Human rights campaigners hail major change by WHO as transgender no longer recognised as 'mental disorder'
Human rights campaigners have welcomed a major change to the World Health Organisation's global manual of diagnoses that means transgender health issues will no longer be classified as mental and behavioural disorders.
Under the new plans, issues of "gender incongruence" are placed under a chapter on sexual health.
Human Rights Watch said the change "will have a liberating effect on transgender people worldwide".
"Today, we know that full depathologisation can be achieved and will be achieved in our lifetime."
The group added: "Although placement in this chapter is an improvement, it is by no means perfect. For example, it is somewhat reductive to define trans health as related only to sexual health."
Meanwhile a joint statement from 65 intersex groups released by Intersex Human Rights Australia said that the update to the ICD-11 manual may cause "harm to people born with variations of sex characteristics".
"The ICD-11 introduces normative language to describe intersex variations as 'disorders of sex development'," the statement said.
The intersex groups are calling on WHO to "reform nomenclature and classifications to ensure that they do not facilitate human rights violations".