Handbook coming to sensitise Thai police to reality of trans people’s lives

[webfact]

Handbook coming to sensitise police to reality of trans people’s lives

By THE NATION

 

Police officers yesterday attend a workshop in Chon Buri that aims to boost interaction between police and transgender individuals.

 

IN ORDER to improve interactions between police and transgender individuals, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will help produce a handbook in collaboration with the Justice Ministry and Chon Buri-based Sisters Foundation.
 

The idea was born in the hope that police officers would act more compassionately if they better understood the sexuality, gender identity and gender expression of transgender people, as well as the stigma and discrimination they face.

 

The idea for the handbook was proposed and approved at a two-day workshop in Chon Buri that wraps up today.

 

The event was attended by about 60 people, including police representatives from target areas – Phuket, Chiang Mai and Chon Buri – as well as officers from the Netherlands who have worked with trans people under the “Pink in Blue Police Network”.

 

“Transgender individuals’ bad experience with police might stem from a lack of understanding about different gender identities,” Rights and Liberties Protection Department deputy director-general Kerdchoke Kasemwongjit said. 

 

This workshop was held so police officers can become more aware about different gender identities, he said. However, he admitted that there is still a long way to go as transgender people face discrimination and harassment everywhere. 

 

The event aimed to demonstrate that law enforcement can bring positive changes for transgender people by protecting their rights and easing their access to healthcare and other social services without discrimination. 

 

Studies have found that trans people who face discrimination face a higher risk of getting HIV and other diseases as well as being vulnerable to mental health issues. UNAids has reported that the prevalence of HIV/Aids among transgenders in Thailand (Bangkok, Chaing Mai, Chon Buri and Phuket) was 13.8 per cent. 

 

A joint study conducted by UNDP and Social Development and Human Security Ministry found that Thailand lacked guidelines on body searches, detention and imprisonment of transgenders, making them victims of mistreatment, harassment and violation by officials. 

 

Lovita Ramguttee, UNDP Thailand deputy resident representative, said that despite the 2015 Gender Equality Act, trans people still do not have a state-issued document to support their gender identities. This puts them at the risk of discrimination and violence – a reality that prompted UNDP, Justice Ministry, other agencies and NGOs to hold the workshop in search of a solution.

 

Ramguttee noted that trans women faced a higher risk of being confronted by law-enforces because they were forced to work in the sex industry due to a lack of other opportunities. Prostitution is still illegal in Thailand. Trans women also face the risk of sexual and physical violence when detained with male inmates, she added. 

 

Thitiyanan Nakpor, director of the Sisters Foundation, said most trans women have had either direct or indirect experience of police discrimination and no longer trust officers. 

 

“We hope this workshop will lessen police bias against transgenders and improve their interactions and communication,” she said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30358191

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-09

[Colabamumbai]

So why not hire them. 

[Cadbury]

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

“We hope this workshop will lessen police bias against transgenders and improve their interactions and communication,”

Discounts on extortion prices for trangenders might go a long way to making them feel more comfortable with the police. 

[mok199]

Feel the Love..

[soistalker]

14% AIDS/Hiv+ for trannies?! I think the real victims here are the Indians and Koreans who br8mg a Thai "woman" to their hotel, only to "be surprised" by a Johnson far surpassing their own. 

[Ulic]

Like the UN knows anything about the lady-boys on beach road Pattaya.

[stanleycoin]

Do the cops have to go on combat training with stiletto heels

in hand, so as to understand how to attack and rob tourists correctly.  ( on pattaya beach road ) 

[Redline]

Yes, avoid teaching them how to police.   Should this not be step one?

[guest879]

they need to do pattaya beach round ups more often to improve relations. maybe give a prize to the trans most often captured and released within a 12 month period.

[Krataiboy]

This is going to be interesting. In Thailand, ladyboys are, I understand, officially classified as male. In more "enlightened" Western countries such as the US, UK and Canada, a man can wake up one morning and decide he is a woman and everyone has to go along with his delusion. The same goes for women with Gender Dysphoria who declare they are really men. 

 

It is not necesary for the individual concerned to undergo hormone treatment or surgery in order to be officially recognised as a member of the opposite sex.

 

This policy has proved controversial,  as it means men who transition to women despite retaining male genitalia are legally entitled to use women-only spaces such as toilets, changing rooms, refuges and the women's section of a prison.

 

One of the most bizarre gender transitions is a man who at 54 decided he was not only female but a six-year-old girl. He grew his hair long, started wearing frocks and eventually got himself adopted by a sympathetic couple who already had one daughter.

 

Not to be outdone by the gender benders, other rebels against the restraints of old-fashioned science and  biology are jumping on the bandwaggon. Newspapers recently carried a report about a white man who - a long-time activist on behalf of black people - who wishes to identify as black.

 

Then there is the even more bizarre case of a young woman who believes she is actually a cat and spends much of the day sitting on the window sill and waving her paws at passers-by.

 

The boys in brown, bless 'em, have no idea what is coming their way!