A meeting on Transgender Protection and Policy Advocacy highlighted the need for members of the trans community to register with relevant departments, including Social Welfare Department and NADRA, in order to access and benefit from various welfare initiatives introduced by the government and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
Meeting on Transgender Protection emphasizes community registration to access welfare initiatives
PESHAWAR, Mar 07 (APP): A meeting on Transgender Protection and Policy Advocacy highlighted the need for members of the trans community to register with relevant departments, including Social Welfare Department and NADRA, in order to access and benefit from various welfare initiatives introduced by the government and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
The meeting was convened by Da Hawwa Lur (Daughter of Eve), a non-governmental organization working to promote gender equality, to gather suggestions from stakeholders for compilation of a `Protection Framework for Transgender Persons’ with a focus on coordination between the Law Enforcement Agencies, especially Police and Trans community.
The meeting was attended by people belonging to different walks of life, including MPAs, officials of Social Welfare Department, NADRA, NCHR, Planning & Development, Election Commission of Pakistan, Health and media persons.
In her welcome address, Shawana Shah, Programme Director Da Hawa Lur, apprised participants about updates on the Framework for Transgender Protection and key consultations and lobbying process with relevant departments.
She explained that during development of framework, police officials received training on appropriate ways to engage with the transgender community, with particular emphasis on sensitivity and respectful conduct.
The participants observed that all the welfare schemes for transgender community cannot avail benefits unless the trans persons are registered with the concerned government departments.
Rizwan Shah of National Commissioner for Human Rights (NCHR) said the X card holder transgender individuals are around 190 in number, while their actual presence in the province is in thousands.
He emphasized that meaningful policies for thousands of transgender people cannot be developed unless they are properly represented in official data systems.
Rizwan suggested issuing a special card to transgender individuals acceptable by relevant departments for utilizing different welfare schemes.
The officials of Social Welfare department shared that number of registered transgender individuals with them has reached 640, but still thousands of them are out of official record and legally are not eligible for any official welfare policy.
Discussion was also held on non-implementation of official policy chalked out by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in 2018 for welfare of transgender community.
The meeting was informed that policy is not officially notified yet and due to some objections by Law Department is in process of approval.
The P&D official also mentioned same issue of difference between numbers of trans community members and those who are registered with the department.
The P&D official informed that former Chief Minister KP, Ali Amin Gandapure, was very keen on the establishment of Shelter Home and Tahafaz Centers for trans community in the province.
Muhammad Sohail of Election Commission of Pakistan told meeting attendants that ECP has launched a Gender Inclusive Voters Registration scheme in 14 districts of the province and special instructions have been issued for facilitation of trans community in registration process.
He urged transgender individuals to avail from the scheme and get themselves registered as voters with ECP, which will also help in bringing them into the official record.
Trans rights activist and Head of Manzil Foundation, Madam Arzoo, complained that trans community is not taken into confidence while chalking out different welfare schemes for the community.
She also complains of being mistreated by Health and Police departments with transgender individuals in hospitals and police stations.
Speaking on the occasion, MPA Sher Ali said there is a need of establishing a dashboard by Social Welfare Department and NADRA for regular registration of transgender.
He also held out assurance of raising a voice for the rights of transgender community at relevant forums, including provincial assembly.
Transgender people would also be given due representation in the Safety Commission of KP, which is soon to be notified by provincial government, he added.
