KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 — Transgender activist Nisha Ayub is scheduled to receive the Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism in Tokyo tomorrow, adding to a string of international awards.
Nisha, who was among four human rights advocates named last August to win the 2015 award from the international rights nonprofit group, said she would be giving a speech in the Japanese’s capital tomorrow.
“It’s all about recognition of [the] trans community [at the] international level,” Nisha told Malay Mail Online today.
“I feel honoured and the award is also about the visibility of the community,” the 37-year-old trans woman added.
Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of HRW’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights programme, described Nisha as a “very prominent” voice of the transgender community in Malaysia, noting the activist’s work in transgender rights groups SEED Foundation and Justice for Sisters.
“Thanks to Nisha’s years of dedication she put equal rights for transgender people in Malaysia on the map,” Dittrich told Malay Mail Online.
“She works in a hostile environment where religious police sometimes arrest transgender people. Through her work she became a lightning rod and an inspiration inside Malaysia but also internationally. She is a woman of courage and Human Rights Watch will honor that in Japan tomorrow night!” he added.
Nisha won the 2016 US Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award last month and received another LGBT rights award from the US city of San Diego, which named April 5 “Nisha Ayub Day”. She was awarded its 2015 “Hero of the Year” at the Asia LGBT Milestone Awards.
