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

本论文涉及人权在维护变性人尊严方面的作用，重点关注作为滥用法律性别承认(LGR)制度的一个要素的非自愿绝育及其伴随的病理性问题。该项目将按照《欧洲人权公约》第3条禁止酷刑和相关虐待以及第14条禁止歧视的哲学原则，对绝对禁止不人道和有辱人格的待遇适用于可能滥用《欧洲人权公约》的医疗先决条件的情况进行仔细研究，从而走出一条与《欧洲人权公约》(AP，Garcon&Nicot v France[2017])所采用的有条件办法不同的原始调查道路。这篇论文将首先考虑LGR制度，其中涉及将“性别焦虑症”病理性地视为“他者”的一种形式，其次，在某些LGR范围内侵入性地要求绝育。它将继续考虑病理和绝育是否单独或与第14条《欧洲人权公约》(Patel，2017)一起违反《欧洲人权公约》第3条。所进行的评估将采用：(A)严格的理论分析，侧重于关于《欧洲人权公约》第3条、第14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，特别注意尊严、平等和自主的原则。因此，开展的研究将探索第3条的界定，并从人的尊严的角度重新审视其对侵入性或病理性LGR政权的适用。它将重新构思第14条，以便更好地捕捉偏离欧洲人权公约判例法(Goodwin诉UK[2002年])中存在的性别传统二元概念的性别认同，挑战歧视申诉的比较方法论，采用笛卡尔原则，确认复杂的性别认同，同时允许第14条S目前的表述保持不变，这一观点在学术研究中尚未受到关注。最后，该项目将评估所提供的分析对替代低收入国家制度的影响，包括对(爱尔兰和马耳他通过的)自决低收入国家制度的可能性的影响。

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).