Global outrage over arrest of 21 people for ‘advocating LGBTQI activities’ in Ghana

The U.S. State Department and the World Bank are among foreign aid donors urging Ghana to protect the rights of the country’s LGBTQI community, days after 21 people were arrested for “advocating LGBTQI activities,” according to a police spokesman.

On Thursday, 16 women and five men attending a conference at a hotel in the southeastern city of Ho were arrested by local police.

The group was participating in training for paralegals on documenting and reporting human rights violations experienced by sexual minorities in Ghana, according to the human rights organization Rightify Ghana.

“The [event] was to train them on paralegal services for vulnerable groups — how we can document issues of abuse, and how best these trained paralegals can provide support,”Alex Kofi Donkor, the founder and director of LGBT+ Rights Ghana, told The Guardian.

According to Rightify Ghana, “a group of journalists teamed up with the police to arrest human rights defenders and participants” of the conference.

“At 11:26 a.m. a group of supposed police and media men, budged into the conference room, held [the activists] hostage for about two hours and started taking pictures and videos of them without showing them ID cards or search warrant,” according to a GoFundMe page set up on behalf of the group.

“Anybody who hears this voice should kindly help us. We are currently in a training... and reporters just barge in and say we are having an LGBT conference and they are taking pictures and things of us. Kindly help us. Spread this message,” a message sent by one of the detained people reportedly read.

On Friday they were charged with “unlawful assembly.” They will remain under police custody until June 4, when they are expected back in court.

Since then, LGBTQ activists have taken to social media demanding the immediate release of the group, in a campaign with the hashtag #ReleaseThe21.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department expressed concern over the arrests, saying in a statement that it was “monitoring the situation closely.”

The U.S. “promotes efforts worldwide to protect LGBTQI+ populations from violence and abuse, criminalization, discrimination, and stigma, and to empower local movements and persons seeking to advance the rights of LGBTQI+ persons,” a spokesperson said, according to the Washington Blade.

“We urge national leaders in Ghana to uphold constitutional human rights protections and to adhere to international human rights obligations and commitments for all individuals. This includes members of the LGBTQI+ community,” the statement continued.

“We call on all Ghanaians to respect the provisions under Ghana’s constitution that guarantee freedom of speech, expression, and peaceful assembly.”

According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. gave more than $210 million in aid to the West African nation in 2018/2019.

The World Bank, which has provided almost $150 in low- and zero interest loans and grants to Ghana in 2018/2019 has also expressed concerns over the crackdown on the rights of the LGBTQ community, Reuters reported.

Policemen stand guard in front of Ghana's Supreme Court on August 29, 2013 in Accra. (AFP/)

“We are aware of the challenging context for LGBTI people in Ghana and are watching the developments closely,” a World Bank spokesman said in a statement.

“As a member country of the World Bank Group, Ghana endorsed the Bank’s Environment and Social Framework that has clear, explicit, and mandatory requirements on inclusion and non-discrimination for World Bank financed projects,” the spokesperson added.