JUST IN: UN Condemns Detention Of 21 Lesbians, Gays In Ghana

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights office in Geneva has frowned on the detention of about twenty-one lesbian and gay Ghanaian citizens by the country’s authorities.

Ghana Broadcasting Corporation reported that suspected members of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI), comprising of 16 females and five males were remanded following a verdict by a Circuit court on May 21.

They were apprehended by a regional police Command during a meeting at a hotel on May 20 and were subsequently charged for unlawful assembly.

THE WHISTLER reported that Ghana President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had on February 28 warned that same sex marriage or assembly had no place in the country.

But the UN stated that the development contradicted its charter on human right freedom.

It tweeted that the arbitrary arrest of LGBT human rights defenders in Ghana was wrong, adding that they should be released.

“All evidence available points to the fact that they were detained while peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association,” it stated.

The UN further admitted that the arrests of LGBT members in the country allegedly lies in its criminalization, adding that ” in Ghana, same-sex sexual activity falls under the definition of unnatural carnal knowledge, under section 104 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960.”