Gender-Diverse Population: Family awareness crucial to end discrimination

The harassment, rights violations and gender-based violence faced by the gender diverse population will reduce if awareness could be ensured at a family level, speakers told a seminar.

The seminar was organised by Bandhu Social Welfare Society to publish the "Annual Right Violation Report-2022 of Gender Diverse Population" yesterday in the capital's The Daily Star Centre.

The report said Dhaka ranks first in terms of rights violations of the gender-diverse population in the country, with 24 percent of rights violation incidents in 2022. Khulna comes second with 23 percent and Sylhet secured the third position with 20 percent of such cases in 2022.

Among other regions, Chattogram has seen 9 percent, Barishal 12 percent, Rajshahi 6 percent, Mymensingh 4 percent and Rangpur 1 percent of rights violation incidents, as per the report.

The report also mentioned the challenges faced by the population, which included discriminatory laws, harassment, threats of physical violence, severe social stigma, lack of access to health services and difficulties in finding employment.

Tania Hoque, member of National Human Right Commission, said the crisis is not a new one and families of the members of the population have to be aware first to deal with it.

"The discrimination for the gender diverse population begins with their families rejecting them for their identities and orientations. We have to go for gender-neutral parenting. A parent's duties towards their children don't just end after giving birth to them," said Tania.

"They (parents) must be taught how to nurture a child. There must be a comprehensive study on the gender-diverse population to get the real picture of the violation of rights faced by them," he said.

Tamanna Rahman, member of the executive committee of Bandhu Social Welfare, said no society can go ahead leaving an entire community behind, rather, the one that progresses with participation from everyone is a balanced society.

"We have been working for a long time on the issue. However, we need to ask ourselves how much we have achieved during this time," she said.

Huma Khan, senior human rights advisor of the UN Resident Coordinators Office in Bangladesh, said the publication of the report was a praiseworthy initiative, as relevant data on this issue is rare.

"It is important that we look for support within society, as it is crucial to reduce the violation of rights of the gender-diverse population," said Huma.