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On this Transgender Day of Visibility, APTN would like to share findings from its recent research that aims to explore the various conversion therapy practices widespread in #India, #Indonesia, #Malaysia, and #SriLanka. This evidence-generating project aimed to explore how trans and gender diverse people in these countries have been subjected to #conversiontherapy practices by documenting their personal narratives and lived experiences.
Further, it sought to investigate how the existing national legal, policy, and programmatic frameworks create an environment in which these harmful practices can thrive. The study also aimed to explore how religion and socio-cultural values fuel or promote interventions aimed at changing an individual’s gender identity and expression, and/or sexual orientation, and how these interventions manifest in familial or communal spaces.
The evidence presented in this research initiative is informed by data and insights collected through interviews with members of trans communities, health professionals, legal and policy experts, academic and religious scholars, and activists. Watch this space as we share key insights from the research from the four countries, and join us in our demand for #DignityforAll.
This COVID-19 Trans Resilience Social Media Tool Kit contains graphics and recommended copy for posting during COVID-19 Social Media Campaign, the second phase of our rollout plan for the Trans Resilience Report as part of the UNAIDS COVID-19 Communications Grant.
Over the last year APTN has been working alongside our country partners and trans focal points in the region to closely monitor the evolving situation presented by COVID-19. As part of our programming we used a mix of monitoring and reporting methods to ensure we had accurate data to increase evidence and understanding of the context for trans communities to develop an effective and relevant response and advocate for greater action. With the generosity and the flexibility of our current and new donors, we were able to pivot and redirect our existing and new funding to integrate COVID-19 responsive mechanisms into our Standing Up for Trans Rights Strategic Plan 2018-2020 and establish a COVID-19 Community Support Fund.
Our data highlights how financial vulnerabilities and wealth inequalities impact their ability to keep themselves protected from COVID-19, with many unable to afford to panic buy and stock up on emergency supplies. The lack of legal gender recognition laws across the region increased exclusion and rejection of our community from essential government social protection schemes aimed to alleviate hardship. Additionally, trans people are experiencing increased difficulties getting access to hormones and gender-affirmative health care. The trauma experienced from the physical side effects of stopping their medical transition is having an overwhelmingly negative effect on their mental health.
Over the next five weeks, we will present our findings from our and our partner’s work which demonstrate an urgent need to guarantee the inclusion of transgender and gender non conforming people in efforts to fight COVID-19 and its effects. This COVID-19 campaign will feature snapshots and findings from APTN’s “Trans Resilience Report”, profile our partner organisations and the vital work they have been doing to combat COVID-19’s effects in trans communities, share the stories of the trans individual’s lived experiences throughout the pandemic, and feature articles and insights from experts in various fields from mental health to human rights.
As countries around the globe reach the one-year milestone of the COVID-19 pandemic, APTN has been looking back over the last year of hope, pain, and survival from the transgender community. Over the next five weeks, we will present our findings from our and our partner’s work which demonstrate an urgent need to guarantee the inclusion of transgender and gender non conforming people in efforts to fight COVID-19 and its effects.
Due to the high rates of HIV and other underlying chronic health conditions in our community, trans people are vulnerable to exposure and risk of COVID-19 infection. Yet, COVID has made it more difficult to access HIV prevention, testing, and treatment. Find out more about COVID-19’s effects on transgender people’s access to HIV care, and how organisations are working to improve access despite COVID-19 barriers.
One of the greatest stressors for trans people during COVID-19 has been the declining availability of gender-affirming care and treatment. Doctors are focused on fighting COVID, hormone supplies have been disrupted, and surgeries have been cancelled or postponed. This disruption in gender-affirming care for trans people has exacerbated mental health including increasing anxiety and depression. Read more about the repercussions of COVID-19 on access to gender affirming care, and how organisations are working to provide this necessary treatment to communities.
Across the region, almost universally our partners reported the increasing impacts on the community’s mental health. Isolation from their friends and peers has increased feelings of loneliness, stress and depression. Coupled with fear of exposure to COVID-19, reduced or loss of income and reduced access to gender-affirming care, our partners reported that this has led to an increase in the number of trans people committing suicide. With a lack of trans competent mental health care, our partners are having to step up to provide mental health care to their communities themselves – read more about these organisations and the vital work they are doing to support their communities.
Historical systemic and systematic discrimination against trans people stemming directly from harmful laws criminalising their identities and sexual behaviours and a lack of legal gender recognition across Asia and the Pacific region has further impacted trans people’s access to financial and health security throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Find out how our partner’s are stepping up to fulfill their communities growing needs during the pandemic.
Governments have been using the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to further stifle and limit the rights of transgender people. Startling reports were sent in by our partners sharing stories of increased human rights violations and gender-based violence – read those stories here and learn how organisations are still advocating for their rights despite COVID-19 restrictions.
To mark Zero Discrimination Day, the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) is launching its new report, The Cost of Stigma: Understanding and Addressing Health Implications of Transphobia and Discrimination on Transgender and Gender Diverse People. Evidence from a Trans-Led Research in Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. This year UNAIDS’s campaign on Zero Discrimination highlights the urgent need to take action to end the inequalities that continue to persist around the world. Everyone has the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health without stigma and discrimination.
Yet when it comes to access to healthcare, trans and gender diverse people continue to experience unique gender-based stressors and intersecting discriminations. The Cost of Stigma, the first-ever trans-led research implemented in Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam gathered evidence on the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of sexual health and HIV, general healthcare and gender-affirming care services and to gain a better understanding of the barriers trans and gender diverse persons experience.
Our research found that discrimination remains to be the strongest barrier to access to healthcare services. In all four countries, trans people shared their experiences of discrimination, and how they had delayed seeking necessary general health care because they continued to fear negative and discriminatory treatment. In Nepal, 35% of respondents had delayed seeking health care due to fear of discrimination, and this figure was higher for trans women, sex workers, and older people. In Indonesia, nearly 40% of respondents delayed for this reason, with more sex workers fearing discrimination. The lowest rate of delaying treatment due to fear of discrimination was in Thailand, where only 9% said they had delayed seeking general health care for this reason. However, in Thailand, fear of stigma and discrimination was the most cited reason for avoiding STI and HIV test and treatment, i.e. people who had experienced discrimination accessing HIV services were more likely to have never visited a provider for PEP (95.8%) as compared to those who had not experienced such discrimination (77.9%). In Vietnam, nearly 52% of survey participants had delayed treatment because of anticipated discrimination. In the FGDs, participants reported stigma and discrimination (including use of derogatory and mocking terms) when accessing general health services. Several respondents shared experiences of breach of privacy, ridicule, and lack of knowledge about trans health care.
#HumanRightsWeek presents us with an opportunity to share how we have been working alongside our country partners and trans focal points in the region to support the transgender and gender non conforming community and closely monitor the evolving situation presented by COVID-19. Over the next week we present our findings from our work over the last ten months which demonstrate an urgent need to guarantee the inclusion of transgender and gender non conforming people in efforts to #RecoverBetter from COVID-19 and more broadly. We call on the governments, our development and non development partners and the public, to #StandupforHumanRights and fulfill the promise of Agenda 2030 and the SDGs to ensure no one is left behind.
This year was like no other, on the 11th of March 2020 the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. At APTN we knew that this would have wide ranging impacts on the lives of people in the trans and gender diverse community and the critical work in supporting trans folx across Asia and the Pacific region.
As our findings will demonstrate, the COVID-19 pandemic has starkly revealed the vast social, economic and health disparities experienced by trans and gender diverse communities even further. Now more than ever an urgent shift is required to invest in trans and gender diverse populations. It is long overdue for governments and public institutions to recognise and prioritize the experiences and needs of those on the margins of society to ensure all under their duty of care have access to quality and stigma free social protection and healthcare systems and infrastructure.
The Time Is Now
During the #HumanRightsWeek, follow this page and social media channels to see the entire campaign and share it with your friends. You can now download the report here:
Feel free to share our social media content during the #HumanRightsWeek
Day 2
#WorldAIDSDay2020 “#GlobalSolidaritySharedResponsibility” Trans people are 49 times more likely to acquire HIV than the general adult population. Exclusion and experiences of stigma and discrimination in health care settings leads to a delay or avoidance in seeking health care. Increased engagement in high risk informal work sectors such as sex work due to widespread employment discrimination, increases transgender people’s vulnerability to HIV. Due to the high rates of #HIV and other underlying chronic #health conditions in our community, trans people are vulnerable to exposure and risk of #COVID-19 infection.
Day 3
Our data highlighted that 88% (n=2359) of recipients of the COVID-19 Community Support Fund reported a loss of income, reduced income or were forced to go on unpaid leave. Historical systemic and systematic discrimination against trans people stemming directly from harmful laws criminalising their identities and sexual behaviour and a lack of legal gender recognition across Asia and the Pacific region has further impacted trans people’s access to financial and health security throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “Aside from access to healthcare, a major blow to this community has been financial – with lockdown measures in place, transgender people have been unable to meet their financial needs without placing themselves at risk – either of contracting the disease or of brutal treatment from the police who have enforcing the lockdown rules. HOPE Pakistan
Day 4
In #India, #Indonesia, the #Philippines, #Nepal, and #SriLanka, our partners reported that many in the #trans #community were excluded from social protection schemes aimed at ameliorating hardships during COVID-19, due to their gender identity. Given that many are unable to change citizenship and national documents to reflect their gender identity, the linking of social protection schemes through national identification documents meant that many trans people who were not able to produce ‘authenticated’ documents could not access government support and relief efforts. “Transwomen are not a priority for support in the COVID-19 pandemic. The government of the Republic of Indonesia generally prioritizes citizens who are registered as poor families in Indonesia. Transwomen, most of them are not registered as poor families because they do not have identity cards as citizens. GWL- Ina, Indonesia – https://www.facebook.com/GWL.INA Stay Tuned for APTN’s Full Trans Resilience Report: Stories of Hope, Pain, and Survival from the Trans Movement During the #COVID19 #Pandemic, which will be released on 10 December 2020. weareAPTN #StandingUpForTransRights #HumanRightsWeek #HumanRights2020 #HumanRightsWeek2020 #RecoverBetter #WorldAIDSDay2020 #GlobalSolidaritySharedResponsibility #AsiaPacific
Day 5
Our partner in the #Philippines, LakanBini has been monitoring human rights violations against the trans community throughout the COVID -19 Pandemic and shared disturbing reports of the unlawful and cruel treatment of trans and LGBI people by state actors who were accused of violating lockdown and curfew measures. These included ridicule, humiliation and violence. “The national government put out a lockdown law without specifying rules, specifications are left to the local government who have created their own punitive measures. One trans woman who was caught violating curfew had their head shaved. Also, a Filipino politician tried to force LGBT+ people to kiss and ‘sexy dance’ as punishment for breaching coronavirus lockdown.” LakanBini, Philippines
Day 6
Our data highlighted that 44.17% (n=973) of recipients of the COVID-19 Community Support fund reported not having access to basic necessities (hygiene kit, hormones, food, shelter, PPE) as a result of COVID-19.For partners providing emergency relief supplies such as food, PPEs and medicine, travelling during curfew and lockdown presented numerous challenges. Sourcing PPEs and hormones were particularly difficult given the scarcity of supply and price hikes. Risk of exposure to COVID-19 for staff was also a concern. In places like Indonesia where the trans community lives in small, overcrowded areas, staff had to take extra precaution in order to deliver supplies. Staff from Blue Diamond Society in Nepal also reported threats and harassment from the public whilst delivering essential supplies. “The organisation and some staff/volunteers have received threats and people have even attempted to stop us from providing our relief support because bigotry has increased during this time.” Blue Diamond Society, Nepal
Day 7
Across the region, almost universally our partners reported the increasing impacts on the community’s mental health. Isolation from their friends and peers has increased feelings of loneliness, stress and depression. Coupled with fear of exposure to COVID-19, reduced or loss of income and reduced access to gender-affirming care, our partners Unity 4 Change, Blue Diamond Society from Nepal and Wajood Society from Pakistan reported that this has led to an increase in the number of trans people committing suicide as well as increases in suicidal ideation. “The suicide rate is increasing during lockdown. Many of them are facing violence from within the home. Due to this 7-month lockdown, 13 LGBTI people committed suicide among them 2 were lesbian and 2 were transgender man.” Unity 4 Change, Nepal
Day 8
Startling reports were sent in by our partners of governments using the COVID-19 pandemic as a way of further stifle and limit the rights of transgender people. Our partner GWL-INA in Indonesia reported that the Government of #Indonesia was using lockdown and limited movement restrictions to attempt to force through new harmful criminal codes restricting access to sexual and reproductive health care, expanding punitive laws limiting freedoms and sexual rights of LGBTI people and expanding blasphemy laws. Yet, COVID-19 has limited trans activists’ capacity to engage in further advocacy. “There is a current bill that contains articles that will violate the rights of women, religious minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, as well as freedom of speech and association. At this time of COVID-19, parliamentarians are secretly pushing for this bill to be discussed and approved given that demonstrations and/or rallies are not allowed.” GWL-INA, Indonesia
You can now download the APTN’s Full Trans Resilience Report: Stories of Hope, Pain, and Survival from the Trans Movement During the #COVID19 #Pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented human crisis that is claiming lives, destroying livelihoods and disrupting economies across the world. With the support of UNAIDS, the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) and Youth LEAD have worked together to increase the visibility and voices of trans and gender diverse youth leaders throughout Asia and the Pacific.
Starting on 31 July, we began to publish six stories of trans youth leaders who are making a difference in their communities. These young leaders come from a diverse range of countries and cultures across Asia and the Pacific, but are all working to improve the lives of trans and gender diverse communities amidst COVID-19.
Please join us as we welcome our team of 2020 Amplifying Trans Advocacy Fellows. APTN’s Amplifying Trans Advocacy Fellowship integrates capacity building, seed funding, and technical assistance to enable trans human rights defenders from Asia and the Pacific to advance trans rights using international human rights accountability mechanisms.
APTN competitively selected 26 fellows from 14 countries in the region. They will participate in a month-long immersive online course on international human rights accountability mechanisms which will be held between 15 September – 20 October 2020. The course will provide an opportunity to the fellows to gain an in-depth understanding of the international human rights law and learn its application from human rights experts and peers.
Public campaigning through engagement with traditional, online, and social media has proved to be a powerful tool to increase awareness and visibility of lived experiences of LGBTI people, to shift the narratives around SOGIESC rights issues in both public and political realms, and to amplify LGBTI advocates’ call for action for social change.
Building on its experiences and realising the strong need for capacity strengthening on public campaigning and digital media engagement, the Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) is launching a series of four online workshops for trans and gender diverse advocates from Asia and the Pacific to enhance their skills for public campaigning for advocacy.
Workshop 1: Introduction To Public Campaigning For Advocacy & Social Change
Friday, 31 July 2020, 12:00 pm ICT (Thailand GMT +7)
Social change rarely happens overnight and is inextricably linked with changes in public opinion and societal attitudes. Public campaigns can play a critical role in reshaping narratives in the public and political realms. Our first workshop aims to introduce participants to the relevance and significance of public campaigning for goal-oriented advocacy and sustained social change. Through interactive exercises, participants will be equipped with strategies and tools to support their public campaign conceptualisation and implementation process.
Details of the resource persons are as follows.
Facilitator: JAC SM KEE Jac sm Kee (she/her) is a feminist activist working at the intersection of internet technologies and human rights. Her activism includes sexuality and gender justice, feminist movement building in a digital age, internet governance, digital rights, open culture and epistemic justice. She is located within these movements at hyper-local, networked and global levels.
Moderator: SMITA
Smita (she/them) is currently working at Point of View, a non-profit based in Bombay, on gender, sexuality, and technology. Their areas of interest include gender, queer studies, internet, technology, popular culture, films and TV shows, fandoms etc. She can be generally found wandering the cyberspace, or hunting for good coffee.
Workshop 2: Crafting Call-For-Action For Public Campaigning
Friday, 7 August 2020, 12:00 pm ICT (Thailand GMT +7)
Public campaigns for goal-oriented advocacy require clear and concise messaging and call for action. Our second workshop aims to introduce participants to the Authentic Voice Framework as a tool to develop messaging for their campaigns. Participants will engage in hands-on training to craft calls for action using their lived experiences.
Details of the resource persons are as follows.
Speaker: PHYLESHA BROWN-ACTON
Phylesha (she/her) is a champion for the rights of sexual minority groups across Asia and the Pacific regions and identified as Fakafifine of Niuean decent, and is a community practitioner with experience in the HIV/AIDS and Human Rights sectors in regional, national and international roles, which is still an extension of her current activism and work. In 2019, Phylesha was invested as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the Pacific and LGBTQI+ communities (NZ Government House, 2019).
Speaker: ALOK VAID-MENON
Alok Vaid-Menon (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed gender non-conforming writer and performance artist based in the United States. They are the author of the books Femme in Public and Beyond the Gender Binary. Learn more at www.alokvmenon.com
Facilitator: RAFIUL ALOM RAHMAN
Rafiul Alom Rahman (he/him) is the founder of The Queer Muslim Project. He represents India on the Beijing+25 Global Youth Task Force set up by UN Women. Nominated as a “Young Changemaker” by The Hindu Business Line in 2018, Rafiul brings with him a decade of experience in gender and sexuality rights organising.
Moderator: SMITA
Smita (she/them) is currently working at Point of View, a non-profit based in Bombay, on gender, sexuality, and technology. Their areas of interest include gender, queer studies, internet, technology, popular culture, films and TV shows, fandoms etc. She can be generally found wandering the cyberspace, or hunting for good coffee.
Workshop 3: Using Art & Digital Media To Deliver Your Call-For-Action
Friday, 14 August 2020, 12:00 pm ICT (Thailand GMT +7)
How can advocates engage with various forms of art and media to deliver their call-for-action and to spur momentum? In this workshop, our resource persons and guest speakers will share their experiences, and tools and tactics they have employed to communicate their campaign messages to mobilise various stakeholders in the public and political realms and to recruit public support through art and digital media.
Details of the resource persons are as follows.
Speaker: VINCY CHAN
Vincy Chan (they/them) is a non-binary trans singer-songwriter, artist and SOGIESC advocate from Hong Kong. Learn more at chanwanvincy.com
Speakers: SHH…DIAM!
Shh…Diam! is a Malaysian queer band formed in Kuala Lumpur in 2009. The band is the first openly queer band in the country and actively promotes acceptance and understanding of the LGBTIQ+ community in the country through music and hugs. They’ve completed two European tours and have also played in Thailand and Singapore.
Facilitator: INDU HARIKUMAR
Indu (she/her) is an artist and storyteller. She tells stories of body, desire, love, and belonging. She has authored and illustrated children’s books, and has written for major media houses across the world. Her art has been exhibited globally at Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany, The Biennial of Illustrations, Bratislava 2013-14, and the Kochi Muziris Biennial 2015.
Indu has the internet to thank for the space she has found and created for conversations. She will be sharing her journey about spending 24 years on the internet, and the huge role it has played in giving her a voice, a platform, and allowing her to create art that engages and challenges ideas around sex, dating and relationships.
Moderator: SMITA
Smita (she/them) is currently working at Point of View, a non-profit based in Bombay, on gender, sexuality, and technology. Their areas of interest include gender, queer studies, internet, technology, popular culture, films and TV shows, fandoms etc. She can be generally found wandering the cyberspace, or hunting for good coffee.
Workshop 4: Safety & Security Tips For Public Campaigning
Friday, 21 August 2020, 12:00 pm ICT (Thailand GMT +7)
Public campaigns are confrontational by nature and can stir backlash. In the final workshop of the series, participants will learn the strategies to counter backlash, hate speech, and trolling in digital media and public spaces during the implementation of public campaigns. Participants will be equipped with the necessary safety and security tips, strategies, and tools for successful implementation of public campaigns.
Details of the resource persons are as follows:
Facilitator: POINT OF VIEW
Point of View is a Mumbai-based non-profit that builds and amplifies women’s and other marginalised genders’ voices and removes barriers to voice, speech and expression. Tools are media, education, technology and art. Strategies include creating digital resources, publications and campaigns; building skills, capacities and understanding; producing information and knowledge; and advocating with civil society and policy makers. Learn more at their website, pointofview.in
Moderator: SMITA
Smita (she/them) is currently working at Point of View, a non-profit based in Bombay, on gender, sexuality, and technology. Their areas of interest include gender, queer studies, internet, technology, popular culture, films and TV shows, fandoms etc. She can be generally found wandering the cyberspace, or hunting for good coffee.
Workshops will be hosted on Zoom and in English language. For each workshop, seats are limited to 20 participants. In case of any queries about the workshop series, please reach out to samreen.s@weareaptn.org.
Asia and the Pacific, like many other regions across the world, continues to witness an unprecedented health emergency with the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
We listened to our partner organisations through our COVID-19 rapid needs assessment, where they expressed concerns about continuing to work for their communities, caring for their health and safety, whilst managing the financial and emotional strain of the coronavirus disease on their organisations and their own well-being.
In response, APTN has provided grants to community groups and trans human rights defenders across Asia and the Pacific that have stepped up to provide support to the trans and gender diverse communities that they serve in the form of the APTN COVID-19 Community Support Fund.
The Community Support Fund aims to fill gaps by equipping groups that are severely impacted by COVID-19 to respond to needs they have identified on the ground. It was offered to all past and current APTN project partners to help meet community realities and sustain their organisations’ operations and functions.
As of 10 June 2020, the COVID-19 Community Support Fund has supported 21 project partners in 13 countries.
To apply, project partners submitted proposals containing detailed information about their target beneficiaries as well as budgets for each component of the proposal. These funds will be used, amongst other things, to support community members with essential supplies such as food rations or personal protective equipment (PPE), or to sustain their organisations.
As of 10th June 2020, almost $70,000 USD has been distributed to 21 community groups across 13 countries.
The pandemic is a powerful reminder of the world’s inequalities, and how we are only as strong as our weakest health systems. There is a lot more work that needs to be done, and greater financial investments and support are needed to address the structural and systematic barriers trans and gender diverse people face.
We call for greater support from funders, donors, and other organisations to take into consideration the realities of communities on the ground and reprogramme and allocate resources to where it is most needed at this time.
Below are the project partners supported under the grant that have provided consent for their information to be listed (in alphabetical order).
If you are a trans or gender diverse person in any of the countries the organisations are operating in, please consider reaching out to these organisations for support.
