Human beings need to identified. Every person needs recognition of ‘gender.’ Gender is identified by a person’s name or the way a person decides to dress, behave or by other personality traits. Society views a person either as a ‘male’ or a ‘female.’ But there still exists other people who are neither male or female. The west refers to such people as the ‘third gender’ while the Asian countries continue to use the word ‘transgender’. Transgenders have been discriminated for centuries. They have been stripped and paraded naked in public. They are arrested for cross dressing. They have been subjected to corrected measures and suggested difficult medical procedures to change their gender. They have been denied opportunities in employment, education and medical facilities. Discrimination on the basis of a person’s sex is the worst human rights abuse. Countries in South Asia like Sri-Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan have not yet granted transgenders the status of the ‘third gender.’ Nepal, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have granted transgenders the legal recognition of being identified as the ‘third gender.’ The Article will outline the horrific human rights abuses meted out on third genders. The Article will discuss the criminal laws used to arrest and harass third genders. The Article will dwell will address the issue of protection of rights.
