InterAction for Health and Human Rights

InterAction for Health and Human Rights is an Australian voluntary organisation focused on the human rights, bodily autonomy, dignity, and wellbeing of intersex people. It was established in 2009 and incorporated as a company in 2010. The organisation was formerly known as Organisation Intersex International Australia, commonly abbreviated as OII Australia, and before that was associated with the name Intersex Human Rights Australia. Its current identity followed a merger with Intersex Peer Support Australia, bringing advocacy, education, psychosocial support, and peer-support functions into a single organisation. It is recognised as a Public Benevolent Institution. The organisation's central policy concern is the protection of intersex people's physical integrity and right to make decisions about their own bodies. It opposes medically unnecessary, non-consensual, or deferrable interventions on intersex infants and children, particularly procedures described by advocates as cosmetic or normalising surgery. Its work frames such interventions as human-rights and bodily-autonomy issues rather than solely as clinical questions. InterAction has submitted evidence to Australian parliamentary and international human-rights processes, engaged with clinicians and researchers, and contributed to public debate about terminology, consent, discrimination, identity documents, marriage, and access to healthcare. A significant area of its Australian advocacy was the federal inquiry into the involuntary or coerced sterilisation of people with disabilities. Intersex was added to the inquiry's terms of reference in 2013, and the committee's cross-party report later supported the development of protocols governing normalising procedures on intersex children. InterAction also contributed to the passage of Australia's 2013 Sex Discrimination Amendment legislation, which made intersex status a protected attribute under federal discrimination law. The organisation has continued to argue that legal protections should recognise intersex status distinctly rather than treating biological variations as a subset of gender identity. Healthcare access is another important strand of its work. InterAction welcomed changes to Medicare procedure coding that removed sex or gender terms from item codes, while noting that this did not by itself guarantee complete access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. It also works to improve information and support for intersex people and families through services including InterLink and Intersex Peer Support Australia. These services complement its policy advocacy by providing community-based psychosocial and peer assistance. The organisation participates in national and international intersex-rights networks. Its representatives and founding organisations have contributed to the Darlington Statement, an Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand community statement calling for legal reform, self-determination, stronger peer support, and an end to deferrable medical interventions on children. It has also taken part in international human-rights forums, including a 2014 side event at the United Nations Human Rights Council described as the first such council event focused on intersex issues. InterAction is also associated with the creation of the intersex flag. Morgan Carpenter designed the flag in July 2013 while the organisation was still known as Organisation Intersex International Australia. The purple circle on a yellow field was intended to represent wholeness, completeness, and the right to bodily autonomy without relying on symbols derived from conventional gender imagery. The organisation's public profile combines advocacy, research-informed education, direct support, submissions to governments and international bodies, and engagement with medical and scientific institutions. It has been affiliated with Organisation Intersex International, the National LGBTI Health Alliance, and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. Its work remains primarily rights-based and community-led rather than commercial.

InterAction for Health and Human Rights began in 2009 as an Australian organisation dedicated to intersex human rights and bodily autonomy. It was incorporated as a company in 2010 and operated for several years under the name Organisation Intersex International Australia, or OII Australia. Gina Wilson served as its founding president and stepped down on 1 September 2013. The organisation later adopted the Intersex Human Rights Australia name before becoming InterAction for Health and Human Rights through a merger with Intersex Peer Support Australia. The organisation is also referred to as InterAction DownUnder and is recognised as a Public Benevolent Institution. From its early work, the organisation concentrated on the treatment of intersex children and the principle that irreversible medical interventions should not be undertaken without the individual's informed consent when they are not medically necessary or cannot be safely deferred. It challenged the framing of intersex variations as conditions requiring routine normalisation and advocated for clinical practice grounded in autonomy, dignity, and human rights. Its submissions and public advocacy contributed to Australian parliamentary consideration of involuntary or coerced sterilisation. When intersex was added to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee inquiry in February 2013, the organisation argued for safeguards governing normalising surgery. The committee's cross-party report, issued on 25 October 2013, endorsed the development of an appropriate protocol and acknowledged the substance of proposals advanced by Organisation Intersex International. The organisation also played a role in the development of Australian anti-discrimination protections. During debate over the proposed Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill in late 2012, it supported explicit protection for intersex people but criticised proposals that treated intersex as a form of gender identity. Its advocacy helped inform the legislative process, culminating in the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Intersex Status) Act 2013. The legislation passed on 25 June 2013 and commenced on 1 August, making intersex status a protected attribute in Australian federal discrimination law. Healthcare access became another area of activity. In 2013, the Commonwealth removed sex and gender terminology from Medicare procedure item codes after receiving input from the organisation. InterAction welcomed the change but pointed out that coding reform did not automatically resolve access to medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The organisation has also engaged with clinicians, biologists, and research institutions. Although it has criticised pathologising language such as disorders of sex development, Morgan Carpenter was identified as a reviewer for an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council-funded DSD Genetics website, illustrating the organisation's engagement with scientific and medical discussions. InterAction's work extends beyond policy advocacy. Through InterLink and Intersex Peer Support Australia, it provides psychosocial and peer support to intersex people and their families. It also produces educational and informational material, participates in community consultations, and contributes to national and international human-rights processes. In 2014, representatives participated in a United Nations Human Rights Council side event focused on intersex issues. In 2016, the organisation made a submission to the UN Committee Against Torture concerning the continuation of harmful practices affecting intersex children. In March 2017, representatives of the organisation's founding groups participated in the Darlington Statement, a community-led Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand declaration. The statement called for recognition of intersex people's self-determination, improved access to peer support, legal reforms, and an end to deferrable medical interventions on children. InterAction subsequently played an important role in advocacy surrounding legislation protecting the bodily autonomy of children with intersex variations in the Australian Capital Territory. The organisation has taken nuanced positions on identity documents and legal sex classification. It has supported adults having access to binary, non-binary, and multiple classifications where markers are required, while expressing concern that introducing a third classification for infants and children could increase stigma or reinforce pressure for early sex assignment. In broader community statements, however, it has supported ending compulsory legal classification of sex altogether. It has also supported marriage rights regardless of sex characteristics and raised concerns about the historical use of marriage prospects as a justification for early medical intervention. Morgan Carpenter, formerly a president and co-executive director, serves as executive director. Bonnie Hart is deputy executive director and manages InterLink. Tony Briffa previously served as co-executive director, while Gina Wilson was the founding president. The organisation has been affiliated with Organisation Intersex International, the National LGBTI Health Alliance, and ILGA World. Its public identity combines advocacy, support services, education, and international human-rights engagement rather than commercial product activity.

• 2017

  Darlington Statement participation

  [1]InterAction for Health and Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  The organisation's founding groups helped develop a regional intersex community statement on rights, healthcare, and self-determination.

• 2013

  Federal intersex discrimination protection enacted

  [1]InterAction for Health and Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Australian federal legislation made intersex status a protected attribute under discrimination law.

• 2013

  Intersex flag designed

  [1]InterAction for Health and Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  Morgan Carpenter designed the intersex flag while working with the organisation's predecessor identity.

• 2010

  Incorporated as a company

  [1]InterAction for Health and Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  The organisation was formally established as an incorporated company.

• 2009

  Organisation established

  [1]InterAction for Health and Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  The organisation was founded in Australia to advocate for intersex human rights and bodily autonomy.

• Merger with Intersex Peer Support Australia

  [1]InterAction for Health and Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org

  The organisation changed to its current InterAction identity following a merger with Intersex Peer Support Australia.

An intersex-led Australian human-rights and support organisation that combines policy advocacy, community education, peer support, and psychosocial services, with particular emphasis on bodily autonomy and protection from non-consensual medical intervention.

• Peer and psychosocial support

  InterLink

  A support service associated with InterAction that provides psychosocial and peer assistance for intersex people and, where appropriate, their families. The service forms part of the organisation's direct-support work alongside policy advocacy and public education.

• Peer-support programme

  Intersex Peer Support Australia

  An intersex peer-support programme that became part of the organisation through merger. It contributes community knowledge and lived-experience support to InterAction's broader human-rights, information, and psychosocial services.

• Public education

  Education and information services

  Information and education resources addressing intersex variations, bodily autonomy, medical consent, discrimination, healthcare access, legal recognition, and community support. These materials are used to inform the public, policymakers, clinicians, researchers, and intersex people and families.

• 2019Opposition to pathologising ICD language

  International

  InterAction joined more than 50 intersex-led organisations in challenging disorders-of-sex-development terminology in the International Classification of Diseases.

  Outcome. The joint statement called on the World Health Organization to ensure that medical interventions and classification policy comply with human-rights standards.

  Source
• 2017Darlington Statement

  Australia · New Zealand

  The organisation's founding groups joined intersex community organisations and others in developing a regional statement on bodily autonomy, legal reform, healthcare, and peer support.

  Outcome. The statement became a significant community policy reference for intersex rights in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

  Source
• 2013Campaign against non-consensual normalising surgery

  Australia

  Advocacy called for an end to cosmetic or normalising interventions on intersex infants and children when procedures could be deferred until the person can participate in the decision.

  Outcome. The organisation's recommendations were reflected in the Australian Senate inquiry's support for a protocol governing normalising surgery.

  Source
• 2013Federal intersex anti-discrimination advocacy

  Australia

  The organisation advocated for intersex status to be expressly protected in federal discrimination legislation and argued that it should not simply be classified under gender identity.

  Outcome. The 2013 amendment act passed with intersex status as a protected attribute.

  Source

• 2013

  Support explicit intersex status protectionStrategy

  Background

  Government proposals had treated intersex as part of gender identity, which the organisation considered inadequate for addressing discrimination based on biological sex characteristics.

  Action taken

  The organisation advocated for a distinct intersex-status protection in federal discrimination legislation.

  Aftermath

  Intersex status was included as a protected attribute in the legislation passed in 2013.

  Source

• 2013

  Support deferral of non-essential interventionsStrategy

  Background

  The organisation argued that irreversible procedures on intersex children should not be performed without the individual's informed participation when they are not medically necessary.

  Action taken

  It submitted recommendations to parliamentary inquiries and engaged policymakers and clinicians on bodily autonomy and medical consent.

  Aftermath

  The Senate inquiry supported development of a protocol consistent with key recommendations advanced by the organisation.

  Source

• 2013

  Create an independent intersex flagOther

  Background

  The organisation sought a symbol for intersex communities that was not derived from conventional male-female or rainbow imagery.

  Action taken

  Morgan Carpenter designed a yellow-and-purple flag with an unbroken circle representing wholeness and completeness.

  Aftermath

  The design became associated with intersex visibility and rights advocacy.

  Source

1. 1InterAction for Health and Human Rightsen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official websiteoii.org.au