Independent Opinion of CEDAW
national health insurance.48
34. Transgender applicants for gender change registration must have two
psychiatric specialists evaluate and certify the diagnosis and must
have completed irreversible gender reassignment surgery. The above
requirements violate the fundamental rights of transgender people,
including bodily integrity, personality, and health rights, which are
protected under the Constitution.49
Recommendation 24
(1) The government should expeditiously eliminate social
d i s c r i m i n a t i o n a g a i n s t i n t e r s e x p e o p l e a n d p re v e n t
pathologizing their conditions; prohibit unnecessary surgery
on intersex people under the age of 12 without their consent;
protect intersex people’s rights to bodily integrity, autonomy,
and self-determination. In addition, the government should
48
According to the Control Yuan investigation report approved on Jun 14, 2018 (Intersex Rights),
UN data shows the intersex accounts for about 0.05% to 1.7% of global population. By max
estimation, there may be 400,000 intersex people in Taiwan. However, the MOHW Statistics
of Birth Reporting System indicates the number of people of unknown gender every year only
amounts to a single digit, and there is no identification of intersex among the gender unknown.
Estimated on the MOHW statistics (2017-2021), numbers of individuals who might have
corrective genital surgeries among the 0-18 years old population are: approximately 1,500 per
year with principal/additional diagnosis of hypospadias (Q54 as first 3 digits in ICD-10-CM_
CODE); approximately 63,000 per year with principal/additional diagnosis of other issues and
unspecified childhood physical development not as expected (R625 as first 3 digits in ICD-10CM_CODE); approximately 50 per year with principal/additional diagnosis of unknown sex and
pseudohermaphroditism (Q56 as first 3 digits in ICD-10-CM_CODE ).
49
The Executive Yuan study Legalization of Gender Change Elements and Legislative Proposals,
January 2022, points out that gender reassignment surgery required to change gender registration
not only exacerbates the trend toward pathologization, but also imposes an insurmountable
burden on nationals who are physically unfit for surgical intervention or lack medical resources.
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