Selfdetermination of intersex, transgender and nonbinary persons, APVV-23-0252

About the project

Selfdetermination of intersex, transgender and nonbinary persons, APVV-23-0252

Principal Investigator: prof. Mgr. Ľubomír Batka, Dr. theol.

Research Department: 050508 - Theory of state history and law 

Implementation: 2024 - 2027

Human rights and medical-ethical principles applied in the care of intersex, transgender and non-binary people have developed over time, but not separately from each other. Approaches to these persons in the field of law, ethics and medicine are increasingly based on principles such as respect for autonomy, strengthening of (legal) self-determination, preservation of bodily integrity (non-maleficence) and consideration of the best interest (beneficence). It is a fact that non-binary people currently remain mostly on the margins of professional and political discourse. Project elaborates the forms of the principle of self-determination on a subjective and objective level and points out the conditions of a legal transition separate from the medical transition and considers adjustments facilitating the anchoring of the legal status of intersex and non-binary people in the legal order of the Slovak Republic. From the point of view of legal theory, the project touches on the issue of legal uncertainty and the balancing of individual rights of public interest. The results of the project will present proposals de lege ferenda of relevant legal regulations related to the principle of self-determination in the provision of health care to intersex and transgender people and arguments regarding the possibilities of possible legal regulation of the status of nonbinary persons. Outputs from the project will serve as orientation for law enforcement authorities in their decisionmaking activities, for politicians in social discourse when considering arguments for or against changes in the current regulation, as well as for education in the field of ethics.