After the Federal Shariat Court ruled against the transgenders’ choice to identify as male or female, Amnesty International has urged the stopping of the revocation of gender-diverse people’s rights.
Striking down sections of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, the FSC had ruled that trans persons did not have the liberty of deciding their gender, and they were not allowed to change it based only on their self-proclaimed feelings and desires.
“The revocation of rights of transgender and gender-diverse people must be stopped,” Amnesty International said in response to the major verdict that came on Friday.
A statement issued by the organisation quoted their research assistant, Rehab Mahamoor as saying that “the verdict is a blow to the rights of the already beleaguered group of transgender and gender-diverse people in Pakistan”.
She said that some of the observations made by the court were based on presumptive scenarios rather than empirical evidence.
“The denial of essential rights of transgender and gender diverse persons should not be guided by assumptions rooted in prejudice, fear and discrimination.
“Any steps taken by the government to deny transgender and gender-diverse people the right to gender identity were in contravention of their obligations under international human rights law, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to which they are a state party,” she stated.
The AI official urged the government to take immediate and urgent steps to stop the reversal of essential protections, saying that the denial of these rights would leave the community at a greater risk of harassment, discrimination and violence.
