A/HRC/38/28 50. In Pakistan, the Resident Coordinator’s Office, UNDP, ILO, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and UN-Women provided support for the development of a responsive policy to protect the transgender community through policy reform, legislation and the establishment of protection mechanisms. In collaboration with the National Commission for Human Rights, the United Nations supported a comprehensive series of consultations with transgender persons and groups, human rights organizations and relevant government stakeholders from the four provinces, on developing legislation to protect transgender persons in Pakistan, and provided technical assistance for its drafting. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill was approved by the Senate in March 2018 and by the National Assembly in May 2018. The bill applies a definition of the term “transgender” that is inclusive of people with gender identities beyond the binary concept of male and female. Notably, it reaffirms guarantees of all fundamental rights outlined in the Constitution to transgender persons, provides for official recognition of a person’s gender identity without requiring consent from a medical board, prohibits discrimination, and lays out penalties for acts of discrimination and violence against transgender persons. The United Nations assisted in dialogue and consultation and supported transgender persons’ organizations in advocating and engaging with legislators at the federal and provincial levels, and has advocated for specific measures for protection and respect of the rights of transgender persons in a number of areas, such as health care, education, access to training and employment, and protection measures. Legislative and policy reforms in the four provinces are currently being introduced, which are aimed at destigmatizing and ensuring inclusion. Furthermore, the National Commission for Human Rights is planning the establishment of a help desk that will provide legal aid, assistance in access to social security and information for transgender persons. UNDP and UNAIDS are planning measures to assist communities in Pakistan that face higher levels of vulnerability and exclusion, on account of their gender identities, in accessing expeditious, timely and comprehensive social justice. 6. Anti-drug policy, the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights 51. It is noted in the outcome document of the special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem9 that efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to effectively address the world drug problem are complementary and mutually reinforcing. The document signals a shift to drug control by adopting a cross-cutting human rightsbased approach and establishing linkages to key priorities of the United Nations system, including the Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) supported the Government of Myanmar in developing a new national drug policy, guided by the outcome document and the Sustainable Development Goals, making Myanmar the first country in South-East Asia to adopt, at the national level, the framework derived from the special session. Under the new national drug policy, a peopleand health-based approach is adopted, and the priority areas identified are supply reduction and alternative development, drug demand reduction and harm reduction, international cooperation, research and analysis, and compliance with human rights. Furthermore, in order to advance the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 3, and the promotion of human rights, the new policy recognizes the importance of drug treatment in prisons and recommends investment in prison reform to address prison management and improve access to prison health services, including drug treatment service. UNODC, UNAIDS and WHO are also spearheading a project on the improvement of health in prisons. On 17 April 2018, Myanmar released more than 6,000 prisoners who had been convicted for drugs offences. The recent amendment of the drugs law and the new drugs policy had an impact on the decision by the President to pardon prisoners convicted of drug-related offences. Similar initiatives are under way in Colombia and Tunisia. 9 General Assembly resolution S-30/1, annex. 13