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In 2022 Greece became the fifth country in the world to ban harmful interventions and treatments on intersex infants and children. Previously, Malta, Portugal, Germany and Iceland also legally banned harmful interventions on intersex persons. A crucial difference between Greece and the rest of the aforementioned countries is that it is a Christian Orthodox country located in Southeastern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Drawing from a contextual approach to law, in this comparative analysis the authors will use "contextuality" to explore the meaning behind legal developments that took place in Greece regarding intersex rights and how they could potentially impact the overall situation of intersex rights in the Balkans. In addition, with this paper the authors seek to relocate the dominant focus of intersex rights from Western and Northern Europe with the aim to boost awareness of intersex issues in the Western Balkan region, especially Serbia.

In 2022 Greece became the fifth country in the world to ban harmful interventions and treatments on intersex infants and children. Previously, Malta, Portugal, Germany and Iceland also legally banned harmful interventions on intersex persons. A crucial difference between Greece and the rest of the aforementioned countries is that it is a Christian Orthodox country located in Southeastern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Drawing from a contextual approach to law, in this comparative analysis the authors will use „contextuality“ to explore the meaning behind legal developments that took place in Greece regarding intersex rights and how they could potentially impact the overall situation of intersex rights in the Balkans. In addition, with this paper the authors seek to relocate the dominant focus of intersex rights from Western and Northern Europe with the aim to boost awareness of intersex issues in the Western Balkan region, especially Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2022, Greece became the fifth country in the world to legally ban Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM). The bill was prepared by the Ministry of Health and the intersex-led organisation "Intersex Greece". Even though the organisation was only established in 2021, it was actively engaged in the whole law-making process, which resulted in a legal text that became a best practice worldwide. This article tracks the history of the intersex movement in Greece and shows that the movement emerged around 2009. Then, based on online interviews, blogs, videos and articles, all strategies and alliances used by the movement over the years to advocate for intersex rights are explored, especially in the year 2017 when the law on Legal Gender Recognition (LGR) was passed and in 2022 when IGM was banned. Furthermore, online public documents from the Greek Parliament are consulted to provide a comprehensive analysis of how the social, cultural, economic, and political environment in the country affected these legal developments. Based on the above evidence, this article shows that the law-making process on IGM in Greece started 13 years before the law and was the outcome of a long process of multiple and unique intersecting factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]