The Minority Caucus on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament has taken note of Ghana’s decision to abstain from a vote involving the LGBTQ community at the fifty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council (HRC59) held at the United Nations (UN) Office in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Press Statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the matter. The Caucus notes with regret the Government’s double standards on the issue of LGBTQ and the Ministry’s attempt to rationalise such double standards. The Caucus, therefore, deems it necessary to correct the misinformation put out by the Ministry for the education and information of the general public.
1. The mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (IE SOGI) was created by the UN Human Rights Council by Resolution 32/2 adopted on 30th June, 2016.

2. Among his functions, the Independent Expert is to raise awareness of violence and discrimination against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity; foster the implementation of measures that contribute to the protection of all persons against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and address aggravated forms of violence and discrimination faced by persons on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.


3. The performance of this mandate, obviously, requires the recognition that people have the right to any sexual orientation of their choice, and the right to determine their sexual identity.

4. Indeed, in his 12th July 2018 report submitted to the 73rd UN General Assembly, the Independent Expert states that the notion that human beings are born male or female is “a preconception that must be challenged if all humankind is to enjoy human rights” (par. 6). He, therefore, recommended that States take measures to enact “laws and regulations [that] provide marriage equality to trans people on an equal basis with other persons” (par. 78(a)) and “enact gender recognition systems concerning the rights of trans persons to change their name and gender markers on identification document” (par. 81(d)).


5. It is for this reason that, in 2016, several countries, and particularly almost all the African countries on the Human Rights Council at the time, including Algeria, Nigeria, Togo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Morocco, Burundi, Congo, and Kenya, voted against the resolution creating the mandate of the IE SOGI. Regrettably, Ghana, at the time, under the leadership of H.E. President John Dramani Mahama, joined few other countries to abstain from the vote.


6. Under Resolution 32/2, the mandate of the IE SOGI was to be for a period of three (3) years. At the end of this initial mandate however, it was extended in June 2019 by Resolution 41/18 for another three (3) years, and subsequently, in July 2022 by Resolution 50/10 for another three (3) years which expired in July 2025. It is important to state that Ghana was not a member of the Council between 2019 and 2022 and, thus, did not vote on the resolutions extending the mandate.


7. Ghana returned to the Human Rights Council in January 2024, and had the opportunity at this 59th Session of the Council to make a statement in respect of her position on LGBTQ issues, through the vote on the resolution to extend the mandate of the IE SOGI, but again, chose to abstain.


8. The statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the question before the Council was whether persons who identify as LGBTQ should be protected against violence and discrimination or not is totally false.


9. The question before the Council was whether to extend the mandate of the IE SOGI, which had ended, for him to continue performing the functions above, which invariably includes the promotion of LGBTQ rights (see par. 2 of Draft Resolution).


10. It cannot be the case that the several countries who have consistently voted against the mandate do so out of support for violence or discrimination against the LGBTQ community; rather, their opposition is directed at the recognition and promotion of LGBTQ identities themselves.


11. It cannot, also, be correct that Ghana abstained from the vote because of Chapter Five of the Constitution. Nothing in article 17 of the Constitution cited by the Ministry supports individual choice of sexual orientation or gender identity. Indeed, article 12 of the Constitution is clear that the fundamental human rights enshrined in the Constitution are “subject to … the public interest.”


12. It is important to state that what the international community calls discrimination against the LGBTQ community includes laws that criminalise LGBTQ activities, such as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, which the current Government, then in opposition, championed and promised to sign into law when elected into office. It is the laws like these that the IE SOGI is established to help prevent. In his 17th April, 2025 Report presented to the Human Rights Council, for instance, IE SOGI that urges that “States should end the practices of de jure and de facto criminalisation” of LGBTQ.


13. Ghana’s decision to abstain from this vote is, thus, a sign of Government’s indifference to proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values which they promised to uphold.


14. The Government’s failure to lay the Anti-Gay Bill in Parliament for it to be passed into law, and its consistent abstinence from votes relating to LGBTQ issues is a clear manifestation of its double standards on LGBTQ issues and the promotion of Ghanaian family values.
Our criminal laws already criminalise certain practices relating to LGBTQ activities which are at variance with Ghanaian values and practices. It is, therefore, disappointing that on two separate occasions, this very Government has failed to join other like-minded countries to project these Ghanaian values and norms at the international level.
While we do not support any form of violence against any person, including persons who identify as LGBTQ, we remain committed to upholding the integrity of our nation and defending her norms, values and practices, both home and abroad, and urge the general public to join us on this noble cause for people and country.

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