INFO:

Japan's top court ruled on Wednesday that a legal clause requiring trans people who want to legally change their gender to undergo sterilisation surgery is unconstitutional. Several international bodies including the European Court of Human Rights, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and United Nations experts had said the sterilisation requirement is discriminatory and infringed upon human rights. LGBTQ+ activists often refer to it as “forced sterilisation”. However, some lawmakers and women's rights groups in socially conservative Japan have said a ruling that challenges the law would sow confusion and undermine women's rights. Japan's Supreme Court threw out a similar legal case in 2019. Sterilisation and surgery requirements for trans people seeking to change their legal gender were common across Europe in the past, but many countries have removed them in recent years. Countries like Czech Republic, Latvia and Romania still have sterilisation requirements in place.