Members of the intersex community at a roundtable yesterday demanded the inclusion of intersex as a sexual identity in public and private documents, including birth certificates, and national identity cards.
They also urged the government to ensure their fundamental rights and stop irrational and unnecessary sex reassignment surgery.The roundtable titled, “Ensure Basic Needs of Intersex People” was organised by Space-a foundation for peace and care, with networking partner Possibility at the NGO Forum for Public Healths seminar room at Lalmatia.
The event was organised as part of observing Intersex Awareness Day on October 26.
Intersex people are born with different sex characteristics such as different chromosome patterns, gonads or genitalia.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the concept of the body of intersex people does not fit with the concept of the typical binary male or female body. Intersex basically refers to different types of natural physical characteristics.
In some cases intersex characteristics are visible at birth, while in others they are not clearly visible until puberty.
Intersex member Maimuna Akhtar said she is not being able to get admission to any private university and not being given a passport due to the non-recognition of intersex people in official and private documents.
The speakers also said sex reassignment surgeries are routinely performed in Dhaka Shishu Hospital, which is a violation of a person’s basic human rights.
While some surgeries are useful, most of the time, these surgeries are performed to conform to socially constructed “male” and “female” identities, which jeopardised their future, and many children even die during this type of surgery, they said.
If intersex people’s identities were recognised and their physical diversity was considered normal in society and the state, this rights violation would not have occurred, they believed.
Intersex member Maimuna Akhtar said she is not being able to get admission to any private university and not being given a passport due to the non-recognition of intersex people in official and private documents.
Another intersex member Noor E Alam said he had to undergo this type of surgery six times, sometimes to change her to a woman and sometimes a man.
“Although earlier, I was apparently healthy, these unnecessary surgeries disrupted my normal life. Now, I cannot even simply walk or get on public transport,” he said.
According to the members of the intersex community, as soon as an intersex person is born, he is identified as a “hijra”, even though they do not belong to that community.
Moreover, although hijra is recognised as gender in Bangladesh, there is no recognition of intersex people, they said.