Ghana LGBT+ bill would threaten fight on HIV/AIDS, says UNAIDS

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A proposal to criminalize LGBT + people in Ghana is “a gross violation” of human rights and, according to the United Nations, could set back a decade of progress in fighting HIV / AIDS in the West African nation.

The Act to Promote Proper Human Sexual Rights and the Ghanaian Family Values ​​Act, 2021, was passed in parliament on Monday in first reading. It is now being reviewed by a committee before it goes back to the legislature for a second reading.

“This proposed law is a gross violation of the human rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in Ghana, which are already exposed to high levels of violence, abuse, stigma and discrimination,” said Patrick Brenny, of UNAIDS Programs in the West and Africa heads in the middle.

“UNAIDS is fully on the side of human rights, expresses its solidarity with LGBT people in Ghana and calls on the legislature to reject this law.”

Gay sex in Ghana is punished with up to three years in prison.

The bill goes further by setting a maximum prison sentence of five years for anyone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, pansexual and non-binary – that is, for someone who does not identify as male or female.

It also makes advocating for LGBT + rights, sympathy, or offering financial or medical help to LGBT + people or their organizations a criminal offense that can be punished with up to 10 years in prison.

According to UNAIDS, around 470,000 Africans living with HIV die each year because they cannot or do not get tested and therefore do not receive treatment.

Groups at risk include men who have sex with men, as well as transgender people and sex workers who are persecuted and stifle their chances of getting help.

Around 60% of the 350,000 Ghanaians living with HIV are currently receiving antiretroviral therapy. Among the estimated 55,000 men who have sex with men living with HIV in Ghana, the number drops to 3.7%, data shows.

Brenny said while AIDS-related deaths in Ghana have fallen by more than a third to 13,000 since 2010 and new infections have decreased by about a fifth, the law would create “strong headwinds” against future advances.

“If this law is passed, it will certainly continue to remove people from HIV prevention, care and treatment services and jeopardize the progress that has been made,” he said.

A 2019 study found that thousands of gay men in Africa are likely to die from HIV-related diseases due to homophobic laws.

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Major foreign aid donors, including the United States, have also expressed concerns about the proposed law and its implications.

A US State Department spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation he was concerned about “the rise in anti-LGBTQI + rhetoric and actions” and is watching closely.

The United States is Ghana’s top foreign aid donor, providing more than $ 210 million to a number of projects in 2018/19, data shows.

The European Union, Great Britain and the World Bank – which provided a total of US $ 265 million in 2018/19 – urged Ghana to maintain the protection enshrined in the country’s constitution.

“The EU actively condemns discriminatory laws, policies and practices, including the criminalization of consensual same-sex relationships between adults or transgender identities,” said an EU spokesman.

A World Bank spokesman said “institutionalized discrimination” has serious consequences in everyday life.

“When laws are passed that prevent people from fully participating in the labor force, economies suffer,” he said, calling on Ghana to accept “equal opportunities”.

Reporting by Nita Bhalla @nitabhalla, Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths. Please mention the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the non-profit arm of Thomson Reuters that covers the lives of people around the world who are struggling to live freely or justly. Visit news.trust.org