The INIA Innovative Training Network is supported by a grant from the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions program under project number 859869. Inters*x people’s healthcare, social and human rights issues are often overlooked. They continue to face exposure to multiple forms of human rights violations and discrimination, requiring cross-sectoral policy responses in fields including
healthcare, education, and the law. The INIA Consortium aims to conduct research that will support the wellbeing and rights of inters*x people and those who are born with some variations of s*x characteristics but do not identify as inters*x (hereafter: inters*x people/people with variations of s*x characteristics). This includes people who are given the label of DSD (disorders or differences of s*x development) in medical contexts. The INIA project’s objectives are to:
• Generate knowledge that supports the wellbeing and social/economic contributions of inters*x people/people with variations of s*x characteristics.
• Use innovative interdisciplinary academic resources to push forward understandings of inters*x and inform academic fields.
• Produce excellent research and evidence to help address societal challenges associated with inters*x.
The training objectives of INIA are:
• Train a cohort of experts in the area of inters*x and develop original sector-specific and intersectoral competencies.
• Develop researcher capacities in research methods with inters*x people and their families and with stakeholders (including generating action learning).
• Establish a collaborative network of highly skilled researchers and national/international stakeholders. The INIA project started on 1 March 2020 and will run for 48 months. It will train a cohort of 10 early stage researchers working collaboratively to develop knowledge that will inform policy making and practice across a range of key sectors. It has been established by the University of Huddersfield, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Dublin City University, the University of Zurich, the Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública / Andalusian School of Public Health and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in collaboration with inters*x activists and advocates, clinicians, and other specialists. It will enable 21 organisations from more than 10 countries to work together on issues relating to inters*x people / people with variations of s*x characteristics, in a unique multidisciplinary and transectoral network. The Consortium includes international experts from a wide range of countries across the globe. The INIA work-package themes are shared across the main partners and the INIA projects, and they include:
• The life experiences of inters*x people/people with variations of s*x characteristics
• Service provision to inters*x people/people with variations of s*x characteristics and their families
• The legal aspects of inters*x and variation of s*x characteristics
• Critical approaches to social policy and inters*x/variations of s*x characteristics
We have appointed 10 Early Stage Researchers (who will become PhD students) across the whole consortium. We are providing a pioneering multi-disciplinary, multiagency international training environment which will prepare the Early Stage Researchers for future careers in academia, NGOs, policy making, or service provision. Each Early Stage Researcher will benefit from 2-3 secondments to other countries which will be hosted by NGOs, healthcare providers, and/or Universities.
• INIA and Human Rights and Wellbeing •
INIA recognises the need for human rights for inters*x people/people with variations of s*x characteristics, and that these rights are regularly infringed. We recognise the pressing need for the implementation of inters*x human rights. INIA supports the position taken by the UN regarding inters*x. The United Nations recognises that medically unnecessary surgeries and other procedures on inters*x children before they are able to provide informed consent constitute harmful practice and they make a number of recommendations including State enactment of legislation to prohibit these practices. Other international and national bodies also address these practices as human rights abuses, including the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. INIA draws on the Yogyakarta Principles:
• Principle 10: The Right to Freedom from Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• Principle 18: Protection from Medical Abuses
INIA also draws on the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10:
• Principle 30: The Right to State Protection
• Principle 32: The Right to Bodily and Mental Integrity
• Principle 37: The Right to Truth
INIA recognises that organisations and individuals support the human rights and wellbeing of inters*x people/people with variations of s*x characteristics in different ways, including direct work on human rights issues, developing implementation tools and frameworks raising awareness, community organisation, political lobbying and activism, running support groups, and providing healthcare that maximises the bodily integrity, choice and agency of inters*x infants, children, young people, and adults. INIA takes the position that these should be underpinned by the human rights principles discussed above.
