On 28 February 2024, the Parliament of Ghana passed the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill of 2021 in third reading; the legislation includes a prison sentence of up to three years for individuals who engage in same sex conduct and up to five years for individuals engaged in “willful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities”.

If signed into law by the President of Ghana, the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill of 2021, will potentially have a devastating impact on human rights, democracy and economic development.

Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, MP

(Uganda)

President Nana Akufo-Addo should urgently make a public statement unequivocally rejecting Ghana’s regressive Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Act, 2021 without waiting for the Supreme Court’s verdict. Delaying issuance of the public statement rejecting the bill is buying time for the worst to happen and is sending a message that the sweeping hate law can be accepted in Ghana.

The enactment of this draconian bill, a few months after the enactment of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, signals a worrying trend in the erosion of human rights – particularly rights of minority and marginalised groups. We further note that the passing of the anti-LGBT bill stands in sharp contradiction with Ghana’s long-standing commitment and leadership in upholding the culture of tolerance, inclusion, diversity and peaceful societies.

The anti-LGBT bill further contradicts the freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution of Ghana and the country’s commitments under regional and international human rights law – particularly in regard to the principles of equality and non-discrimination; the protection of rights to integrity and security of the person; and other fundamental individual freedoms.

We call on the president to do the right thing – now. While he should respect the ongoing legal challenge against the bill in the Supreme Court, it is important for him as the political leader to issue a statement condemning this bill and giving a clear indication that he does not intend to assent to it, if it is presented to him. The president should speak in defence of the principles of tolerance, inclusion, diversity, and respect of individual freedoms to end the suspension and tension.

Hon. Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, MP (Uganda), Chair of the Human Rights Committee

Prof. Simon-Pierre Iyananio, Honorary Member of Parliament

(DRC)

As a Pan-African, the vote and promulgation of the law criminalizing homosexuality in Uganda in 2023 and the vote of a similar law by Ghanaian MPs in February 2024 oblige me to speak out, to call on Africa to show moderation and above all justice. These two clearly discriminatory laws call out to African parliamentarians and human rights defenders in general.

As a practicing Catholic Christian and a doctor of theology, and drawing conclusions from the many exchanges I have had with LGBTQ+ people and with fellow parliamentarians in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa, I call on all of us to avoid the trap of discrimination and intolerance by learning the lessons

Whether we're talking about the slave trade, slavery, colonization, apartheid or ongoing discrimination against women, it is always with religious and cultural arguments that human beings have sought to dominate, exploit, exclude or mistreat other human beings. Black Africa has paid a high price for violations of rights and attacks on human dignity organized or supported by people who did so in the name of faith in God and in the name of cultural values to be protected. With time, we come to understand that these discriminations were unjustified, but the damage had already been done.

Prof. Simon-Pierre Iyananio, Honorary Member of Parliament of DRC

Hon. Bernard Georges, MP

(Seychelles)

As a parliamentarian from a country which is open and tolerant to the differences in human beings and behaviour, and which recognises the inherent human right of each person to choose our gender identity and sexual orientation, it pains me to read that the Parliament of Ghana has chosen to make the retrograde step of passing the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2021. While I understand that each country must choose its own way of supporting family values, my political career as a lifelong defender of individual rights has brought me to the realisation that force and coercion are not the best means of influencing societal behaviour. Openness and tolerance to differing views and behaviour enrich a society. That is why the Ghanaian Constitution, as well as our own, protects these freedoms. In that respect, thus, I wish to place on record that I stand with the LGBTQI+ community in Ghana, as well as with those who support their rights to be who they truly are. I urge the government of Ghana to reconsider its position in light of the constitutional order of that great country which, through the long exile of King Prempeh of the Ashantis in my own country, and specifically in my constituency, is indelibly connected with us. Hon. Bernard Georges MP (Seychelles)

Hon. Daniel Molokele, MP

(Zimbabwe)

We, as concerned parliamentary champions for human rights all across Africa, do extend our solidarity to our colleagues in Ghana. We reject the new law as unreasonable and unjustified in a democratic society. Africa must unite and take a strong stance against the enactment of such repressive laws. Hon. Daniel Molokele, MP, Chair of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health

Dr. Ruth Labode

(Zimbabwe)

Dear comrades in the struggle against Sexual Rights in Ghana, be still and be strengthened by the Bible commandment in the book of Leviticus, that says Love your Neighbor as yourself. Your Neighbor could easily be a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Love them all same because God is Love. Dr. Ruth Labode (Zimbabwe), Former MP