The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 is a law in Pakistan which was enacted by the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 2018 to legally provide equality to

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

people and to safeguard their rights. The law aims to legally recognise transgender people in the country. It also allows them to legally have the same rights as cisgender people. In March 2020, the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

(ICJ) addressed the provision of Pakistan after releasing a paper at

International Transgender Day of Visibility International Transgender Day of Visibility, often simply Trans Day of Visibility (often shortened online as TDOV), is an annual event dedicated to celebrating transgender people raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people, ...

. The ICJ highlighted features of the provision. Pakistan, according to the ''

Aljazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which provi ...

,'' is one of the first nations that legally recognised transgender people.

Background

Transgender population

The total population of transgender people in 1998 was 10,418. In 2015, the

Health ministry A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entity, Subnational entities, such as State (administrative division), states, county, counties an ...

indicated that the number of transgender people in the country is nearly 150,000.

Violence against transgender people

Transgender people are regular targets of violence in the country. Between 2015 and September 2020, 68 transgender people were killed in Pakistan, and 1,500 were

sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexua ...

in multiple incidents. In 2018, transgender people reportedly experienced 479 violence incidents in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

Objectives

* Transgender people may obtain a

driving licence A driver's license, driving licence, or driving permit is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, car ...

and passport *Transgender people may change their gender in the

National Database & Registration Authority The National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) () is an independent and autonomous agency under the control of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan that regulates Government Databases and statistically manages the sensitive registration d ...

(NADRA) records on their own discretion *Harassing a transgender person at home or in a public place is prohibited *Discrimination of transgender people either

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

ally or

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

ly is prohibited *Allows government to establishment safe houses, and to provide medical and educational facilities to transgender people. It also allows government to establish centers to provide them

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

*Allows government to establish separate rooms for transgender people at jails *A person may be punished with a 6 months jail and PKR50,000 penalty for forcibly employing a transgender person for panhandling purpose.

Effectiveness of the Law

The Trans Protection Act is not the first time such government provisions to protect the rights of Trans people were taken, as the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared that trans peoples were equal to non-transgender Pakistani citizens in 2010. This declaration of equality should have entitled trans peoples to equal job opportunities, education, and exempted them from discrimination. However, none of these things actually happened since the declaration, as in the last census roughly 40% of transgender peoples reported being illiterate, and the largest sources of income for trans peoples in Pakistan are dancing and sex work. Due to the lack of penal nature for the Trans Protection Act, it has only served the same function that the aforementioned Supreme Court declaration did, and has only offered trans people formal equality and not substantive equality. The only penalty mentioned throughout the entire law is against gurus who incentivize their ''chenas'' to beg. The lack of penalties give the law no teeth, and there is no genuine incentive for the citizens to follow the law, and no infrastructure or concrete punishments in place to enforce it. This is present especially on the topic of education, as the law states that if a trans person meets the admission requirements for a school then their gender cannot be a deciding factor on their admittance to that school. This addresses the actual admittance processes that correlate with getting into a school, the law does not address the social stigmas and customs that make it extremely difficult for a trans person to meet these acceptance goals in the first place. The law also does not address many pressing issues to the trans community which include hate crimes against trans people, and proper healthcare for trans people.

Opposition

In 2022, transgender rights law debated again after four years in ''Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights''. Senator

Mushtaq Ahmed Khan Mushtaq Ahmad Khan (born 1973–1974) is a Pakistani politician and political activist. A member of Jamaat-e-Islami who served as a member of the Senate of Pakistan representing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from March 2018 to March 2024, Khan is known ...

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami is an Islamist fundamentalist movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamist author and theorist Syed Abul Ala Maududi, who was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood. It is considered one of the most influential Isla ...

, the initiator of the amendment bill, believes that the establishment of a

medical board Board certification is the process by which a physician, veterinarian, or other professional demonstrates a mastery of advanced knowledge and skills through written, oral, practical, or simulator-based testing. Certification bodies There are mor ...

is necessary to determine the gender of transgender people.

References

Acts of the Parliament of Pakistan 2018 establishments in Pakistan Violence against LGBTQ people in Asia Violence against trans women Discrimination against transgender people Sexism in Pakistan Transgender law LGBTQ law in Pakistan 2018 in LGBTQ history Transgender topics in Pakistan {{LGBT in Pakistan