

 The Dutch government will compensate victims of forced sterilisations.

 
 
The Dutch government has agreed to pay about 2 000 trans people who had to undergo sterilisation to legally change their gender 5 000 euros each in compensation.
Until 2014, Dutch trans people who wished to amend the gender on their birth certificate first had to be sterilised and to alter their bodies, through hormones and surgery, to match their new gender.
"Such a violation of physical integrity is no longer imaginable today," said Sander Dekker, Dutch minister for legal protection, in a statement.
"It is important to acknowledge the suffering of transgender people and to offer recognition, compensation and apologies for it."
The Netherlands follows in the footsteps of Sweden, which in 2018 became the first country in the world to compensate victims of a similar sterilisation law.
A number of European Union countries still require sterilisation in order to legally change gender, including Finland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
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