Athletes born male shouldn't compete in women's sport, UN human rights expert says
2 October 2024, 20:43
Athletes who were not born female should not be allowed to compete in women’s sport, a United Nations-appointed human rights expert will tell the UN General Assembly.
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Reem Alsalem, the UN's special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, has said she hopes the recommendations will influence the policies of states and sports.
The participation of transgender women with higher levels of testosterone in women's events has been a divisive issue in sport.
While LGBT+ advocates call for inclusivity, Ms Alsalem has expressed concerns about the physical dangers women in sport can be exposed to by the participation of those who were assigned male at birth.
Ms Alsalem has now submitted a report to the UN she prepared amid fears during the Paris Olympics about the dangers of testosterone advantage in women's events.
She said in August that sex testing should be reintroduced to the Games following the controversy around Imane Khelif that overshadowed boxing in the French capital.
The Algerian won women's boxing gold amid claims she previously failed a gender eligibility test while insisting she was born a woman.
Details of the testing have not been provided by a boxing governing body whose credibility is disputed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has observer status at the UN, giving it a role in the General Assembly.
"Sports have functioned on the universally recognised principle that a separate category for females is needed to ensure equal, fair and safe opportunities in sports," the special rapporteur's report says.
"Multiple studies offer evidence that athletes born male have proven performance advantages in sport throughout their lives, although this is most apparent after puberty.
"Undermining the eligibility criteria for single-sex sports results in unfair, unlawful and extreme forms of discrimination against female athletes on the basis of sex."
The report has a clear recommendation to authorities in sport and at state level.
"In order to ensure safety and fairness in sport at all levels," Ms Alsalem's report says they should "ensure that female categories in organised sport are exclusively accessible to persons whose biological sex is female".
The report continues: "In cases where the sex of an athlete is unknown or uncertain, a dignified, swift, non-invasive and accurate sex screening method (such as a cheek swab) or, where necessary for exceptional reasons, genetic testing should be applied to confirm the athlete's sex."
Ms Alsalem is due to address the assembly next Tuesday.
She told Sky News: "While there is no obligation to implement the recommendations, the reports drafted by us independent experts of the human rights council carry an authoritative weight.
"We therefore hope that our reports can help state and non-state actors, working on certain policies that are advocating for change and can also contribute to these important policy conversations, particularly with human rights focused language and arguments since everything has a human rights dimension to it."
