Advocacy, Research,
& Policy
Asia Catalyst understands the importance of enacting policy change at the highest
levels. To that end we engage in strategic, independent, and collaborative evidencebased advocacy, aimed at ending discrimination and increasing human rights
protections for all. In 2015, Asia Catalyst continued advocacy on increasing nondiscriminatory access to health services for transgender people in China, as well
as embarking on a one year documentation and advocacy project to highlight the
negative impact of police practices on sex workers’ vulnerability to HIV in China.
CONTINUING THE CAMPAIGN
In 2014, Asia Catalyst partnered with two Chinese
community based organizations to document the
living conditions of China’s transgender female sex
workers. As a direct result of Asia Catalyst’s research
and continued advocacy on transgender sex workers’
vulnerability to HIV, the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) China organized China’s firstever national consultation on trans* people and
HIV in July 2015. This consultation addressed the
current knowledge gap about transgender persons’
vulnerability to HIV in China, and built consensus
on the importance of responding to transgender
persons’ needs and improving HIV interventions for this
population. To bolster community participation, Asia
Catalyst facilitated a pre-meeting workshop that helped
ten transgender leaders form recommendations and
strategies ahead of the consultation. UNDP also invited
Asia Catalyst to present findings and recommendations
from its groundbreaking 2014 report: My Life is Too
Dark to See the Light.
This multi-stakeholder meeting included a diverse
representation of transgender persons, government
officials, and civil society leaders. This was particularly
important as, in China, representatives of the
transgender community rarely have the opportunity to
engage with policy-makers and influence the policies
directly affecting them. International collaboration led to
an important closed-door meeting between the Head
of India’s National AIDS Control Programme and Dr.
Wu Zunyoun, the Head of China’s National Center for
AIDS/STD Control and Prevention.
At the end of meeting, community participants
were invited to submit recommendations to the
government, which included: more extensive work
on data collection and evidence of HIV among the
transgender population, especially among transgender
sex workers as they are most vulnerable to HIV
transmission; creation of more accessible government
counseling and health care service programs; and
engagement between community based organizations
and the China CDC for technical and practical support
on issues related to HIV.
“ We don’t have
data on trans
people, but it doesn’t
mean there is no
epidemic in this
group. With more
knowledge on trans
culture and life style,
we will have more
capacity to help
this group and work
together to respond
to social health and
HIV. ”
-Dr. Wu Zunyou,
Director of China’s National
Center for AIDS/STD Control
Asia Catalyst community partners define
what advocacy means to them in a May
2015 workshop in Bangkok, Thailand.
Asia Catalyst photo, 2015.
20
21
A transgender female sex worker
activist stands in a doorway outside of
a typical work venue for transgender
sex workers in Beijing. Asia Catalyst
photo.