On October 30, 2018, K.A. submitted an application to the Kentron and Nork-Marash Department of the Civil Acts Registration Services of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia to change the gender marker in the birth certificate.
With the submitted application, K.A. asked to make a correction in the act No. 870 of birth, that is, to change the gender marker in the gender column from female to male.
The application was rejected by the conclusion drawn up by the Kentron and Nork-Marash Department of the Civil Acts Registration Services on 17․12․2018.
In this case, the Kentron and Nork-Marash Department of the Civil Acts Registration Services, rejecting K.A.’s application, referred to the order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia adopted on 14.05.2007, which is stating that the Civil Acts Registration Services refuses to make changes, additions or corrections in the civil registration act, if the submitted documents are incomplete, do not follow the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Armenia or the requirement to make changes, additions and corrections is not substantiated, there are information inconsistencies in the documents.
K.A. applied to the RA Administrative Court, demanding to declare invalid the administrative act adopted by the Kentron and Nork-Marash Department of the Civil Acts Registration Services of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia and to oblige to adopt a favorable administrative act.
K.A.’s lawsuit was rejected by the RA Administrative Court, after which K.A. applied to the RA Administrative Court of Appeal.
That is, if a person wants to make a change in a civil status act record (gender marker change), they must:
In the emntioned case, in order for K.A. to be able to correct the gender marker from female to male in the gender column, he had to perform the listed actions, ie performed gender reassignment and submitted a document on gender reassignment issued by a medical organization in accordance with RA legislation.
The European Court of Human Rights, in the case of A.P., Garçon and Nicot v. France (ECHR 121(2017) 06.04.2017)[1] has referred to these issues, in particular, noting that the recognition of a transgender person’s sexual identity after medical interventions that he / she has not wanted to perform means denial of the full exercise of the right to respect for his / her private life.
At the same time, it should be noted that there are no legal regulations in Armenia, according to which the norms and regulations on the provision of a certificate on gender reassignment by a medical organization would be defined.
On October 4, 2021, the RA Administrative Court of Appeal rejected K.A.’s appeal and on November 4, 2021, the decision of the RA Administrative Court of Appeal was appealed to the RA Court of Cassation.
[1] https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/spa#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-172913%22]}
Dec 15, 2021 Armenia, Yerevan
