Report
Conversion Practices
Conversion practices are harmful and unscientific. Eradicating them requires comprehensive policy responses that address root causes and balance rights.
Key Points From Outright's Policy Brief on Conversion Practices:
- Conversion practices can violate a range of human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the right to be free from torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and the right to non-discrimination.
- States have an obligation under human rights law to eradicate conversion practices. Governments should never fund or promote conversion practices, through direct or indirect pathways. They should adopt holistic approaches that address the root causes of these harmful practices.
- Laws prohibiting or regulating conversion practices should be precise, context-specific, prevention-focused, survivor-informed, and aligned with international human rights standards.
- Conversion practices should be criminalized when they amount to torture. Some of these practices may already be penalized under existing criminal laws, such as those prohibiting physical and sexual violence.
- Criminalization may not be an appropriate response in certain circumstances, including when criminalization would create additional barriers to safety and healing for those affected and when it would pose legitimate concerns regarding rights to freedom of association or freedom of expression.
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