Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand

Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand (aka Intersex Awareness New Zealand)
Abbreviation ITANZ
Formation 1996
Type NGO
Purpose Intersex human rights
Region served
New Zealand
Executive Director
 Mani Mitchell
Website ianz.org.nz

Founded by Mani Mitchell in 1996, Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand, also known as Intersex Awareness New Zealand is a national advocacy and peer support organisation for intersex people in New Zealand.[1]

Mission

ITANZ is a charitable trust that provides education, information and training on intersex issues for organisations and individual professionals.[2][3] Executive Director Mani Mitchell is known as New Zealand's first "out" intersex person.[4]

Activities

The Trust works with the Human Rights Commission, Rainbow Youth in Auckland, Whanganui Women's Health Collective, and Working it Out in Tasmania.[5][6]

Physical integrity and bodily autonomy

Trust members have participated in, and jointly held, roundtable events with the Human Rights Commission, including on the human rights implications of intersex medical interventions, shame and secrecy.[6][7] Following a joint round table event with the Human Rights Commission, the Commission proposed to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that the New Zealand government enact legal and regulatory safeguards to protect the rights of intersex children, and ensure that children's rights to bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination are respected.[8] In October 2016, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued observations on practices in New Zealand, including recommendations to ensure "that no one is subjected to unnecessary medical or surgical treatment during infancy or childhood, guaranteeing the rights of children to bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination".[7] The recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child have been illustrated by ITANZ and Intersex Youth Aotearoa.[9]

In March 2017, representatives of Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand participated in an Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand consensus "Darlington Statement" by intersex community organizations and others.[10] The statement calls for legal reform, including the criminalization of deferrable intersex medical interventions on children, an end to legal classification of sex, and improved access to peer support.[10][11][12][13][14]

Counseling services

Executive Director Mani Mitchell provides counselling for individuals and families.[4]

Youth

A youth project, Intersex Youth Aotearoa, was launched in September 2015, to provide information and support to youth with intersex conditions.[15][9]

Education and awareness

Mitchell, and other board members, have given presentations to a range of audiences, including the National College of Midwives biennial conference and the University of the Third Age.[1][16][17] The Trust have supported the filming of award-winning documentary Intersexion (2012).[18]

International organizing

Mitchell co-organized the third International Intersex Forum in Malta, 2013.[19][20]

Affiliations

ITANZ a member of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Intersex Trust of Aotearoa New Zealand, J R McKenzie Trust.
  2. ↑ Intersex Awareness New Zealand, Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand, December 2013.
  3. ↑ Gender diversity - Intersex people - Intersex awareness stall, Johanna Schmidt, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 15 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Being intersex: I went from being my parents' son to a daughter". NZ Herald. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  5. ↑ Human Rights Commission (January 25, 2010). "Intersex sections from the Transgender Inquiry’s final report".
  6. 1 2 Human Rights Commission (July 2010). "February 2010 Auckland Intersex Roundtable".
  7. 1 2 Human Rights Commission (2016), Intersex Roundtable Report 2016 The practice of genital normalisation on intersex children in Aotearoa New Zealand (PDF)
  8. ↑ Human Rights Commission (August 15, 2016). "Supplementary submission of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s 73rd Session".
  9. 1 2 Intersex Day (October 26, 2016). "Intersex Youth Aotearoa illustrate UN recommendations".
  10. 1 2 Androgen Insensitivity Support Syndrome Support Group Australia; Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand; Organisation Intersex International Australia; Black, Eve; Bond, Kylie; Briffa, Tony; Carpenter, Morgan; Cody, Candice; David, Alex; Driver, Betsy; Hannaford, Carolyn; Harlow, Eileen; Hart, Bonnie; Hart, Phoebe; Leckey, Delia; Lum, Steph; Mitchell, Mani Bruce; Nyhuis, Elise; O'Callaghan, Bronwyn; Perrin, Sandra; Smith, Cody; Williams, Trace; Yang, Imogen; Yovanovic, Georgie (March 2017), Darlington Statement, archived from the original on 2017-03-21, retrieved March 21, 2017
  11. ↑ Copland, Simon (March 20, 2017). "Intersex people have called for action. It’s time to listen.". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  12. ↑ Jones, Jess (March 10, 2017). "Intersex activists in Australia and New Zealand publish statement of priorities". Star Observer. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  13. ↑ Power, Shannon (March 13, 2017). "Intersex advocates pull no punches in historic statement". Gay Star News. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  14. ↑ Sainty, Lane (March 13, 2017). "These Groups Want Unnecessary Surgery On Intersex Infants To Be Made A Crime". BuzzFeed Australia. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  15. ↑ "ITANZ launch Intersex Youth Aotearoa". Scoop. September 18, 2015.
  16. ↑ Family Planning Conference 2013
  17. ↑ Intersex People, NZ Human Rights Commission
  18. ↑ 'It's a baby' - the truth about intersex, Gay Star News, 15 February 2013.
  19. ↑ 3rd International Intersex Forum in Malta, ILGA-Europe, 22 July 2013
  20. ↑ The 3rd International Intersex Forum raises important issues, Gay Express, 3 December 2013.
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