Ghana’s laws don’t criminalize LGBTQ+ – Former Amnesty International boss

Former Country Director of Amnesty International Robert Akoto Amoafo has descended heavily on persons whipping up what he describes as hate sentiments against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQ+) persons, insisting that nowhere in Ghana’s statutes is the orientation criminalized.

“So, when we talk about lesbians, who are lesbians? Do people understand who lesbians are? Do people understand who transgenders are? And what is the definition of these people in our laws?” he asked.

“There is nowhere in the law where lesbians are criminalized.”

Mr Amoako Akoto was contributing to discussions on the rights of LGBTQI persons in Ghana on The Key Points on TV3/3FM Saturday, February 27.

It comes in the wake of public uproar after the group commissioned an office space in Accra. The office has since been shut down.

Speaking on the issue, the former Country Director of Amnesty International said there is nowhere an LGBTQI person causes harm to another person by their practice.

For him, it is about time Ghana reviewed its laws as most of them are steeped in “colonial” orientation, a situation far outdated over the period.

“People must understand that unnatural carnal knowledge only criminalises an activity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and, especially, to understand, if you look how the law is, it talks about unnatural carnal knowledge and when you explain it in furtherance of the law, it talks about the penetration of the sexual organ.”

But Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act Section 104(2) defines ‘Unnatural Carnal Knowledge’ as “a sexual intercourse with a person in an unnatural manner or with an animal”.

It criminalises the act.