Human Rights, the Law, and HIV among Transgender People

Transgender people are the ones’ whose gender identity contrasts from their birth sex. Gender identities are, by nature, complex and fluid. Gender demonstrations and local traditional empathies vary from country to country. There are many diverse terms used to define persons who live between or outside a male-female gender binary. Transgender people are discriminated in every aspect of life; including HIV risk. Even their basic human rights are violated by legal system. The legal environments of many countries endure oppressive to transgender people. Due to stigmatized and discriminative environment for the transgender people, HIV risk has increased tremendously.

This paper explores the risk factors to transgender women including marginalization at all levels of the life. This includes family and social, education, employment, and health. The HIV risk is supported by every level. The existing national legal frameworks contradict the international human rights frameworks. This paper investigates the evidences and recommendations related to legal frameworks and implementations of risk factors for HIV contamination among transgender women.

Reference:

Baral, S., Beyrer, C., & Poteat, T. (2011, July). Human rights, the law, and HIV among transgender people. 2011. In Paper prepared at: Third Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, New York, NY.

http://www.hivlawcommission.org/index.php/working-papers?task=document.viewdoc&id=93