Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions non-discrimination, freedom of movement, and the rights to live with dignity, to livelihood and work, and to equality and equal protection of the law.193 On 8 October 2015, the Federal Court reversed this ruling on procedural grounds, with the result that the shari’a laws prohibiting ‘a male person posing as a woman’ remain in effect.194 In parts of Asia, such as the Philippines, families have made abduction complaints against butch lesbians and transgender men as a way to break up their relationships with women. These charges have been laid under laws to prevent kidnapping, illegal detention and ‘crimes against liberty’.195 196 CASE STUDY: CRIMINALISATION OF TRANSGENDER WOMEN IN MYANMAR Like other former British colonies in South and South East Asia, Myanmar inherited the Indian Penal Code, including section 377 that severely punishes ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’. Section 377 is one of the provisions used to arrest transgender women, though convictions are extremely rare. Instead charges may be laid under public nuisance laws and ‘after dark’ provisions in the Police Act that prevent someone from disguising their face at night. In July 2013, 12 transgender women and gay men were arrested under allegations of creating a public nuisance on a moat in Mandalay. They were verbally, physically and sexually abused by up to ten police officers. Before being released, the transgender women were forced to sign a statement agreeing to stop dressing as women and visiting this area. Any charges that were laid were under the Police Act provisions. This case was widely publicised through social media and in the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar who recommended action by both the NHRI and the government. Despite multiple complaints and an unsuccessful request from the NHRI to the government asking for a response, the charges against the transgender women have not been dropped. No police officers have been held accountable for their actions.196 Photo by kudumomo, reproduced under a CC BY 2.0 license. 54 193 See https://justiceforsisters.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/apakah-peruntukan-perlembagan-yang-dilanggar-oleh-seksyen-66negeri-sembilan-1992-which-provisions-of-the-federal-constitution-are-violated-by-section-66-negeri-sembilan-1992/. 194 Human Rights Watch, ‘Malaysia: Court Ruling Sets Back Transgender Rights’, 8 October 2015; at www.hrw.org/news/2015/10/08/ malaysia-court-ruling-sets-back-transgender-rights; Justice for Sisters, ‘Statement: Appeal at the Federal Court’; at https:// justiceforsisters.wordpress.com/. 195 International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (now OutRight Action International), 2014. 196 Colors Rainbow, Facing 377: Discrimination and Human Rights Abuses Against Transgender, Gay and Bisexual Men in Myanmar, 2013; cited in D. Sanders, Myanmar: these gay days, 2015.