Preamble (YP+10)

WE, THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL PANEL OF EXPERTS IN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, GENDER EXPRESSION AND SEX CHARACTERISTICS,

Preamble

RECALLING that the Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, adopted in November 2006, provided in a preambular paragraph that the Yogyakarta Principles must rely on the current state of international law and will require revision on a regular basis in order to take account of developments in that law and its application to the particular lives and experiences of persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities over time and in diverse regions and countries;

NOTING that there have been significant developments in international human rights law and jurisprudence on issues relating to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, since the adoption of the Yogyakarta Principles;

RECALLING the Yogyakarta Principles’ definitions of ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’;

UNDERSTANDING ‘gender expression’ as each person’s presentation of the person's gender through physical appearance – including dress, hairstyles, accessories, cosmetics – and mannerisms, speech, behavioural patterns, names and personal references, and noting further that gender expression may or may not conform to a person’s gender identity;

NOTING that ‘gender expression’ is included in the definition of gender identity in the Yogyakarta Principles and, as such, all references to gender identity should be understood to be inclusive of gender expression as a ground for protection;

UNDERSTANDING ‘sex characteristics’ as each person’s physical features relating to sex, including genitalia and other sexual and reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, hormones, and secondary physical features emerging from puberty;

NOTING that ‘sex characteristics’ as an explicit ground for protection from violations of human rights has evolved in international jurisprudence, and recognising that the Yogyakarta Principles apply equally to the ground of sex characteristics as to the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression;

INCLUDING, in sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, actual, perceived and attributed sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics as the case may be;

RECOGNISING that the needs, characteristics and human rights situations of persons and populations of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics are distinct from each other;

NOTING that sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics are each distinct and intersectional grounds of discrimination, and that they may be, and commonly are, compounded by discrimination on other grounds including race, ethnicity, indigeneity, sex, gender, language, religion, belief, political or other opinion, nationality, national or social origin, economic and social situation, birth, age, disability, health (including HIV status), migration, marital or family status, being a human rights defender or other status;

NOTING that violence, discrimination, and other harm based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics manifests in a continuum of multiple, interrelated and recurring forms, in a range of settings, from private to public, including technology-mediated settings, and in the contemporary globalised world it transcends national boundaries;

RECOGNISING that violence, discrimination and other harm based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics have an individual as well as a collective dimension and that acts of violence and discrimination which target the individual person are also an attack on human diversity, and on the universality and indivisibility of human rights;

ACKNOWLEDGING that the following Additional Principles, State Obligations and Recommendations are based on the current state of international human rights law and will require revision on a regular basis in order to take account of legal, scientific and societal developments and their application to the particular lives and experiences of persons of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and sex characteristics over time and in diverse regions and countries.

FOLLOWING CONSULTATION WITH EXPERTS AND AN EXPERTS’ MEETING HELD IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, FROM 18 TO 20 SEPTEMBER 2017, HEREBY ADOPT THESE PRINCIPLES AND, IN DOING SO:

AFFIRM the continuing validity of the original 29 Yogyakarta Principles of 2006;

DECLARE these Additional Principles, State Obligations and Recommendations as supplementary to the original Yogyakarta Principles.