“For decades, sport governing bodies have regulated women’s participation in sport through “sex testing:” practices that violate fundamental rights to privacy and dignity. Through their policies, sport governing bodies have created environments that coerce some women into invasive and unnecessary medical interventions as a condition to compete in certain events, and sports officials have engaged in vitriolic public criticism that has ruined careers and lives. Women from the Global South have been disproportionately affected. There have never been analogous regulations for men.” – Human Rights Watch 2020 “They’re Chasing Us Away from Sport” Human Rights Violations in Sex Testing of Elite Women Athletes. Read report here.

Inside the Games (2018): United Nations Human Rights Experts Call IAAFS Female Classification Ruling Unjustifiable

Learn More on Challenging Policies on Sex Testing in Athletics

Open letter to IAAF from the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice: IAAF Letter (September 2018)