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

本论文关注人权在维护变性人尊严方面的作用，重点关注非自愿绝育及其伴随的病理化问题，作为滥用法律的性别承认（LGR）制度的一个要素。它采用了一种不同于欧洲人权法院所采用的有条件办法的独创性调查途径（美联社，Garcon & Nicot诉法国[2017]）该项目将根据尊严的哲学原则评估变性人的病理学和绝育，平等是《欧洲人权公约》第3条禁止酷刑和相关虐待以及第14条禁止歧视的基础。本文将首先考虑LGR制度，其中涉及病理化的“性别焦虑症”作为一种形式的“他者”，其次，在某些LGR绝育的侵入性要求。它将继续考虑病理学和绝育是否违反了第3条ECHR，单独或与第14条ECHR（Patel，2017）。所进行的评价将采用：（a）严格的理论分析，侧重于欧洲人权法院关于第三条、第十四条和其他权利以及关于性别认同和性别表达的所有相关判例;（B）从理论上探讨这一判例的概念基础，特别关注尊严、平等和自主原则。因此，所进行的研究将探讨第3条的界定，并通过人类尊严的透镜重新审视其对侵入性或病理性LGR制度的适用。它将重新定义第14条的概念，以便更好地体现性别认同，而这种性别认同不同于欧洲人权法院判例法中传统的性别二元概念（Goodwin诉英国[2002年]），对歧视申诉的比较方法提出质疑，采用笛卡尔原则确认复杂的性别身份，同时允许第14条的现有表述保持不变，这是一个在学术研究中尚未受到重视的观点。最后，该项目将评估所提供的分析对替代性地方政府保留制度的影响，包括自决地方政府保留的可能性（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).