Obligations, Employment, Residence and Health

In one line

Sections 8 to 15 impose duties on the appropriate Government to secure participation and welfare, forbid discrimination in employment by any establishment, require every establishment to designate a complaint officer, give a right of residence in the parental household, and require inclusive education, vocational training and a listed set of healthcare facilities.

Section 8: obligations of the appropriate Government

Five duties: to take steps to secure full and effective participation of transgender persons and their inclusion in society; to take such welfare measures as may be prescribed and facilitate access to welfare schemes; to formulate schemes and programmes which are transgender sensitive, non-stigmatising and non-discriminatory; to take steps for the rescue, protection and rehabilitation of transgender persons; and to promote and protect the right to participate in cultural and recreational activities.

Section 8(1)'s language, "full and effective participation and inclusion in society", is lifted from article 3(c) of the Disability Convention, which is a small piece of evidence that the drafter had that model in front of them and used its vocabulary without its machinery.

Section 8(3)'s formula, "transgender sensitive, non-stigmatising and non-discriminatory", is section 17 of the HIV legislation almost word for word.

Sections 9 to 11: establishments

Section 9: no establishment shall discriminate against any transgender person in any matter relating to employment including, but not limited to, recruitment, promotion and other related issues.

Section 9 is a good provision, and two features should be named. It binds every establishment, which by section 2(b) includes a company, body corporate, association, firm, cooperative or other society, trust, agency or institution, so it reaches the private sector directly. And the list is open, on the words including, but not limited to, unlike section 3's closed list.

Section 10: every establishment shall ensure compliance with the provisions of this Act and provide such facilities to transgender persons as may be prescribed.

Section 11: every establishment shall designate a person to be a complaint officer to deal with the complaints relating to violation of the provisions of this Act.

Compare section 11 with section 21 of the HIV legislation and section 23 of the disability legislation.

Section 11 is eleven words of substance and has no procedure, no period, no record and no appeal. It is the weakest of the three, and the comparison is the way to make that point.