Fleeing Gender: Reasons for Displacement in Pakistan’s Transgender Community

Abstract

Transgender women in Pakistan, or khwaja siras, continue to suffer human rights abuses that cause many to become Internally Displaced Persons, despite legal protections in their favor. The chapter poses a twofold question to explore this inconsistency. Firstly, it draws from illustrative case study research to identify the discrimination that informs transgender perceptions of persecution and forces them from their homes. Based predominantly on qualitative data, it presents a 5-part typology of cumulative forms of discrimination against khwaja siras in terms of family, employment, housing, education, and healthcare. Importantly, police act as key agents of persecution for them, permitting and participating in their oppression. Secondly, this sociolegal study asks how such widespread discrimination against transgender women can persist notwithstanding legal reforms-a problem of social progress failing to result from legal progress. It finds that human rights protections for the transgender population lack actual implementation due to inaccurate legal wording, low level of trust in legal institutions, and generalized social stigma against the LGBTI community. This analysis revealed not only that mainstream social conservatism mitigates enforcement of LGBTI-friendly laws, but also that such conservatism creates an environment in which their persecution qualifies khwaja siras for, but yet impedes their ability to gain, UN protection as refugees at the international level. The empirical data from this research draws heavily on four comparative life histories of khwaja siras, two who gained refugee status and two who did not, which demonstrate the patterns of persecution against the transgender community in Pakistan.

Social Exclusion and Mental Health Issues of Transgender Community in Lahore City

“…They are not involved in social and welfare activities due to having different gender. A specific social distance is minted by the general public, which disturbs their self-esteem and alienates them (Munir, 2019). People usually do not socialize with them, do not accept them as normal human beings and even abuse them while they try to involve the general public, which causes stress among them.…”

Factors Leading Marginalized Transgenders Towards Digital Entrepreneurship in Pakistan

“…These aspects of transgenders and their working as inhuman behaviour are not their fate. Many transgenders are getting an education in Pakistan nowadays, but the number is still low (Munir, 2019). Furthermore, the transgender job quota in the public sector jobs remains vacant because of their poor education.…”

Life in the Countries of Origin, Departure and Travel Towards Europe

“…For these reasons, this chapter aims to analyse the complex situation faced by SOGI claimants before they leave their countries of origin, during their travel to, and arrival in Europe. Considering the paucity of studies in this specific area of SOGI asylum (Danisi 2018;Piwowarczyk et al 2017;Winton 2019), and the fact that these are often country specific (Munir 2019;Odlum 2019) rather than addressing the multinational journeys that occur, this chapter also explores the implications of these journeys for SOGI claimants' experiences with the asylum process. As Chiara, a psychotherapist who works with migrants arriving in Italy through the Mediterranean Sea, explained, the experiences of SOGI asylum claimants are complex, and besides the abuses suffered in their home countries, their travels are also 'a synonym of violence and ill-treatment'.…”