Ghana: Anti-LGBTI draft bill a “recipe for violence” – UN experts
12 August 2021
GENEVA – UN human rights experts* urged Ghana’s Government to reject a proposed ‘family values’ bill, saying it seeks to establish a system of State-sponsored discrimination and violence against the LGBTI community. The first reading of the bill took place on 2 August 2021, and its consideration is expected to resume in October 2021.
“The draft legislation argues that any person who deviates from an arbitrary standard of sexual orientation or gender identity is immediately to be considered dangerous, sick or anti-social,” said the experts. “Such laws are a textbook example of discrimination.
“The proposed law promotes deeply harmful practices that amount to ill-treatment and are conducive to torture, such as so-called ‘conversion therapy’ and other heinous violations like unecessary medical procedures on intersex children, and so-called corrective rape for women,” they added.
The independent experts, appointed by the Human Rights Council, presented an analysis of the draft bill to the Ghanaian Government, concluding that adopting the legislation in its current or any partial form would be tantamount to a violation of a number of human rights standards, including the absolute prohibition of torture. Read further.
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