Castor Semenya takes her fight to the European Court of Human Rights | Youff Mag

Caster Semenya has filed a lawsuit

in the European Court of Human Rights. The two-time Olympic gold medallist has been barred from competing in races between 400m unless she takes hormone suppressing drugs. She has now decided to take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge this, she took to Twitter on Thursday to announce her decision.

“I hope The European court will put an end to the long-standing human rights violation by World Athletics against against women athletes. All we ask is to be allowed to run free, for once and for all, as the strong  and fearless women we are and have always been”.

This won’t be the first time Semenya (30) has tried to overturn the controversial World Athletics regulation, she had unsuccessful challenged those rules at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. Semenya’s lawyers argue that what World Athletics has done, and what the CAS has upheld, is effectively a human rights violation. According to the lawyers, she is asking the court to find Switzerland to have “failed its positive obligations to protect her against the violation of her rights under the European Convention of Human Right”. In its judgement last year, the Swiss court concluded that the CAS decision cannot be challenged.

“Semenya’s ongoing fight for dignity, equality, and the human rights of women in sport took crucial step forward with the filling of an application to the ECHR”

her lawyers Norton Rose Fulbright, announced in a statement. Semenya was subjected to widespread public scrutiny when she won gold at the 2009 world championship in Berlin, with details of her anatomy being made public as people questioned her gender. Semenya is not the only athlete affected by the regulation, two other Olympic medallists from Africa Francine Niyosaba of Burundi and Margaret Wambui of Kenya are also bound by the rules. They also have said they would refuse to undergo medical intervention to reduce their testosterone levels. It is unclear if the human rights court would be able to hear Semenya’s case before the delayed Tokyo Olympics set to open on July 23 this year which might be Semenya’s last one. In the meantime the athlete is yet to qualify for the Olympics.is to be allowed to run free, for once and for all, as the strong  and fearless women we are and have always been”.

This won’t be the first time Semenya (30) has tried to overturn the controversial World Athletics regulation, she had unsuccessful challenged those rules at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.

Semenya’s lawyers argue that what World Athletics has done, and what the CAS has upheld, is effectively a human rights violation. According to the lawyers, she is asking the court to find Switzerland to have “failed its positive obligations to protect her against the violation of her rights under the European Convention of Human Right”.

In its judgement last year, the Swiss court concluded that the CAS decision cannot be challenged.