UN mounts tension on Ghana to release 21 LGBTQ+ activists

The UN human rights experts on Friday censured the capture and claimed discretionary confinement of 21 individuals shielding the privileges of lesbian, gay, sexually open, trans, and sex assorted (LGBT) people group.

On 20 May 2021, Ghananian police captured 21 common liberties protectors (16 ladies and five men) who were directing paralegal preparing for the security of the basic freedoms of sexual minorities in Ho, Ghana. They were remanded in police authority by the Ho Circuit Court and accused of unlawful get-together.

“We are profoundly worried by the captures of the common freedoms protectors. All proof accessible to us focuses on the way that they were confined while they were calmly practicing their privileges to the opportunity of articulation, quiet gathering, and affiliation,” said the specialists.

“Common freedoms protectors assume a critical part in shielding weak gatherings from brutality and separation and engaging them to guarantee their basic liberties. Ghana ought to guarantee that nobody is condemned for safeguarding the crucial privileges of LGBT individuals.”

The specialists likewise brought up that the foundation of the captures purportedly lies in the criminalization of consensual same-sex direct. In Ghana, same-sex sexual movement falls under the meaning of “unnatural fornication”, under area 104 of the Criminal Offenses Act, 1960, which forced the greatest punishment of three years’ detainment.

“Detainment on prejudicial grounds, including for battling brutality and segregation dependent on sexual direction and sex character, is self-assertive by its own inclination and abuses global common freedoms law. The Government of Ghana should deliver them quickly and genuinely,” the specialists said.