Grand Chamber of the ECHR recognizes breach of effective fair trial rights in Semenya ruling

The World Medical Association (WMA) and the Global Health Justice Partnership (GHJP) of Yale Law School and Yale School of Public Health welcome the 10 July decision by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). It found that the Swiss Federal Tribunal failed to protect South African runner Caster Semenya’s right to a fair trial by not allowing her “to have her complaints examined effectively especially since her complaints concerned substantiated and credible claims of discrimination” regarding the World Athletics’ eligibility rules for female classification (DSD Regulation).

The organizations had filed a joint third-party intervention in support of Ms. Semenya’s challenge to World Athletics’ gender regulations, emphasizing the importance of medical ethics and human rights.

The WMA and the Yale GHJP joined in supporting Semenya’s contestation of the Regulation which makes participation in competitions by female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD) conditional on medical intervention to reduce their natural level of testosterone in the blood.

By its coercive nature and detrimental impact on women, the Regulation contravenes their human rights and promotes practices that directly violate the core ethical values of the medical profession.

In its ruling, the Grand Chamber recognised that claims to violations of the human rights to privacy, non-discrimination, and an effective remedy underlay the need for an effective review by the Swiss Court.

The ECHR has required Switzerland to submit a plan within six months outlining how it will better protect these fundamental rights in future cases.

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