Government under fire over LGBT violence

Human rights campaigners are calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ghana after a new report found violence towards LGBT people and their family members is on the increase. The report, No Choice but to Deny Who I Am: Violence and Discrimination Against LGBT People in Ghana, has revealed the retention of a colonial-era provision in the country’s Criminal Offences Act prohibiting and punishing ‘unnatural carnal knowledge’, coupled with a failure to actively address violence and discrimination, is relegating LGBT Ghanaians to ‘effective second-class citizenship’. Human Rights Watch, which published the 72-page report, has also said LGBT people continue to be attacked by mobs or even by their own family members. It interviewed 114 LGBT people for the report, as well as representatives for human rights organisations based in Ghana, a Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) complaints officer, the assistant police commissioner and three diplomats. The Independent reports that while LGBT people are rarely, if ever, prosecuted under the country’s anti-gay laws, Wendy Isaack, LGBT rights researcher for Human Rights Watch, said it directly contributes to the climate in which violence against LGBT people is common. ‘Homophobic statements by local and national government officials, traditional elders, and senior religious leaders foment discrimination and in some case incite violence,’ she added.