Singaporean transgender woman wins appeal to stay in UK citing fear of persecution

The 33-year-old, whose identity was kept anonymous, sought asylum because she would be liable for reservist duties back in Singapore. 

File photo of soldiers marching. (Photo: TODAY)

SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old Singaporean transgender woman won her appeal earlier this week to stay in the United Kingdom in order to avoid serving out her remaining National Service (NS) liabilities.

Her lawyer S Chelvan, from No5 Chambers, told Channel NewsAsia he has received no notification regarding further appeals from the Home Office.

When asked about this, the Ministry of Defence said: “All male Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents above the age of 18 years are required to serve National Service if they are medically fit. Those who are legally declared female will not be required to serve NS.”

Ms EFH, as the Singaporean was known in court documents, is liable to fulfil NS duties as she has yet to undergo a full gender reassignment procedure, according to a press release by her lawyer's firm, which described her as a "pre-operative trans woman". 

"FUNDAMENTAL BREACH OF HER RIGHT"

The Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) in UK had dismissed the Home Secretary's appeal of an earlier ruling to allow the Singaporean's asylum application. The Home Office lawyers had argued that punishment for refusal to perform NS was not persecution as it was not linked to discrimination.

Mr Chelvan, however, said that returning Ms EFH to Singapore would be "returning a woman to her home country to be punished as a man".
In the original First-tier Tribunal ruling, the judge there had stated: "I would also have allowed the appeal under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the basis that requiring the appellant to live as a man, even for a period of two weeks a year to undertake military service would be a fundamental breach of her right to private life and expression of her gender identity."
According to court documents, Ms EFH was born male in 1983 but realised in about 2002 that she was psychologically female. The Singaporean went to the UK as a student in Sep 19, 2004, and since then, presented herself as female and behaved and socialised as such in the UK, the documents showed.
Before that, she had completed NS between December 2001 and June 2004. She extended her student leave twice, and on her second application for further leave to stay in the UK in November 2012, she stated that she was "transgendered and lesbian and that her gender was not legally or socially recognised in Singapore".
Ms EFH is liable for NS duties until 2023. If she does not serve, she will have committed an offence against the Enlistment Act and faces up to three years in jail, a fine of S$10,000, or both.

- CNA/kk