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Ghana's Parliament on Wednesday handed a The invoice imposes additional restrictions on LGBTQ rights by imposing jail sentences on those that establish as homosexual or kind LGBTQ teams, which Amnesty Worldwide has referred to as one of many harshest legal guidelines on the African continent.
If the legislation is signed by President Nana Akufo-Addo, it will imply that individuals discovered responsible of figuring out as homosexual may resist three years in jail, the “promoter” of LGBTQ points stated. These thought-about responsible could also be sentenced to 5 years in jail, and people who are concerned could also be sentenced to 5 years in jail. Those that have homosexual intercourse will obtain a five-year sentence as a substitute of three years below the earlier legislation.
The invoice is the newest in a wave of anti-gay legal guidelines handed in Africa: Tanzania, Niger and Namibia have tightened such legal guidelines in recent times, whereas Uganda has adopted an anti-gay legislation that features the demise penalty.
In response to Amnesty, thirty-one international locations on the continent criminalize consensual gay sexual exercise. The rights group stated in a report final yr that many individuals had skilled a rise in homophobic attitudes, habits and rhetoric in recent times.
“There are nonetheless many international locations in Africa the place being LGBTQ is taken into account dangerous or un-African,” stated Linda Nduri, a Kenya-based marketing campaign supervisor for All Out for Africa, a nonprofit group.
Each of Ghana's main political events help the invoice, however in latest days, its passage has slowed because of modifications recommended by Alexander Afenyo-Markin, a member of the ruling New Patriotic Get together, to make it much less stringent. Has been.
He stated earlier this month that Parliament ought to determine whether or not individuals convicted below the anti-gay legislation must be given counseling and requested to carry out group service somewhat than being jailed. However a few of his colleagues in Parliament shouted at him that he must be given a jail sentence.