Eliana Rubashkyn

Eliana Rubashkyn
Born	(1988-06-25) 25 June 1988 (age 33) Bogotá, Colombia
Citizenship	New Zealand
Occupation	Pharmacist, chemist, polyglot, human rights advocate

Eliana Rubashkyn (born 25 June 1988) is a Colombian–born formerly stateless New Zealander, known internationally for being the first intersex person assigned male at birth legally recognised as a woman with a U.N. mechanism under the international refugee statute. Rubashkyn is a pharmacist, chemist and polyglot; Eliana currently works as a programme officer at ILGA world,^[1] and as a harm reduction scientist developing human right campaigns of support addressed to LGBTI asylum seekers, refugees and intersex persons around the world.^[2]

Rubashkyn's gender was recognised under the United Nations' 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.^[3] Rubashkyn's case attracted international media and legal attention after their mistreatment following their detention at Hong Kong International Airport because of the lack of congruence between their gender identity and their passport photo,^[4][5][6] resulting in several years of statelessness in Hong Kong, and inhumane reclusion into several refuge centers across Yuen Long.

Personal life[]

Rubashkyn was born in Colombia to a Ukrainian Jewish mother who had moved there in the 1970s.^[7] They were assigned male at birth but born with an intersex condition known as Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome.^[8][9][10]

In 2011 Rubashkyn obtained their degree in pharmacy and chemistry at the National University of Colombia.,^[11] after studying molecular biology in the University of Granada they were granted a scholarship to develop postgraduate studies in public health at the Taipei Medical University, and started at the same time their gender transition in Taiwan.

Within a year, hormone replacement therapy changed Rubashkyn's physical appearance dramatically due to their intersex condition, and the Taiwanese immigration authorities required them to update their passport at the closest Colombian consulate before they could begin their second year of master's studies. They travelled to Hong Kong to do so, but when they arrived at Hong Kong International Airport's immigration facility, they were detained for over eight months in several detention and refugee centres because of their ambiguous legal condition.^[12][13] suffering from abusive mistreatment and constant sexual abuse and harassment in several of the reclusion centres they lived.^[14]

They were also restrained in a psychiatric ward of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon, caused by an attempted suicide, after being constantly mistreated and sexually abused.^{[15][16] [17]}

Unable to seek asylum to be granted protection as a refugee in Hong Kong due to the government not having ratified the UN Refugee Convention, they faced deportation, and suffered severe mistreatment in the airport's detention centre.^[18]

Rubashkyn currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand, where they were eventually granted asylum as a refugee.

Rubashkyn learned many languages fluently in the refugee centers they lived during 2012, 2013 and 2014.^[19]

They remained stateless until 3 April 2018, when they were granted with New Zealand citizenship based on their exceptional circumstances^[20]

Statelessness[]

In 2013, the UN sought another country to resettle Eliana because of the lack of protections for LGBTI people and refugees in Hong Kong. They refused to contact their home embassy to prevent deportation because of the lack of diplomatic assistance they offered and Eliana became stateless de facto from 30 October 2012. Eliana's position as a refugee limited the contact they could have with authorities from the governments of Colombia.^[21][22][23]

Marriage[]

On 2 June 2015, Rubashkyn was married in New Zealand to a Yemenite Jewish man named Itamar.^[24][25] The NZ Registrar of Marriages caused some controversy in relation to the solemnisation of their marriage when, in addition to their present legal name, they asked for their dead name to register the marriage.^[26]

International response[]

With the help of Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), they were granted refugee status. However, because Hong Kong is not a signatory of the 1951 refugee convention, it did not recognise them as a refugee and sought to deport them to Colombia.

Their case drew international attention, particularly in Southeast Asia and Colombia, where transgender, gender diverse people and intersex people are often persecuted. Their case was also noted in New Zealand, a country known for its stance on equality for LGBTI people.^[27][28][29]

On 16 December 2013, the UN offered a solution by recognising Rubashkyn as a woman under the UNHCR refugee system. They became the first gender diverse person recognised as a woman in China or Hong Kong without having undergone a sex reassignment surgery or medical intervention.^[30][31]

In May 2014, New Zealand accepted Rubashkyn as a refugee and granted them asylum,^[32] extending a universal recognition of their gender. Their case was the first in the world in which the gender identity of a person was recognised internationally.^[33][34]

A CNN story about their struggle and a short documentary about their life in Hong Kong won a GLAAD Media Award in May 2015.^[35]

New Zealand citizenship[]

After six years of statelessness in April 2018, the government of New Zealand on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs granted the New Zealand citizenship based on their exceptional and unique circumstances.^[36]

References[]