Rights activists urge Japan to drop compulsory sterilisation policy for transgender people wanting to alter ID documents

A 2004 law states that people wishing to register a gender change must have their original reproductive organs removed and have a body that “appears to have parts that resemble the genital organs” of the gender they want to register. The supreme court in January rejected an appeal by a transgender man who wanted legal recognition without undergoing surgery, though the court acknowledged that the practice restricts freedom and could become out of step with changing social values.

Human Rights Watch said the compulsory sterilisation requirement is abusive and outdated. In a report, the international rights group said requiring invasive and irreversible medical procedures violates the rights of transgender people who want their gender identity legally recognised.

“Japan’s government needs urgently to address and fundamentally revise the legal recognition process that remains anchored to a diagnostic framework that fails to meet international standards,” the report said. It said the law, which still defines gender incongruence as a “disorder,” is out of step with international medical standards.

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The group based its report on interviews with 48 transgender people and legal, medical and other experts in Japan. It said the country has fallen behind globally in recognising transgender people’s rights and still enforces “outdated, discriminatory and coercive policies.”