A consultative meeting on transgender persons was held in Dimapur on September 23 at hotel Four Seasons, organized by SAATHII in partnership with District Child Protection Unit, Dimapur (DCPU) along with national level non-profit organisation.
In a press note, DCPO Dimapur Avikha Zhimomi said that the meeting discussed the needs of gender non-conforming and transgender children and how the services can be made more inclusive to address their needs, in line with the Supreme Court’s NALSA judgement on Transgender Rights (2014) and the government of India’s Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
With support from SAATHII, a total of 10 transgender persons were issued with transgender identity cards by the Dimapur district administration with reference to Transgender Act.
The consultative meeting was chaired by Esther Sumi Po (Ic) and facilitated by Biswa Bhusan Pattanayak, assistant director of SAATHII along with Avika Zhimomi. Around 40 representatives from the DCPU, Childcare Institutions, Child Welfare Committee, Juvenile Justice Board, Child helpline and representatives from the transgender community attended the meeting. The participants were of the view that it was time to accept and respect gender diversity and renew pledge to change social norms that deny them their rights because of who they are.