over the following three months. An online submission form was available and 128 written submissions were received. Over 200 people were interviewed, including transgender people, their partners, family members and colleagues. They ranged in age from people in their early teens to those in their seventies. They came from a wide range of ethnicities and nationalities. Submissions also came from health professionals, academics and government agencies. Research undertaken for the Inquiry examined legislation, policy, experience and best practices in the United Kingdom and Western Europe, North America, South Asia, South Africa and Australia. A Summary of Submissions was published in April 2007 and tested in a series of meetings and exchanges with submitters and others: • to enable transgender people and others to check what the Inquiry had heard and whether it had accurately and fully understood, and fairly reflected, the significance of what it had been told • to provide a basis for more in-depth engagement with transgender people, government agencies and health professionals about the changes necessary to secure for transgender people the same rights as others, and about possible recommendations that the Inquiry might make. 94