Kathmandu (Pahichan) February 4 – Minister of Information and Communication, Minendra Rijal, said that government was ready to amend discriminatory legal provisions against sexual minorities.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the South Asia Transgender and Hijra Consultation in the Capital, Minister Rijal asset that government has started the process to issue passport on the basis of identity. The government has been issuing citizenship as we as passports stating their sex as “transgender”.

“This community should be treated as any other human beings,” Rijal said. Moreover, he expressed a lot of solidarity in the campaign for identity of the community and especially suggested to fight for their rights and to don’t hide their identity. He also said that his party, Nepali Congress, has mentioned equal rights for sexual minorities in its manifesto.  Finally, Rijal hailed the historic verdict made by Nepal’s Supreme Court in favor of sexual minorities.

Furthermore, Country Director of UNAIDS, Ruben Del Prado, suggested to transgender people to engage themselves in social activities by demanding rights.  He also urged to be more responsible instead of only demanding the rights.

On the other hand, Executive Director of National Human Rights Commission, Subarna Karmacharya informed that Commission is playing a vital role to end  discrimination against the human being. Indeed, he asseted: “The rights of new constitution should be enshrined as a fundamental right in the new constitution”.

Concerning Blue Diamond Society, Acting Director, Manisha Dhakal said that Nepal was the first country in the world to recognize transgender. She generally said issues related to citizenship, passports and incorporating the issue in the grade 6-7 are achievements. Moreover, Legal Advisor to the NGO, Prem Bahadur Thapa told that the bill related to civil and criminal code are against the verdict of court when it comes to the transgender rights. He also said that new constitution should remove such discrimination.

Finally, Sunil Babu Pant had played an essential role in the previous Constituent Assembly (CA) to establish the rights of transgender. In fact, after his pressure, other parties have agreed to incorporate this issue in the fundamental right section of new constitution.