(New York) – New regulations issued by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the international governing body for athletic competitions, discriminate against some women athletes and should be revoked, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the IAAF.

The 2018 regulations, published in April, target women athletes with some intersex variations sometimes called “differences of sex development” that cause higher than typical natural testosterone levels. The regulations deny these women the right to participate in the female category for running events between 400 meters and the mile unless they submit to invasive testing and medically unnecessary “treatment”. There is no clear scientific consensus women with intersex variations who have higher than typical natural testosterone have a performance advantage in athletics.

“The IAAF Eligibility Regulations for the Female Classification discriminate against women on the basis of their sex and their sex characteristics,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Regulations that call for scrutiny of women’s naturally occurring hormone levels are at root a form of judgment and a questioning of women’s sex and gender identity.”

Intersex traits or variations are naturally occurring sex characteristics that appear in up to 1.7 percent of the population, but do not fit social norms of what is considered “male” or “female.” The vast majority of people born with intersex variations are healthy and do not need to undergo medical treatment unless they wish to alter their bodies. Read more via HRW