Coercive and Discriminatory: Rethinking the ECtHR's Approach to Legal Gender Recognition's prerequisite of sterilisation

本文关注人权在维护跨性别者尊严方面的作用，重点关注未经同意的绝育问题及其随之而来的病态化，这是滥用法律性别承认（LGR）制度的一个因素。它采用了一种有别于欧洲人权法院（AP， Garcon & Nicot诉法国[2017]）采用的有条件方法的原始调查途径，仔细审查了将绝对禁止不人道和有辱人格待遇适用于可能存在虐待行为的LGR医疗先决条件的案件。该项目将根据尊严和平等的哲学原则评估跨性别者的病理化和绝育，这些原则是《欧洲人权公约》第3条禁止酷刑和相关虐待以及《欧洲人权公约》第14条禁止歧视的基础。本文将首先考虑LGR制度，其中涉及“性别不安”作为“他者”的一种形式的病理化，其次，在某些LGR中，绝育的侵入性要求。它将继续考虑病理学和绝育是否单独或与第14条ECHR相抵触（Patel, 2017）。所进行的评价将采用：(a)严格的理论分析，重点是关于第3条、第14条和其他权利的所有相关判例，以及欧洲人权法院的性别认同和性别表达；(b)对这一法理学概念基础的理论参与，特别关注尊严、平等和自治原则。因此，所进行的研究将探讨第3条的界定，并通过人类尊严的视角重新审视其在侵入性或病理性LGR制度中的应用。它将以一种更好地捕捉性别认同的方式重新定义第14条，这种方式偏离了欧洲人权法院判例法中传统的性别二元概念（Goodwin v UK[2002]），挑战歧视主张的比较方法，采用笛卡尔原理验证复杂的性别认同，同时允许第14条的当前表述保持完整，这一观点在学术研究中尚未受到关注。最后，该项目将评价所提供的分析对其他LGR制度的影响，包括自定LGR的可能性（如爱尔兰和马耳他所采用的）。

This thesis concerns the role of human rights in safeguarding the dignity of transgender persons, focusing on the issue of non-consensual sterilisation and its attendant pathologisation as an element of abusive legal gender recognition (LGR) regimes. It pursues an original path of inquiry which departs from the conditional approaches adopted by the ECtHR(AP, Garcon & Nicot v France [2017]) by closely examining the case for the application of the absolute prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment to potentially abusive medical prerequisites to LGR.The project will evaluate the pathologisation and sterilisation of transgender persons in light of the philosophical principles of dignity and equality which underpin the prohibition of torture and related ill-treatment under Article 3 ECHR and the prohibition of discrimination under Article 14 ECHR. The thesis will first consider LGR regimes which involve the pathologisation of 'gender dysphoria' as a form of 'othering' and, secondly, the intrusive requirement of sterilisation within certain LGR. It will go on to consider whether the pathologisation and sterilisation fall foul of Article 3 ECHR, on its own or in conjunction with Article 14 ECHR (Patel, 2017). The evaluation pursued will employ: (a) rigorous doctrinal analysis, focusing on all relevant jurisprudence on Articles 3, 14 and other rights, and on gender identity and gender expression at the ECtHR; and (b) theoretical engagement with the conceptual underpinnings of this jurisprudence, with particular attention to the principles of dignity, equality, and autonomy. The research pursued will therefore probe the delimitation of Article 3 and revisit its application to invasive or pathologising LGR regimes through the lens of human dignity. It will reconceptualise Article 14 in a way that better captures gender identities which deviate from the conventional binary conceptualisation of gender present within ECtHR case-law(Goodwin v UK [2002]), challenging the comparative methodology of discrimination claims, employing Cartesian principles which validate complex gender identities while allowing Article 14's current formulation to remain intact, a perspective which has not received attention in academic research. Finally, the project will appraise the implications of the analysis offered, in relation to alternative LGR regimes, including in respect of the possibility of self-determined LGR (as adopted by Ireland and Malta).