National Charter of Demands on Legal Recognition of Gender Identity (Nepal)

On May 17 2020, youth queer activists from Nepal have worked to release a landmark charter for the country. National Charter of Demands on Legal Recognition of Gender Identity has created a history in Nepal. National and Regional organizations, groups, networks as well as individuals worked together to put this historic document together. The conversation on gender identity in Nepal was very limited to just ‘third gender’. This charter of demands not only includes the needs of intersex persons, binary transgender men and women, non-binary people and people who’d like to opt out mentioning a gender, but also strongly stands against the “Others” gender provision and its shortcomings, talks about issues of gender data collection & sensitivity, language, pronouns, privacy, etc. The charter also asked to differ between ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ which in the Others gender provision was murky.

The charter was endorsed by eleven national organizations. Four regional organizations also endorsed the charter, including Intersex Asia, ILGA Asia, Asia Pacific Transgender Network, and Youth Voices Count. Thirty-three individuals also endorsed the statement, including several LGBTIQ+ activists, healthcare professionals, artists, and youth leaders.

Preamble
We, the undersigned organizations, groups, networks and individuals identify in the queer spectrum and are committed towards ensuring equality, and human rights of trans and gender diverse people at local, national, regional and international levels. We put forth this charter of demand to the Government of Nepal to uphold the principles of equality and non-discrimination, foregrounding the needs of individuals whose gender identity is beyond the conventional binary norms and ideas predominant in the society. While we understand that inequalities, discrimination, violence and stigma for transgender and gender diverse people exists in all spheres of their lives, this charter particularly focuses on the issues with legal documents such as identity cards and all sorts of documents vital for individuals. Lack of recognition and comprehensive understanding about gender identity is critical to people of marginalized gender identities as it exacerbates their vulnerabilities and magnifies existing inequalities.

Demands on Gender Marker

 * 1) There should be five options to choose from: Male (M), Female (F), Non-binary (X), Third Gender (T) and Prefer not to disclose.
 * 2) The term “Female” should include all kinds of women - who identify in female gender identity, which includes - transgender women and intersex women. The term “Male” should include all kinds of men - who identify in male gender identity, which includes - transgender men and intersex men.
 * 3) “Non-binary” should be understood as an umbrella term that encapsulates the diverse gender identities beyond the binary of male or female such as agender, bigender, gender non-conforming, gender fluid, demigender, etc.
 * 4) “Third gender” should be understood as a gender ascribed to those traditional gender non-conforming people in Nepal and other South Asian countries such as hijra, meti, kothi, ghade, maugiyah, maibabu, fulumulu, folok molok, etc who have their own distinct society, community, communal space of living, lifestyle, culture, rituals, values & norms, social systems & processes, and sometimes even a dialect of their own.