Intersex people in South East Asia are not protected from human rights violations.. In most countries from this region, the law fails to recognise them and address their particular needs. They are repeatedly invisibilized and confused with other identities within the broad SOGIESC umbrella. Moreover, the COVID-19 outbreak has exacerbated current injustices, and intersex people have been disproportionately affected. Intersex Asia is deeply concerned about the current state of the legal protection of intersex people in these countries. This situation is further exacerbated by an acute dearth of research on intersex rights in the region. Most of the existing research is medical in nature and does not address legislative protection and/or recognition of the intersex population. IA is planning to conduct research projects which aim at filling gaps in research and evidence when it comes to better outcomes for intersex people. Given the lack of a regional human rights instrument in the Asian region, IA is planning to prioritise national-level research projects. Currently, our member organisations don’t have well-researched reports/position papers to support their advocacy efforts with the government. Even though some significant legal developments have been taking place in wider Asian over the last decade, there is a research gap when it comes to the analysis of intersex legal frameworks and case-law.

Objectives of the Project: To come up with publications that aim at improving the understanding around the mechanisms and protections (or gaps) for intersex persons inSouth East Asia: Mapthe current legislative and policy mechanisms which are relevant for consideration from the point of view of intersex people. Analyse the current laws and policies launched by the governments and focus their suitability for intersex persons. Place South East Asian developments on intersex within a global context by providing a comparative overview of other countries that have legislated on intersex (comparable processes occurring internationally and what can be learned from them). To provide recommendations on the legal protection of intersex persons in South East Asia. A comparative approach will be adopted to provide the reader with a complete picture of the situation of intersex rights. This approach will also allow for the provision of solid recommendations on how to protect intersex rights effectively inthe region. IA would prepare an online database for regularly reporting the updates regarding the research projects which are being planned under this grant. This database would contain all the information publicly available on intersex rights in the Asian region. Further, we would also collate all official documents on this database. The methodology for the project Intersex Asia aims to conduct the project by directly collaborating with the intersex community in the region since one of the aims of this project is to increase the visibility of intersex people. Initial research for this project will involve desk reviews of the academic,legal and policy literature on the subject. We’ll work directly with our member organisations based in the focus countries to reach out to the community members and ensure that their voices are reflected in the outcomes ofthe projects. Outputs Research findings and data collected from the multiple projects from this grant will lead to the production of a various forms of publications with implications for policy response and advocacy related to intersex human rights inSouth East Asia.