The equality watchdog must be allowed to advise without intervention, the government said after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was put under a U.N. review following lobbying by transgender activist groups.
It comes after EHRC Chair Baroness Falkner said the commission had been targeted by campaign groups led by Stonewall after it advised the government in April, backing the idea of defining “sex” as biological sex in the UK’s equality law.
As a result, the watchdog has been put under special review by the U.N.’s Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).
Stonewall has also attempted to secure a special review last year before submitting evidence in September to GANHRI’s periodic review of the EHRC. In October, GANHRI re-accredited the British watchdog with an “A” rating.
If the EHRC loses its “A” accreditation status, it will lose independent participation rights at the U.N. Human Rights Council, its subsidiary bodies, and some U.N. General Assembly bodies and mechanisms, and the right to vote and hold governance positions at GANHRI.
In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, a spokesperson for the Cabinet Office’s Equality Hub said: “This review is a matter for the EHRC. However, it is right that the commission upholds its statutory and legal duty to independently advise the government on the effectiveness of UK equality legislation without intervention.”
There are nine “protected characteristics” under the Equality Act, including age, disability, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, and pregnancy and maternity.
But under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, those who obtain a gender recognition certificate would have their acquired gender recognised as their legal sex, causing issues in many areas.
Baroness Falkner said the commissioners believe defining “sex” as biological sex for the purposes of the Equality Act would “bring greater legal clarity” in eight areas such as data collection, single-sex spaces and sports, and helping “trans men” access female-specific supports and protections.
Stonewall
After the letter was published, Stonewall wrote to Katharina Rose, Geneva representative of GANHRI, on behalf of 30 LGBT activist groups, calling for a special review. The group accused the EHRC of lacking political independence, being politicised and captured at the board level, opposing “the creation of a system of gender recognition based on legal declaration,” opposing “the legislative protection of trans people from conversion practices,” and issuing guidance on access to single sex spaces, which the campaign group says “sought to enable greater exclusion of trans women,” who are born males.Baroness Falkner said commissioners “absolutely refute” the assertion that they are “in cahoots” with the UK government, and their positions on sex and gender have “received support from parliamentarians across the party-political divides.”
Reacting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Maya Forstater, co-founder and executive director of gender-critical group Sex Matters, said what Stonewall is “really concerned about” is that the “EHRC has become independent of Stonewall,” adding, “They used to be really close.”
Posting screenshots of emails obtained via Freedom of Information requests, Ms. Forstater said the watchdog and the charity had been working closely, particularly when David Isaac, who had served as the chair of Stonewall, was chair of the EHRC.
The EHRC, along with other government departments and public bodies, were members of Stonewall.
Departments began severing ties with the group after it reportedly gave organisations controversial advice such as replacing the word “mother” with “parent who has given birth.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to Stonewall for comment.
