Strategic priority: Inclusion, Equality and Belonging The following case study shows our work towards a more inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand. Case Study: Supporting the right to recognition through simplified amendments to birth certificates The 17-year journey from the release of our Transgender Inquiry report through to the amended Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registrations Act coming into force in 2023, shows that the road to human rights progress, especially legislative change, can take many years. The right to recognition before the law is enshrined in Article 16 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. All individuals are entitled to legal recognition regardless of their legal or transitional status or the terms they use to describe themselves. Official identity documents (including birth certificates) have a particular significance for trans, non-binary, and intersex people. Legal recognition of their gender or identity is crucial to equal protections Legal recognition facilitates access to rights and freedoms, including entitlements related to health, education, housing, access to social security, and employment. Incorrect documents can become an enduring reminder that a trans, intersex or gender diverse person’s sex and gender are seen as incongruent, thereby undermining their identity. Additionally, official documents can expose a person to potential stigma, discrimination, and violence if people are required to present documents that do not reflect or look like them. In our 2020 Prism report, we dedicated a chapter to the right to recognition before the law. The previous process to amend sex details on a birth certificate required applying to the Family Court for a Declaration as to Sex and provision of evidence of medical treatment. This high standard was out of step with international best practice. The Commission has been advocating since our Transgender Inquiry to simplify the process and requirements in New Zealand. The three-year Transgender Inquiry, culminating in the 2008 report, To Be Who I Am, included a key recommendation to “simplify the requirements for changing sex details on a birth certificate.” In March 2017, we provided a submission in support of Allyson Hamblett’s petition to Parliament which sought to replace the existing process with self-identification. In 2017, a bill to repeal and replace the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Act 1995 was introduced to Parliament. The Commission submitted on the Bill at every opportunity, making strong recommendations for an improved process to align with international human rights law. The Bill passed its third reading unanimously in December 2021, introducing a self-identification process to amend the sex recorded on birth certificates (in broad accord with the Commission’s advocacy and submissions). However, the Act’s new self-identification process for amending birth certificates did not come into force until mid-2023. This extended timeframe was intended to allow key details of the process to be consulted on and developed. In July 2022, the Department of Internal Affairs undertook public consultation to develop these regulations and related policy work. On 15 June 2023, the new birth certificate policy came into effect. Amending a New Zealand birth certificate is now a simple administrative process that requires a statutory declaration. Takatāpui, transgender, non-binary and intersex people born in New Zealanders can now more easily update their identity documents in alignment with their gender identity. 23