SNP gender reforms ‘dangerous for women’, UN official warns

Backed by the SNP-Green administration, the Scottish Lib Dems and some Labour MSPs, the legislation is bitterly opposed by feminist groups, who have received strong support from campaigners including JK Rowling.

Alsalem amplified many of the concerns raised by campaigners. She said: “Such proposals would potentially open the door for violent males who identify as men to abuse the process of acquiring a GRC and the rights associated with it. This presents potential risks to the safety of women in all their diversity.

“The Scottish government … does not provide for any safeguarding measures to ensure that the procedure is not, as far as can be reasonably assured, abused by sexual predators and other perpetrators of violence. These include access to both single-sex spaces and gender-based spaces.”

Reem Alsalem said the Scottish government’s position was “less than clear and at times contradictory”

She said evidence demonstrated “that the majority of sex offenders are male, and that persistent sex offenders will go to great lengths to gain access to those they wish to abuse”.

Alsalem said the consultation on the bill had been insufficiently fair and inclusive. She added that although a Holyrood committee had listened to the voices of trans women, she was concerned that the same MSPs had told five survivors of male violence they “did not have time to see them and to put their objections in writing”.

“Second-guessing and questioning the needs of survivors of violence born female for single-sex assistance and protection services is not victim-centered and ignores and undermines the survivor’s involuntary trauma, agency, and dignity,” Alsalem said.

Echoing criticisms of the legislation made by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Alsalem said the Equality Act 2010 permitted the provision of single-sex services, “excluding anyone born male, however they identify, as a proportionate means to achieve a legitimate aim”.

• Comment: Gender reforms will open doors for predators

She added that she had been made aware of “reports that indicate a failure to provide single-sex spaces to female survivors of male violence, who, because of their experiences, do not feel able to access a trans inclusive service, leading to their self-exclusion from support and refuge services”.

She warned the Scottish government that it could also infringe the Equality Act if women from different religious backgrounds felt excluded by the consequences of the gender reforms.

“It is vital that service providers in Scotland continue to be able to provide both single-sex and gender-based services, and funding must be ringfenced for a certain proportion to be single sex, balancing the needs of the different demographics without placing them in conflict.”

In another critical passage, Alsalem echoed the concerns of some policy analysts who believe the quality of data collected in the census has been degraded by the SNP’s obsession with gender rather sex-based definitions.

• Hundreds say they are ‘a believer in biology’ in Scottish census protest

Under the heading “the deprioritisation of sex-related data collection”, she said the Scottish government was already in breach of the UN Cedaw protocol — the Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women — which she called a “concerning” development.

Another topic, “the lack of clarity on the relationship between Scotland’s Gender Recognition Act and the UK Equality Act” showed the Scottish government’s position to be “less than clear and at times contradictory”.

Returning to the simplified procedure for obtaining a GRC, she said it would be more difficult “to determine a prior history of violence for the transitioned person in question”.

She added: “There needs to be a consideration of adequate safeguarding during the procedure of certification itself. Furthermore, the government of Scotland is yet to clarify what procedure is in place for dealing with cases of those individuals that transition back to their previous gender identity.”

Alsalem stressed that “trans persons are entitled to live a life that is free from discrimination, harassment to have their human rights safeguarded” and that existing UK law had raised “legitimate concerns” among some people wishing to transition because it required a mental health diagnosis of gender dysphoria, violating international rights and standards.

The Scottish government said it would respond in detail on the issues raised by the UN letter.

A spokesman added: “We have always been clear that the Bill does not conflict with our continued strong commitment to uphold the rights and protections that women and girls currently have under the 2010 Equality Act and we have accepted an amendment to put that position beyond doubt.

“There is overwhelming support for the principles of the Bill. Over two-thirds of the parliament and members of all five parties voted in favour at stage one.

“We have also noted the evidence given to the Equalities Committee in support of the Bill by the UN independent expert on protection from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Behind the story

It’s been three years since a rumour swept Holyrood. Word had it that Nicola Sturgeon was about to step down as first minister and as de facto head of the campaign for Scottish independence, to take up a role in equalities for the United Nations (Mike Wade writes).

This speculation seemed to have some basis. In February 2019, she travelled to the UN’s New York HQ, from where she tweeted that she had been named as a global advocate for the #HeForShe campaign championed by UN Women, the organisation campaigning for gender equality. During the trip she spoke about Scotland’s human rights agenda. Pink News reported her comments, in which she directly addressed claims that gender recognition reforms would threaten women’s rights.

Sturgeon said: “Some of the concerns that are expressed on the part of women and feminists, while we have to listen and understand that, I think many of those are misplaced.

“As an ardent, passionate feminist, and have been all of my life, I don’t see the greater recognition of transgender rights as a threat to me as a woman or to my feminism.” She was held to have made a good impression on the world stage. By May, gossips suggested she would ditch the independence cause for a job at the UN.

It was a claim she emphatically denied.

The intervention by Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, seems decisive.

Once your administration has been deemed unfair, sloppy and lacking in clarity, and to be on the brink of potentially exposing women and girls to danger from predatory males, you’ve probaby queered your equalities pitch with the UN.