UN Special Rapporteurs urge Ghana to withdraw the anti-LGBTI Bill.

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 bill’s first reading took place on August 2, 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 immediate 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 unnecessary 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 several human rights standards including the absolute prohibition of torture.

“Given that LGBTI people are present in every family and every community it is not very difficult to imagine how, if it were to be adopted, this legislation could create a recipe for conflict and violence.”

Source: UN Human Rights

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