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Transgender (or trans) is an umbrella term used to describe people whose sense of their own gender is different to the sex that they were assigned at birth. Other terms exist, often with deep cultural and historical roots, such as hijra, third gender, two-spirit, travesti, fa’afafine, transpinay, transpinoy, muxe, waria and meti. Many trans people wish to have their preferred name and gender legally recognized and reflected on official identity documents. Many also change their physical appearance, including the way they dress, in order to affirm or express their gender identity. Some trans people – although not all – undertake gender-affirming surgery and/or hormone therapy.

Gender identity reflects a deeply felt and experienced sense of one’s own gender. It is not the same as sexual orientation. A person can identify in many ways, for example as a woman, a man, as non-binary, or as gender fluid. Transgender people may have any sexual orientation, including heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and asexual. An intersex person – that is, someone born with sex characteristics that don’t fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies – may also identify as transgender.

Human rights abuses against transgender people include, but are not limited to:

  • violence, including sexual violence and killings
  • torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, such as forced sterilization, and abuse in detention settings
  • criminalization, for example through “cross-dressing” prohibitions or the use of loitering laws to target trans people – and many trans persons are also targeted by laws criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct
  • lack of legal recognition of their gender identity
  • pathologization 
  • discrimination in health, housing, education, sport, employment and other services

To help address these violations, there have been various initiatives by our Office, UN agencies and regional human rights mechanisms including: 

Legal gender recognition

The United Nations has affirmed the right of trans persons to legal recognition of their gender identity and a change of gender in official documents, including birth certificates, without being subjected to onerous and abusive requirements. This right is violated in all regions of the world. Failing to provide access to legal gender recognition hinders access to rights and services (e.g. education, employment, bathrooms) and puts trans people at risk of violence (e.g. when presenting documents that don’t match their appearance). Trans people are at particular risk of violence in detention settings when their gender identity is not respected.

Some of the key elements for laws and policies on legal recognition of gender identity are that they:

  1. Be based on self-identification and self-determination.
  2. Be based on a simple administrative process.
  3. Impose no requirement of medical certification, diagnosis, sterilization, surgery, medical treatment, pathologization or divorce.
  4. Recognise non-binary identities.
  5. Ensure children have access to recognition of their gender identity. Safeguards for children should not be discriminatory or disproportionate, and should respect the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In this context, States should also provide trans persons with access to health care, including gender affirming procedures and treatments. States should also provide access to justice and remedy, including compensation, for past violations committed against trans persons in relation to legal gender recognition, including forced sterilizations.

Additional resources


Born Free and Equal
2019 OHCHR publication setting out how international human rights law applies to issues relevant to LGBTQI+ populations, including trans people.


Living Free and Equal 
2016 OHCHR publication providing an overview of policy trends, highlighting positive developments and drawing attention to areas that require further action by States.

See our full list of publications