Third Gender applicant denied passport

Although Nepal’s political and administrative systems have recognized the rights of citizenship for a "third gender," an official here has denied a passport to a proclaimed third gender applicant.

Dilu Bhujuda, 45, of the Myagdi district, applied for a passport more than a month ago, submitting a citizenship certificate that recognized her as "third gender." She needed the passport to go aboard for a job.

Bhujuda was the first proclaimed third gender to apply for the MRP since it came into effect in Nepal in December.

When Bhujuda contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sunday afternoon about the status of her passport application, officials there told her there was no provision to issue the passport because the current Machine Readable Passport system in use internationally recognizes only male or female under the "sex" category. “In existing facility, our system only recognize either male or female. We need to change the MRP's software to issue the passport to the third gender,” Acting Chief of the Central Passport Office, Tapas Adhikari, told All Headlines News.

Bhujuda immediately called on Sunil Babu Panta, a proclaimed third gender campaigner and lawmaker, and Bhakti Shah, a woman who was sacked by the Nepal Army owing to her sexual orientation, to talk with senior MoFA officials.

The trio met with Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai. Panta is a champion for LGBT causes in Nepal to host gay and same-sex marriages, gay tourism and parades in Nepal on various occasions.

“I advised the fellow friends that we will consult with the Home Ministry in this respect as many legal and administrative hiccups needed to be sorted out,” said Bhattrai.

It will take some time to make the necessary changes to the MRP system,  said Bhattarai.

Panta and Bhujuda sought intervention from Nepal’s Supreme Court on Monday.

In 2007, a landmark ruling by the court directed the government to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The decision decriminalized "unnatural sex" and ordered the government to issue citizenship cards for persons of the third gender. Since then, four persons across the country have secured the designation

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... ... ... nepalawaz