Space-a Foundation for Peace and Care organized a roundtable discussion on preserving the rights of intersex people in the capital on Saturday.
Delegates from different human rights bodies, development workers, lawyers, journalists – among others – participated in the discussion.
Maimuna Akhter, one of the discussants, at the event highlighted the fact that intersex people do not get recognition as transgender people.
She said that this identity crisis makes intersex people suffer in society. She also highlighted the sufferings that these people experience in their day-to-day life.
She shared her own experience, saying that she was not being admitted to any private university in the country due to this identity crisis. She has also been denied the right to obtain a passport, Maimuna alleged.
Sometimes families opt for surgeries on intersex babies and children to make their bodies fit binary ideas of male or female.
Terming this illogical, the discussants said that the bodies of these babies transform over the years and they have to go through harassment in the society once they are grown up.
Some of these babies even die due to the severity of the surgery.
Another discussant, Nur-e-Alam, said that he had to go through this process six times which has disrupted his normal life. He cannot even walk properly, due to multiple surgeries on him, the speaker added.
The discussants demanded the inclusion of intersex as category in national identity cards and non-governmental documents. They said that surgeries on intersex people must be brought to an end and their rights must be ensured.
