The Acting Director, Amnesty
International Ghana, Mr Frank Doyi says Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
(LGBT) People have the right to associate with the same sex and therefore their
rights must be respected as human beings.
He said although the Amnesty
International Ghana respects the Constitution of Ghana and operates within the
provisions of the laws of the country, its main focus is to protect the rights
of every human being including gays.
The LGBT+ Community opened an
office recently in Accra as a step to push for the rights of LGBT+ people in
the country.
But after many individuals,
civil society groups, religious groups and leaders called on the government to
close it down, the police shut the office down on Wednesday Morning.
Speaking on Atinka TV’s morning
show, Ghana Nie, hosted by Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, Mr Doyi said,”When it comes
to LGBTQI, what we want everyone to understand is that for us, our main concern
is the fundamental human rights and freedom of all Ghanaians including
Christians, Muslims, Traditional Believers, and even people in the LGBT
Community; Like the constitution provides in Chapter 5, under the provision of
fundamental human rights and freedoms.”
He added that,”…And so if we
accept that people in the LGBT community are human beings, then precisely
because of that, they also have the rights to enjoy, unless they do something
that is against our laws.”
Mr Doyi noted that the laws
exist because of sin, and the laws exist because of punishment, adding that the
same laws indicate how to punish people when they go against it.
He said if they go against the laws, the enforcement agencies
also have the right to deal with them.
“Our concern is that when we go
against someone’s human rights, we have to address it, and so if the LGBT
people engage or do anything against our laws, then we will expect that those
who enforce the laws will deal with them. So as LGBT people are human beings,
we protect their rights,” he said.
Speaking about the fact that
unnatural carnal knowledge or same sex marriage is against the laws of the
nation, Mr Doyi admitted that the constitution allows citizens to take action
when they see someone go against the law as well as the security agencies.
However, he stated that the
police has the responsibility to arrest people who engage in the act publicly
adding that until the police is able to prove someone is doing something
against the law, it will be difficult to arrest them.
Meanwhile, he said Amnesty International
does not support any behaviour that is against the laws, but rather the human
beings.
“We have to be careful that in
our attempt to uphold the constitution, we do not infringe upon the rights of
people. If someone is in his room and no one knows what is going on in the
room, how can we say the person has gone against the law when he or she is in
his room and have right to his privacy,” he said.
He added that persons who are
accused of being gays must be investigated before any charges can be raised
against them.
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