Namkeen Pashawri, a trans woman activist from Pakistan shared her takeaways from participating in the Trans Advocacy Week 2025.
Namkeen’s key involvement in Trans Advocacy Week is in the discussing panel at the Global Fund Headquarter where she shared directly with Global Fund staff on the impact of funding cuts on HIV interventions and access to necessary health care for trans people in Pakistan; and how it has impacted the lived realities of many trans and gender-nonconforming folks in her country.
Highlights of her speech:
- Namkeen started out by sharing the lived experience of a HIV-positive trans woman after her trusted clinic closed down due to lack of funding.
- Trans people in Pakistan are faced with unemployment and violence, while systems of support shut down.
- Community health centres, community outreach and trans-led organizations have been defunded, excluded or pushed out entirely due to politics.
- She recommends that:
- Funding efforts concentrate on community-led responses,
- Protecting the Transgender Rights Act 2018 in Pakistan,
- Making the funding conditional on basic human rights,
- Supporting mobile and digital outreach tools in crisis-prone areas.
The TAW program is co-organized by APTN alongside other global trans organisations such as GATE, ILGA World, EATHAN, RFSL and TGEU; and it aims to amplify trans voices in the global stage.
APTN is proud to collaborate alongside Namkeen and TAW organising partners to have difficult but meaningful conversations on issues affecting trans populations like violence, armed conflicts, and funding difficulties at the global stage like Human Rights Council.
‘I come from a region near the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, meaning my home is at the heart of a global conflict. The trans community and broader SOGIESC population are at extremely high risk. This opportunity also allowed me to speak on critical issues behalf of both the Pakistani trans community and a transgender refugee from Afghanistan who is now seeking asylum in Pakistan, directly to key stakeholders and decision makers. For our community, it was a very important and very much needed opportunity’.
Namkeen Pashawri
Namkeen’s Statement:
Distinguished members of the Global Fund Greetings from Namkeen Peshawri
Thank you APTN for the opportunity to speak on behalf of some of the most marginalized voices in Pakistan—transgender people, people living with HIV, sex workers, and young women—communities who rely on your support for survival.
In Pakistan, funding cuts and rising political repression have created a dangerous storm.
Let me share Devia’s story. A 27-year-old transgender woman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Daviia was diagnosed with HIV in late stages. The clinic she trusted was shut due to lack of funding. She died two months ago. Her death was preventable. But she was failed—by systems, by silence, by cuts.
We are seeing:
I lost my job. Many of my transgender colleagues—nurses, outreach workers, peer educators—were left unemployed. Some went back to unsafe sex work, some fell into depression. A few disappeared—we still don’t know if they are alive.
Violence is rising. Last year alone, at least 22 transgender persons were killed in Pakistan. Attacks are rarely investigated. Clinics are closing. And now, even our legal protections are under threat, as the historic Transgender Protection Act 2018 is being challenged and undermined.
In the 2025,
- Over 60% of community health centers reduced services for transgender people due to lack of funding.
- In KP province, community outreach has dropped by nearly 50%, just when we need it the most.
- HIV infections continue to rise, especially among key populations that the state refuses to protect.
- And trans-led organizations are being silenced, excluded from funding cycles, or pushed out entirely due to politics.
- Over 40% reduction in outreach services to key populations since 2022.
- HIV infections increased by 27% in the past decade—the highest in South Asia.
- Transgender individuals are 49 times more at risk, yet are being excluded as the 2018 Trans Rights Act faces political backlash.
- Community-based groups are being silenced, threatened, or defunded.
But there is hope—and solutions we suggest are:
- Fund community-led responses—especially trans-led, women-led, and youth-led groups that have real access and trust.
- Protect the Trans Rights Act 2018 and make funding conditional on basic human rights protections.
- Support mobile and digital outreach tools in conservative and crisis-prone areas like KP and Balochistan.
- Global Fund, you’ve been a lifeline. Please don’t let political fear and funding gaps become a death sentence.
Support us to not just survive—but to lead, to serve, and to protect those who need us most.
Namkeen’s Poem
Don’t cut the cord when we’re trying to breathe,
Don’t seal the door when we’ve just found the keys.
From alleys of Peshawar to Karachi’s cries,
We fight to live where the silence lies.
Don’t cut the aid when the fever runs high,
Don’t dim the flame while we reach for the sky.
A needle, a name, a pill, a plan—
Hope in a packet, held in hand.
Rabia bled where care was thin,
She wore her truth on fragile skin.
They closed the clinic, slashed the light,
And left her battling endless night.
Don’t cut the care when the pain runs deep,
Don’t steal our rights while the world’s asleep.
They ban our pride, erase our past,
But we are seeds—we rise, we last.
Funding cut, but hearts not torn,
We’re rebels, healers, daughters reborn.
In whispers, codes, and midnight calls,
We build safe havens behind brick walls.
Don’t cut the funds when we’ve found our voice,
Don’t mute our song when we’ve made our choice.
Each test, each step, each life we save,
Is not a number, it’s someone brave.
Don’t back away when the fight is near,
Don’t silence truth just to please fear.
Justice isn’t charity—it’s due,
And dignity must come with you.
Hold the line—don’t cut the cord.
Stand with the silenced, not the sword.
The Global Fund is not just aid—
It’s hope, it’s health, it’s life remade.
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