Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance submits report to HM Passport Office calling for non gender-specific X passports

International law firm Clifford Chance has submitted a report to HM Passport Office on behalf of Christie Elan-Cane's campaign Non-Gendered, which seeks legal recognition for individuals who do not identify as either male or female. The report questions the UK Government's decision not to allow the issuance of passports that do not specify the gender of the holder (X passports). The firm is challenging the UK Government's position on the basis of current UK human rights and equality legislation.

Christie Elan-Cane, leading Non-Gendered, is calling for the UK to follow in other countries' footsteps where changes have been made to passport rules to allow the option of ‘X’ in passports. This option is, in fact, already allowed in Australia and New Zealand and is compliant with the relevant International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for mandatory personal identifiers in passports.

Narind Singh, partner leading the Clifford Chance team, comments:

"Access to Justice is an integral part of Clifford Chance's Corporate Responsibility strategy and the firm is proud to be supporting Christie's Non-Gendered campaign on its pioneering mission to attain legitimate identity for non-gendered individuals. From working with Non-Gendered we have learnt that persons in this marginalised group are forced to conceal and deny their identities due to lack of societal provision.  The impact of this is devastating and allowing X Passports would be a crucial step towards protecting their human rights."