Caster Semenya's Human Rights Violated by Switzerland, European Rights Court Rules

Double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya's human rights were violated by courts in Switzerland, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday. The 32-year-old South African appealed to the Strasbourg-based ECHR after the Swiss supreme court rejected her appeal against World Athletics' rules that she must take medication to lower her testosterone levels if she wishes to continue competing.

Semenya, who is classed as having "differences in sexual development (DSD)" but has always been legally identified as female, has refused to take the drugs since the international federation introduced the rules in 2018.

As a result, she has been barred from competing at her favourite distance of 800m. In her long-running legal battle, Semenya lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and three years ago Switzerland's supreme court confirmed the decision of sport's top court.

Semenya then took her case against Switzerland to the France-based ECHR. The seven ECHR judges found by a majority of four to three that Semenya's rights under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which concerns discrimination, had been violated by Switzerland.

The ECHR also found the Swiss state had violated Article 13 by failing to give Semenya effective remedy against discrimination. In its ruling on Tuesday, the court said: "The court found in particular that the applicant had not been afforded sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards in Switzerland to allow her to have her complaints examined effectively, especially since her complaints concerned substantiated and credible claims of discrimination as a result of her increased testosterone level caused by differences of sex development."

The ruling in