NADRA launches dedicated helpline for transpersons

Service aims to assist transgender persons in acquiring identity cards

ISLAMABAD:

The National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) launches a dedicated helpline in a bid to enhance registration and maximise facilitation for the transgender community.

The day was celebrated as ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’ in the presence of transgender attendants. The helpline along with several other initiatives was inaugurated by Chairman NADRA, Tariq Malik.

In this regard, sensitisation trainings for NADRA personnel were also conducted by Regional Head Offices (RHOs) across the country to strengthen their abilities for providing information and support on obtaining identity documents to members of the transgender community.

Chairman NADRA, while expressing his views on the occasion, said that the most unique feature of the dedicated helpline is the deployment of transgender employees of NADRA to answer the calls. We want to provide a supportive and welcoming environment for transgender persons so that they can obtain their identity documents and access the services they need to thrive, he said.

“We want members of the transgender community to know that we support them and are committed to providing the services they need to assimilate into society.

I hope that this dedicated helpline will go a long way in ensuring that they can claim their rightful place and are able to register and derive dividends from government schemes”, Tariq Malik added.

The Transgender Day of Visibility is celebrated annually on March 31 to highlight the contributions and struggles of transgender persons around the world. This acknowledgment serves to increase visibility and awareness of the issues faced by the transgender community and looks to promote their rights internationally.

NADRA declared Friday, 31st March 2023 as a special day for registering transgender persons. RHOs of NADRA engaged with local organisations for mobilizing transgender persons to register themselves at NADRA Registration Centres and locally deployed Mobile Registration Vans. A series of sensitisation sessions will be conducted in all the regions successively throughout this year.

In addition to the helpline, NADRA has launched several other initiatives for the transgender community, including but not limited to the free of cost first National Identity Card (CNIC), provision of jobs to transgender persons in NADRA, and recognition of a "guru" for registration of transgender persons. Chairman NADRA has led a nationwide registration/ awareness campaign since 2021 themed as “Trans Rights are Human Rights,” while 39 sensitisation/ training Sessions have already been conducted for NADRA staff. NADRA has also nominated focal persons for facilitation of transgender persons at all its centres across the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2023.