In recent months, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Federation of BiH, Ramo Isak, has been carrying out activities in order to fully regulate the sex change procedure in the Federation of BiH, which is why he sent the Government of the Federation of BiH and the Federal Ministry of Health an initiative to draft regulations on the method and collection of medical documentation, as well as conditions and assumptions for the sex change procedure.
“Now it is up to the Federal Ministry of Health to legally regulate the medical procedure of gender change in the FBiH and the verification of foreign medical documentation relating to the person who performed the gender change abroad,” Isak pointed out in an interview for Fena, after a certain number of requests to change the gender marking in the birth register appeared in practice and the personal name changes of a certain number of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina were entered in the register of births in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Namely, applicants mostly performed this type of medical intervention – gender reassignment abroad, because in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina such medical procedure is not legally regulated.
“We can say that it is a medical matter that needs to be answered by the medical profession, which should issue relevant certificates, findings and opinions that a person has changed gender. Based on such medical documentation, an administrative procedure for changing the personal name and changing the gender designation in the registers could be carried out. So it is about two different procedures, the medical procedure for changing the gender as a previous question and the administrative procedure for changing the gender and personal name in the registers based on the appropriate medical documentation,” said Isak.
He adds that the competent administrative bodies are not authorized in the administrative procedure to determine whether a person has changed gender (completely, partially or otherwise), but they carry out the administrative procedure of changing the gender marker and changing the personal name on the basis of public documents and other evidence that confirms that a certain person has changed gender.
Information on gender is entered in the registers on the basis of a birth certificate issued by a health institution.
“With the birth certificate, the authorized doctor has determined whether the person is male or female, so only authorized doctors or health institutions can confirm that there has been a change in this fact. Also, we point out that changing the gender marking results in a change in the Unique Identification Number, because the gender identification is contained in the Citizen’s Unique Identification Number,” emphasized Isak.
The Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs turned to the competent authorities, the Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo, the Institute of Medical Expertise, the Institute of Public Health of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Ministry of Health in order to resolve the above-mentioned issue, i.e. due to “the current situation in practice, that is, a certain number of requests for changing the gender designation in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
“Until now, I have received answers from the Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo and the Institute for Medical Expertise, and none have been received from other competent authorities. So, I am informed that the KCUS provides certain diagnostic and therapeutic services within the scope of its activities that can be part of the medical gender adjustment process. However, the problem is that in the FBiH there is no normatively regulated medical procedure for changing gender, nor are the conditions defined for making a final decision and issuing a certificate of gender change. Consequently, the KCUS is not authorized to give a person who has changed gender issues a final medical certificate for registration in the registers and personal documents,” says Isak.
Ludvig Letica, director of the Institute for Medical Expertise on Health, also confirmed to him that this institute is not competent to make and implement administrative decisions regarding sex change, because, he stated, it deals exclusively with medical expertises on health. Considering that gender change is not a disease, the Institute is not responsible for the mentioned procedure.
He also recalled the fact that the issue is related to constitutional and convention rights, and highlighted Croatia as an example of positive practice, where the National Health Council was formed, appointed by the Croatian Parliament at the proposal of the Minister of Health, with the aim of providing an expert opinion and justification for medical gender reassignment.
“Also, given the authorities’ responsibilities, it follows that the Federal Ministry of Health is the authority that should adopt a regulation on the method of collecting medical documentation and determining the conditions and prerequisites for gender reassignment. I hope that such practice will be applied in the Federation of BiH by adopting regulations to fill this legal gap. This would enable the issue of gender reassignment to be resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Federal Minister of the Interior Ramo Isak in an interview with Fena.
