The Association of the Russian Speaking Intersex (ARSI) () the first Russian intersex human rights organization. It is the unregistered non-governmental organization. It was founded in August 2013 by

Aleksander Berezkin Aleksander Berezkin () is a Russian intersex nonbinary person, refugee, and intersex human rights activist. He is a founder of the first Russian intersex human rights organization Association of the Russian Speaking Intersex (ARSI). Early life ...

, a Russian intersex man, asylum seeker and

intersex human rights Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals, that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies." Intersex pe ...

activist. The organization provides psychological and legal support to intersex people in Russia and other post-Soviet countries, provides lectures and seminars, speaks in the media

Mission

The organisation mission is to improve the well-being of intersex-people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. To raise awareness about intersex people, promote the full realization of their human rights, and provide informational, psychological, legal, and other types of support on intersex issues.

History

The organization was founded in August 2013 by

after consulting with Julia Pustovit, the first modern intersex advocate in Eastern Europe. Thus, it became the first intersex organization in Russia, not counting the forum intersex.su. First it was organized in a form of closed information group in Facebook and then it was transformated into humen rights organization. ARSI has since recruited lawyers and other professionals. One of such persons, lawyer Ilia Saveliev, currently is a co-director of ARSI. Among other members of ARSI was also

Irene Kuzemko Irene Kuzemko (; ), also transcribed from Ukrainian and Russian as Irina Kuzemko, is a Russian- Ukrainian intersex woman and intersex human rights activist. She co-founded Intersex Russia in 2017, is a youth member of interACT, and an executive ...

, who founded her own intersex human rights organization in 2017.

Activities

2021

ARSI launched a portal for parents of intersex children

2020

In 2020 ARSI and other 32 intersex human rights organizations around the world welcomed Austrian statement urging the authorities to investigate human rights violations and abuses against intersex people. Also they called on the UN Human Rights Council to take further action to protect the autonomy of intersex people. ARSI lawyer and co-director Ilia Saveliev gave comments for Russian newspapers (''

Kommersant (, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily ...

and

Moskovskij Komsomolets ''Moskovskij Komsomolets'' (''MK''; ) is a Moscow-based daily newspaper with a circulation approaching one million, covering general news. Founded in 1919, it is famed for its topical reporting on Russian politics and society. History The news ...

)'' and

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

regarding laws applied in Russia that violates the rights of trans and intersex people. ARSI members took part in first Russian Intersex Conference organized by "Interseks.ru" ()

2019

In March 2019, ARSI organized the round table "Intersex and the trans* movement: towards cooperation”, held in St. Petersburg. In 2019 ARSI published a book "My intersex child: Manual for parents of intersex children" ()

2018

In 2018 ARSI published several books: “Intersex people: questions and answers” (), "“Beyond male and female: intersex people rights”, manual for lawyers" (), Russian translation of

Georgiann Davis Georgiann Davis is an associate professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico and author of the book ''Contesting Intersex: The Dubious Diagnosis''. Davis formerly held similar positions at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Southern Il ...

book "“Contesting intersex”"

Selected bibliography

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References

{{Intersex Intersex rights organizations Intersex support groups Intersex rights in Russia