The Health and Social Policy Committee of the Croatian Parliament held its 49th thematic session on “Legal and Health Protection of Transsexual, Transgender and Gender-Variable People in the Republic of Croatia”. The session was held in Croatian Parliament on 9 April 2014.
Representatives of various civil society organizations and state institutions participated the session and discussed the making of Regulation on the method on the collecting medical documentation and determining the terms and conditions of a sex change or life in a different gender identity.
The goal of the session was to familiarize all the relevant institutions and the general public in the Republic of Croatia with this topic.
Participants of the session were representatives of the relevant ministries, representatives of the Ombudsperson, Ombudsperson for Gender Equality, Members of Parliament, representatives of the organizations Trans Aid, Women’s Room and Kontra, as well as clinical psychologist Iva Žegura, Head of the Committee Romana Jerković, professor from Amsterdam Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis and professor Miroslav Đorđević, surgeon from Serbia.
Participants concluded that transgender, transsexual and gender non-conforming people are facing various obstacles and therefore need full support from their community and from society as a whole in order to gain their fundamental human rights and freedom. Comprehensive legal and health care in the Republic of Croatia should be implemented with high-quality professional and ethical care. Professor of pediatric urology from Belgrade, Miroslav Đorđević, pointed out the need for cooperation between countries, exchange of experience and interdisciplinary approach to the problem which is the key to protecting the rights of trans* people in the Republic of Croatia.
