Leave No One Behind: Malaysian Transgender at Risk – A Spotlight Report on SDGs Implementation in Malaysia (Drafted by a Coalition of Transgender and Cisgender Individuals)

Abstract

The spotlight report highlights the systemic discriminations and prejudice experienced by trans and gender diverse persons in Malaysia and sheds light on the government’s lackluster response to include trans and gender diverse persons in its 2030 Agenda implementation strategies. Transgender persons have been experiencing gross violations of their fundamental human rights, including violence, harassment and arbitrary arrests from law enforcement authorities, exclusion from healthcare and education systems due to the lack of legal gender recognition, discrimination in the employment sector, and routine dehumanisation and demonisation by the media that perpetuates gender stereotyping and transphobia. Due to the long-standing systemic and institutional trans prejudice and exclusion from social, economic and legal protection mechanisms, transgender citizens have been experiencing extreme social marginalisation and economic vulnerability.