AMNESTY International has warned against “dangerous misinformation” ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman.
The court is due to issue its judgement next week on how a woman should be defined in law.
It is part of a court challenge brought by For Women Scotland (FWS) against the Scottish Government.
FWS say sex-based protections should not apply to transgender people with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), while the Scottish Government argues they should be included.
And now, Amnesty International has intervened ahead of the expected ruling being handed down in London on April 16.
In a statement, Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive at Amnesty International UK, said: “Amnesty wishes to highlight the amount of dangerous misinformation that remains around this case, as an eye-watering amount of time is spent by commentators berating trans people - who make up just 1% of the population.
“Legal gender recognition, as it works now, is essential for trans people to enjoy the full spectrum of human rights each of us is entitled to, and live free from fear of discrimination.
“Amnesty has intervened in this case as it is a question of human rights, which affects us all.”
Deshmukh added that the Equality Act already has exemptions which allow for the exclusion of trans people from single sex services if it is “proportionate” and a justification can be made.
“A blanket policy of barring trans women from single sex services is not such a “proportionate means,” he added.
“In many countries, groups that want to limit the autonomy of women and LGBT+ people are bringing legal challenges to erode human rights protections.
“Whether it is the right to legal gender recognition, the recognition of LGBT+ families or the right to access healthcare and abortion services the arguments tend to be very similar. This is one of those cases.
“Anyone who believes in the fight to advance human rights, needs to be alert and ready to preserve what one of the most marginalised groups in society already has.”
The row started in 2021 when FWS took the Scottish Government to court over its definition of “women” in the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act.
Initially, the Scottish Government had defined “women” as those living as women or with a valid GRC.
FWS argued this did not line up with separate definitions of women and transgender women in the Equality Act, initially losing a judicial review but were then successful on appeal.
This resulted in the Scottish Government changing the definition in the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act.
It now states that “woman” is defined by the Equality Act and the Gender Recognition Act 2004, meaning those with a full GRC can legally be defined as women for the purposes of the legislation.
FWS were unhappy with this definition and called for a second judicial review, which was defeated in December 2022, and an appeal lost in November 2023.
In February 2024, it was announced that the case would be heading to the Supreme Court.
At the time, the court said the case raised issues “which involve arguable points of law of general public importance which ought to be considered by the UKSC at this time”.
The ruling could have a major bearing on how sex-based rights are applied through the Equality Act across Scotland, England and Wales.
