Waiting for Strasbourg to get around to processing this significant case feels like waiting for Godot. I’ve questioned many times if the so-called European Court of Human Rights is EVER going to process my claim. I am, after nearly four years, still waiting for a first decision on whether the claim is admissible. The Court rejects a very high percentage of claims that are deemed inadmissible within a few months of having been lodged. My legal team and I have heard absolutely nothing which should give hope that my claim passes the test. There is no reason why it should not pass the test of admissibility given that HM Passport Office’s ongoing and deliberate failure to issue me with appropriate identity documentation, that forces me to declare as someone I am not, is the most fundamental breach of my human rights. The UK Government argued in Court that my identity is not recognized under UK law, essentially rendering me a non-person in the country where I was born.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has handed down significant judgments in recent years. I do believe that I’d now be able to enforce my right to be issued with the correct documentation were the UK still part of the European Union.

Which makes all the more imperative to highlight the discrepancy between the EU ruling and the attitude shown by the UK Government in its dogged refusal to treat the need for accurate documentation where the identity of the person is neither male nor female as a basic civil right and a human right. It is discrimination pure and simple. And it is time – indeed time overdue – for Strasbourg to intervene by getting on with processing my claim that was lodged in good faith almost four years ago.