UN expert calls on governments to protect parents’ rights to shield children from gender ideology

The United Nations (UN) Expert on Violence Against Women and Girls recently urged governments to stop vilifying parents who protect their children from “gender transitions.” 

Reem Alsalem spoke via video to members of the UN Human Rights Council, currently convened in Geneva, Switzerland. According to legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, Alsalem said that parents must be involved in decisions relating to their children’s physical well-being and in some locations, it is difficult for them to do so. 

“[I]n many countries, parents who do not want to endorse a so-called gender-affirmative approach to their children’s distress have all too often been left unsupported at best, or vilified, ostracized, or even separated from their children, at worst,” Alsalem said. ”This is very disturbing.” 

Prior to urging parental involvement, Alsalem also raised concerns that “in some contexts,” children experiencing gender dysphoria “are being placed on a path towards social or medical gender transition, including irreversible interventions, without comprehensive evidence-based assessments and medical care.”

Detransitioner Chloe Cole joined in Alsalem’s warning. Cole called on government leaders to protect childhood “as the fragile and yet beautiful part of life that it is.” She went on puberty blockers and began taking testosterone at age 13 and had a double mastectomy at 15 after she began identifying as a boy.

“My mom and dad have always advocated fiercely for my safety and health, but were not empowered to fulfill their irreplaceable role as guardians of my well-being,” Cole said during a panel at a side event at the Human Rights Council, according to ADF International. “On the contrary, their protective instincts were undermined by systems and professionals who claimed expertise but withheld the truth.”

Cole added that doctors gave her parents “the false ultimatum of choosing between losing a daughter to suicide or having a living ‘son.’” 

At the same event, ADF International Director of UN Advocacy Giorgio Mazzoli stated that “parents are not obstacles to children’s rights.”

He added, “They are the children’s first and best guardians — entrusted by nature and recognized by law.”

The event, titled “Empowering Parents to Protect Children’s Health and Well-being,” was co-hosted by ADF International and the Permanent Mission of Hungary to the UN in Geneva and sponsored by organizations from around the world.