Rights activists condemn the regulation that might punish LGBTQ individuals in addition to those that promote homosexual rights with years in jail.
Ghana’s parliament has voted to move a controversial invoice to severely limit LGBTQ rights, in a transfer that has been condemned by rights activists.
A coalition of spiritual and conventional leaders sponsored the laws that’s favoured by most lawmakers and that handed in parliament on Wednesday.
The invoice would punish those that participate in LGBTQ sexual acts, in addition to those that promote the rights of homosexual, lesbian or different non-conventional sexual or gender identities with time in jail.
The invoice, one of many harshest of its variety in Africa, nonetheless needs to be validated by the president earlier than coming into into regulation, which observers consider is unlikely earlier than a basic election in December.
Activist teams have referred to as the “Human Sexual Rights and Household Values” invoice a setback for human rights and urged President Nana Akufo-Addo’s authorities to reject it.
However the laws is extensively supported in Ghana, the place Akufo-Addo has mentioned homosexual marriage won’t ever be allowed whereas he’s in energy.
Generally known as the anti-gay invoice, it obtained sponsorship from a coalition comprising Christian, Muslim, and Ghanaian conventional leaders, discovering substantial backing amongst members of Parliament.
Homosexual intercourse is already unlawful within the spiritual West African nation, however whereas discrimination in opposition to LGBTQ individuals is widespread nobody has ever been prosecuted beneath the colonial-era regulation.
Beneath the provisions of the invoice, those that participate in LGBTQ sexual acts may face imprisonment starting from six months to 3 years.
The invoice additionally imposes a jail sentence of three to 5 years for the “wilful promotion, sponsorship, or assist of LGBTQ+ actions”.
‘Violates human rights’
A human rights coalition often known as the Huge 18, an umbrella group of legal professionals and activists in Ghana, has condemned the invoice.
“You can’t criminalise an individual’s identification and that’s what the invoice is doing and it’s completely mistaken,” mentioned Takyiwaa Manuh, a member of the coalition.
“We wish to impress on the president to not assent to the invoice, it completely violates the human rights of the LGBT neighborhood,” Manuh instructed the AFP information company.
Opposition lawmaker Sam George, the principle sponsor of the invoice, referred to as on Akufo-Addo to assent to it.
“There may be nothing that offers with LGBTQ higher than this invoice that has been handed by parliament. We anticipate the president to stroll his discuss and be a person of his phrases,” George mentioned.
Members of Ghana’s LGBTQ neighborhood are frightened in regards to the implications of the invoice.
Founder and director of the organisation LGBT+ Rights Ghana Alex Donkor mentioned, “The passing of this invoice will additional marginalise and endanger LGBTQ people in Ghana.”
“It not solely legalises discrimination but in addition fosters an surroundings of concern and persecution,” he mentioned.
“With harsh penalties for each LGBTQ people and activists, this invoice threatens the security and wellbeing of an already weak neighborhood.”
