Health care access by transgender persons in South Africa: Gender-based discrimination, human rights violations, and the role of the African human rights system

Abstract

LGBTQIA people, all around the world, experience violence, discrimination, and rights violations almost daily. In the field of human rights and healthcare more specifically, trans people have unique health risks and they face further rights violations, public shaming, and institutional violence when trying to navigate through an essentially cisgender healthcare system. On that account, this research aims to explore transgender persons’ right to access health care (or lack thereof) in South Africa and possible remedies in the African human rights system. The methodology employed consists of a brief review of literature, a qualitative design based on multiple sources, and theoretical reasoning embedded in the larger framework of human rights, more specifically a human rights-based approach to health care. The goal is to employ a somewhat innovative human rights-based approach to health care access and to analyse which international responsibilities the Republic of South Africa has regarding the health rights of transgender persons. Both the advantages and limits of international adjudication and advocacy on behalf of trans people in the African system are also discussed.