Vietnam passed a law enshrining rights for transgender people in a move advocacy groups say paves the way for gender reassignment surgery in the authoritarian communist nation. People who want the operation, which is illegal, tend to have it done in nearby Thailand.

The new legislation will allow those who have undergone reassignment to register under their new gender. The law will come into effect early in 2017 after 282 of 366 lawmakers voted in favour.

“Individuals who undergo transgender change will have the right to register” under their new gender with “personal rights in accordance with their new sex”, reported the state-controlled VnExpress website, citing a national assembly report.

The law is an attempt to “meet the demands of a part of society … in accordance with international practice, without countering the nation’s traditions”, said the report from the Vietnamese parliament. Read more via the Guardian