Nepal passed reforms in 2007 that prohibit gender discrimination, but continues to conduct exams to officially determine the gender identity of trans people.
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Risks of “human rights violations”. Nepal must stop subjecting its trans citizens to medical examinations to officially determine their gender identity, the organization Human Rights Watch urged Thursday, February 15. Nepal adopted seminal reforms dating from 2007 that prohibit discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. Since 2015, it has also issued passports with the mention “other” for gender categories, no longer limiting the choice to “male” or “female”.
But according to a report from the organization, this translates “invariably through invasive and humiliating physical examinations in a medical setting.” For Manisha Dhakal of the LGBTQ advocacy organization Blue Diamond Society, the gray areas around changing identity documents maintain barriers that “generations” of trans Nepalese people have known. “We need real change now”she says.
Bhumika Shrestha, whose case is included in the report, said she had to undergo a medical examination despite showing documents proving the surgery for her gender reassignment. “I had to take off my clothes to be examined. They touched me and checked tiny details of my body, it was very uncomfortable”did she say. “Other Nepalis don’t have to take off their clothes for citizenship. Why are we subject to this?”she asked.
