Peru has officially classified trans people as 'mentally ill'.

Under the decree signed by President Dina Boluarte, 'transsexualism, dual-role transvestism, gender identity disorder in childhood, other gender identity disorders and fetishistic transvestism' are now all recorded as mental illnesses.

The move, which comes just days before the 34-year anniversary of the World Health Organisation's removal of homosexuality from the list of International Classification of Diseases (ICD), has prompted fury from rights groups.

Speaking on the latest decree, Percy Mayta-Tristan, a medical researcher at Lima's Scientific University of the South, said it revealed a lack of awareness of complex LGBT issues.

'You can't ignore the context that this is happening in a super-conservative society, where the LGBT community has no rights and where labelling them as mentally ill opens the door to conversion therapy,' he told Yahoo News.

Argentina has been a Latin American leader in gay marriage and identity legislation, with a 2021 law allowing nonbinary people to mark their gender with an 'X.'

However, many fear a backsliding in their freedoms under libertarian President Javier Milei.

'This hate crime is not an isolated event,' the Buenos Aires women's ministry wrote on X, saying it was a consequence of the government's 'irresponsible' discourse.

Since taking office in December, Milei has scrapped the national women's affairs ministry and the anti-discrimination agency, and banned the use of gender-inclusive language in the military.