Govt urged to do more to protect trans people from violence

 

The government has been urged to do more to protect transgender people from violence.

Trans-rights group Justice for Sisters said in the past year there had been two murders of trans women, and at least four notable cases of violence.

The group said one of the murder cases happened in May, where an Indonesian trans woman was believed to have been killed by her boyfriend.

Another case was in June, where a trans woman was found dead at her home in Johor Bahru. The outcome of police investigations was reportedly unknown.

The group also said that, in January, a trans woman was reportedly assaulted and held against her will by her family.

In that case, the group said members of the police who visited the home threatened to beat the trans woman up if she did not listen to her family and she only was rescued by the police after intervention by human rights groups. 

Justice for Sisters also reported that in February, there were three cases of trans women being attacked - two in Kedah and one in Perak.

In one of the Kedah cases, the trans woman was allegedly assaulted by men pretending to be police officers.

"Of the three cases, only one of them lodged a police report. The outcomes of the cases are unknown.

"The other two did not lodge a police report due to trauma and fear of self-incrimination," the group said in a statement.

Trans people, they said, rarely made police reports due to negative or traumatic experiences with authorities.

The group then made several recommendations on how authorities can do better.

Human rights and gender-sensitivity training for police and government officers, they said, would help to reduce the stigma that the officers may have against the trans community.

The government was also urged to allow trans people to change their gender in legal documents and to amend laws that discriminate against non-heterosexual or non-cisgender women.

Justice for Sisters also called for the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination and to discontinue gender/sexual "correctional" or "rehabilitation" policies and activities.

These recommendations, they said, were in line with the government's shared prosperity vision for all Malaysians.

The statement was issued in conjunction with the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which commemorates trans people who had died due to anti-trans violence. - Mkini