Front Line Defenders@FrontLineHRD
📍 Bangladesh
🏳️⚧️ When she was 10 years old, Joya Sikder began to feel and express herself as a girl. Today, she’s a trans woman and human rights defender with over 22 years of work in Bangladesh—advocating for:
• The Hijra community, a culturally rooted gender identity from South Asia—representing a diverse community of transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming people—and recognised as a third gender in Bangladesh.
•Awareness of HIV/AIDS and condom use.
•Sex workers’ rights.
•The inclusion of marginalised women and LGBTQIA+ voices in the UN Universal Periodic Review.
As founder and chief executive of Sompurna, Joya continues to champion the rights of transgender and gender-diverse communities.
✨ This International Transgender Day of Visibility, we honour defenders like Joya Sikder who inspire change worldwide.
🔗 Learn more: frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/joy…