In an attempt to safeguard the community and ensure that the basic human rights of this community are not compromised due to the Covid-19 crisis, the NHRC had issued fresh guidelines in this regard.
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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the Centre, all the States including Odisha, and the Union Territories to address the pressing issues pertaining to the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) community.
The Supreme Court lawyer and activist Radhakanta Tripathy initially raised the issue concerning the plight of transgenders of Bhadrak and subsequently in other petitions highlighted the trauma of the entire LGBTQ community covering the entire country during the pandemic health crisis. Adjudicating Tripathy’s batch of petitions filed on 29 July 2020, the NHRC passed the order recently.
In an attempt to safeguard the community and ensure that the basic human rights of this community are not compromised due to the Covid-19 crisis, the NHRC had issued fresh guidelines in this regard.
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With the outbreak of the pandemic, the LGBTQ community in the general and transgender community in particular across the country are badly hit economically and have become victims of discrimination. The State has done precious little for their well-being and survival, Tripathy mentioned.
The Full Commission, all members, and the Chairperson of the NHRC in its latest order took cognizance of the issues raised by Tripathy and directed the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India, and the Chief Secretaries/Administrators of all the States/UTs to take appropriate steps to ensure that the members of the LGBTQ community are not deprived of their basic necessities of life and to follow the Advisory for protection of the Rights of LGBTQ community issued by this Commission in its letter and spirit.
The NHRC in its earlier order had suggested the setting up of a separate 24×7 toll-free helpline number for the LGBTQ community to provide support in different regional languages for dealing with cases of violence, abuse, health, and mental health issues.
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