OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings regarding the complaint of lawyer AA, which he submitted on behalf of a transgender person due to discrimination based on gender identity. In the complaint, it was stated that the City Administration of the city of Kraljevo refused to change the gender designation in the birth register, even though the gender change certificate for the said person was duly submitted. In the statement on the complaint, the City Administration of the city of Kraljevo stated that in this particular case, the transition was not carried out to the end, i.e. the sex change operation was not carried out, which is why they refused to make the change in the registers, and that they acted in accordance with the Law on Registers. During the procedure, it was established that the City Administration of the city of Kraljevo did not apply the Rulebook on the method of issuing and the form of the certificate of the competent health institution on sex change, which stipulates that the certificate of sex change is issued already after at least one year of hormone therapy with the indication and monitoring of a specialist in psychiatry and specialist with a narrower specialization in endocrinology, and not only after the surgical intervention of sex change. On the basis of the aforementioned certificate, the City Administration was obliged, according to the Law on Registers, to issue a decision on the basis of which the change of gender in the registers will be made. The Commissioner pointed out that the non-compliance of personal documents with the gender identity of trans persons leads to the risk of discrimination in various social areas and also represents a challenge in terms of exercising the rights to work, employment, education and health care. Bearing in mind all of the above, the Commissioner issued the opinion that by refusing to correct the entry in the register of births regarding the gender of the person on whose behalf the complaint was submitted, based on the certificate issued by the health institution on the prescribed form, the City Administration of the city of Kraljevo violated the provisions Article 6 in connection with Article 20 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. For this reason, the City Administration of the city of Kraljevo was recommended to take measures within its jurisdiction in order to change the gender designation and enter the desired name for the person on whose behalf the complaint was filed, to inform the employees of the competent service with the Commissioner’s opinion, as well as to comply in the future with regulations on the prohibition of discrimination.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković