The Asian Human Rights Commission, in its work to enhance outreach and awareness on human rights abuse, has issued third animated video on transgender. Please click the video
In a conservative society like Pakistan, being a trans-person is deemed a crime. The transgender community is treated as outcastes having no identity or rights. Like other marginalized factions of the society, the transgender sufferdiscrimination and injustice at the hands of the influential and are forced to live on the margins as entertainers, beggars or sex workers.
There are estimated 500,000 ‘third-gender’ citizens in Pakistan; yet these transgender persons, literally, have no rights in the country. In 2009, the Pakistan Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group of transvestites. The landmark ruling stated that, as citizens, they were entitled to the equal benefit and protection of the law, including the right to inheritance and vote, and called upon the government to take steps to protect transvestites from discrimination and harassment.
However, while their rights are guaranteed on paper only, members of the transgender community do not have these rights in practice. Peshawar being the most conservative and orthodox of all the four provinces, reportedly has the highest number of violence cases against the transgender.
Many transgender activists are targeted for daring to speak out against the atrocities meted out to them on a regular basis. Recently, trans women activist and focal person in Mardan, KPK province for Trans action Alliance, Bubli Khan, was threatened with death if she refused sex. Filing a complaint with the Mardan Police has borne no results, and Bubli is living under the constant fear of being kidnapped and killed. Please see the full video
