A razor, nail polish, and beads are part of the new “Unbox Me” campaign launched by UNAIDS to raise awareness among parents, teachers, and the wider community about gender identity in childhood. The initiative coincided with International Transgender Day of Visibility on Friday. “Many of us take our gender identity for granted, but for many children it is not so easy,” said Mahesh Mahalingam, UNAIDS Director of Communications and Global Advocacy. “It’s a matter of daily survival, a daily struggle. Children all around the world must be supported in expressing their identity freely.”
Stigma, discrimination, and criminalization often render transgender and gender‑diverse people invisible, with extreme forms of bias even denying their existence, UNAIDS warned. The “Unbox Me” campaign aims to change that. Created in India, the campaign is now going global as part of an ongoing UNAIDS collaboration with advertising agency FCB India. “In India, children usually have a box to store their most precious possessions, but transgender children must hide their box of treasures because some of their most valued items don’t fit the gender norm society expects them to conform to,” explained Swati Bhattacharya, FCB India’s creative chairperson.
To raise awareness, the campaign has launched a film and recreated the childhood treasure boxes of transgender adults. The contents—ranging from a string of beads to a razor—serve as conversation starters. As part of the #SeeMeAsIAm initiative, the UNAIDS‑FCB partnership released *The Mirror*, a short film about a young boy looking in the mirror and dressing as a woman. Building on that film, “Unbox Me” seeks to bring home the reality of life for transgender children who are denied their true identity. Currently, more than 90 percent of transgender people in India leave home—or are thrown out—by the age of 15, UNAIDS reported, often ending up on the streets with no money or education and relying on sex work.
“Unbox Me is about giving transgender children visibility; it is a call for inclusion and acceptance,” UNAIDS said. In India, the campaign has garnered support from prominent figures such as film director Zoya Akhtar and television anchor Barkha Dutt, as well as the education community. Teachers in many schools are using the campaign’s boxes to start conversations and raise awareness about gender identity.
Transgender people worldwide are frequently marginalized, facing discrimination, violence, and a 34‑times greater risk of acquiring HIV than other adults. More than 20 countries criminalize or prosecute transgender individuals. For example, early in the COVID‑19 response, some governments instituted gender‑specific mobility days during lockdowns, leading to arrests of transgender people who were out on the “wrong” day. UNAIDS works closely with the transgender community, civil‑society organizations, and governments to decriminalize transgender people, secure their rights, and ensure access to health, education, and social protection while protecting them from abuse and exploitation.
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