Ecuador: Court Affirms Adolescents’ Right to Gender Recognition

(Human Rights Watch) Ecuador’s Constitutional Court’s ruling, made public on March 10, 2026, that people under 18 cannot automatically be refused a request to modify their gender on identity documents is an important victory for the rights of transgender youth, Human Rights Watch said. The ruling affirms that constitutional protection cannot rest on rigid assumptions about age while ignoring adolescents’ lived realities, evolving capacities, and right to be heard. The case arose after Ecuador’s civil registry denied a request by the parents of a 15-year-old to change the gender marker in his identity documents. The registry relied on article 94 of the Organic Law on Identity and Civil Data Management and, by extension, article 32 of its regulations, which require applicants to reach the age of majority for gender recognition. In Judgment 4-24-CN/26, the court held that applying that rule automatically is unconstitutional in a case like this one, where the adolescent had the support of his guardians and psychosocial evaluations showing sufficient maturity to make a free, informed, and voluntary decision regarding his gender identity. – Ecuador: Court Affirms Adolescents’ Right to Gender Recognition | Human Rights Watch