A letter published by the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner has exposed the UK government’s failure to protect trans rights
BY KLARA FERRAIOLI-SCHUBERT, IMAGE BY GETTY IMAGES/ CANVA
This year has been marked by a series of contentious political judgments affecting trans rights in the UK. In April, the Supreme Court’s ruling on For Women Scotland vs. Scottish Ministers determined that the term “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred specifically to sex assigned at birth. Shortly after, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published interim guidance which recommended that service providers effectively ban trans people from single-sex spaces.
On Tuesday (14 Oct), the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Michael O’Flaherty published a letter addressed to the UK government, voicing his concerns about further guidance anticipated in the wake of the ruling. He warns that this guidance must “avoid the unsatisfactory situation in which trans people live in an intermediate zone [as] not quite one gender or the other.”
In direct criticism, he continues: “I observe a tendency to see the human rights of different groups as a zero-sum game. This has contributed to narratives which build on prejudice against trans people and portray upholding their human rights as a de facto threat to the rights of others.”
“I am concerned that a debate about violence against women, framed in a way that restricts the human rights and freedoms of trans people, risks undermining the comprehensive, evidence-based approach needed to address this epidemic.”
Following the letter’s publication, the Trans Advocacy and Complaints Collective and the Trans Exile Network are calling for the urgent re-opening of enforcement of Goodwin v. UK, a historic case which determined that the UK was to provide legal recognition to transgender people and protect their rights. In doing so, they insist that the UK is held accountable for failing to uphold these rights.
“Non-compliance with the Goodwin judgment did not begin in April 2025,” writes spokesperson Mrs Duerinckx. Given that the Supreme Court’s ruling relied on an Act passed eight years after the Goodwin judgement, Mrs Duerinckx instead argues that “the UK has never been in compliance with the judgement.”
Despite O’Flaherty’s warning, on Wednesday, the EHRC attempted to put public pressure on Bridget Phillipson, Minister for Women and Equalities, to accept their guidance, which proposed a trans public bathroom ban without further scrutiny.
Responding to this proposed guidance, Trans+ Solidarity Alliance founder Jude Guaitamacchi has said: “Bridget Phillipson needs to send this back to the EHRC and tell them that they need to produce a code of practice which outlines how to include trans people in services for their lived gender, not try to mandate exclusion even where the service provider doesn’t want this.”
“The government need to realise that the EHRC are not acting in good faith, but pursuing an agenda, and not let themselves get played”
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