Iranti welcomes the recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which confirmed that Caster Semenya has not only experienced unfair discrimination but has also been failed by the Swiss legal system in her fight for elite athletes’ right to bodily autonomy and dignity.  

Semenya approached the ECHR to appeal a 2020 Swiss Supreme Court ruling which upheld the World Athletics Federation (at the time the IAAF) decision to implement a new policy for athletes born with differences in sexual development, that compelled them to reduce their testosterone level.  

The seven ECHR judges found by a majority of four to three that Semenya’s rights under article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which concerns discrimination, had been violated by Switzerland. The Swiss state was also found to have violated article 13 in not providing Semenya effective remedy against discrimination. The judgment ruled that the applicant [Caster Semenya] “had not been afforded sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards in Switzerland to allow her to have her complaints examined effectively, especially since her complaints concerned substantiated and credible claims of discrimination as a result of her increased testosterone level caused by differences of sex development.”  

While we celebrate this positive outcome as a victory for human rights, we also acknowledge that there is still a long road towards ensuring that international sports bodies respect the human rights and bodily autonomy of athletes as this ruling does not reverse the discriminatory policy by World Athletics and does not guarantee her return to competition.  

Iranti has been appalled by the unfair treatment, indignity and pain that World Athletics Federation (WAF) has imposed on Semenya since her debut as a young athlete in 2009. Semenya’s body has been pathologised and spotlighted for the whole world to scrutinise and critique in a gross violation of her right to privacy. She has had to publicly endure forced and unnecessary medical interventions as a direct result of World Athletics inhumane policy which requires her to take medication to reduce her natural testosterone levels if she hopes to compete again. 

The WAF has responded to the judgement by digging in its heels and stating, that it believes “the DSD regulations are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair competition in the female category”. The governing body has indicated that it will encourage the Swiss government to seek referral of the case to the ECHR Grand Chamber for a final and definitive decision. The response from WAF is a clear indication that the Federation continues to disregard Semenya’s human rights and dignity and her journey. 

In 2021, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) argued that WAF studies could have been misleading because they implied a causal inference when there is no confirmatory evidence for causality between high testosterone levels and enhanced athletic performance in female athletes. The WAF studies made an assertion of the ‘pivotal’ relationship between high testosterone levels and enhanced athletic performance in female athletes. The misleading findings of these studies affected various female athletes, including Semenya, through the WAF using the implied causality to ban their involvement in the Tokyo Olympic Games. 

Iranti strongly condemns the pathologisation of people with differences in sexual development (DSD) bodies by medical doctors and scientists, who subject and coerce them to unnecessary and often traumatic medical interventions and unjust medical and scientific scrutiny. 

The World Athletics Federation position on this issue is a violation of the inalienable human right to privacy, dignity, bodily autonomy and freedom. And it stands against international human rights conventions that this body is subject to.  

Iranti continues to stand in solidarity with Caster Semenya in her battle to ensure that the human rights of ALL athletes are protected and guaranteed.  

For media enquiries, please contact: 

Nolwazi Tusini 

Communications and Media Manager 

nolwazi@iranti.org.za