Transgender Law in Pakistan: Some Key Issues

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has recently issued a Briefing Paper regarding the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2018 of Pakistan. Stating the passage of this Act a crucial progress, ICJ suggests that this enactment was made under the international law obligations of Pakistan. This paper, while not agreeing with this observation, argues that this law has been promulgated on misrepresented interpretation of the international law as presented in the ICJ Briefing Paper as well. Additionally, it undermines the rights of the indigenous gender-variant people of Pakistan as well as the legal and social framework of the country. The law is more aligned to the global movement of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities and contains serious definitional and conceptual flaws. This study suggests working out a scheme for mainstreaming gender-variant persons on the basis of the Constitution of Pakistan, guidelines of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the recognized principles of international law. This would require a thorough review of the current law with a changed approach and reference point.