The year has barely begun and already the country is embroiled in yet another controversy regarding gender rights vis a vis Ghanaian ‘cultural values’.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) recently withdrew copies of a Senior High School teachers’ manual amid intense public debate over alleged LGBTQ related content.
This followed public uproar that the material, including a definition of gender identity, was out of step with Ghanaian culture and values, prompting Members of Parliament and other public figures to demand its removal.
NaCCA clarified that the core national curriculum itself contains no LGBTQ content and that the teachers’ support materials are optional guides but the controversy has reignited a broader national conversation about rights, education and human dignity.
At the heart of this debate is a fundamental question: are LGBTQ rights ‘Western imports’ to be rejected or are they part of universal human rights worthy of protection everywhere, Ghana included?
The answer lies not in rhetoric, but in law and principle, both international and domestic.
As repeatedly pontificated in these pages and clearly stated in international human rights treaties and in most modern constitutions, human rights do not depend on where someone lives, what they believe or whom they love as they are universal and inherent to everybody.
They are enshrined in international law through treaties and declarations agreed on by nations, including Ghana.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the mother of modern human rights law, posits that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to these rights without distinction of any kind.
The argument that these protections extend to sexual orientation and gender identity is long settled and unassailable as they are firmly grounded in human rights interpretations and treaty binding guidance.
Ghana has signed and ratified all the major international human rights treaties, not least the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which protect dignity, equality and non discrimination.
These instruments affirm the rights such as freedom from discrimination, equality before the law, due process and personal liberty which apply to all, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Chapter 5 of Ghana’s Constitution is almost a carbon copy of the main fundamental rights in the global human rights system.
For example, Article 17(1) specifically ensures that all persons shall be equal before the law and discrimination is prohibited on various grounds.
While the text of the Constitution does not explicitly list sexual orientation, the broad commitment to equality, dignity and freedom from discrimination provides a solid constitutional foundation against arbitrary exclusion or harm to any group.
Furthermore the Directive Principles of State Policy urge the state to cultivate respect for human rights and freedom and promote integration without prejudice or discrimination.
This Directive invites policymakers and society alike to consider the spirit of inclusion inherent in Ghana’s constitutional architecture.
The anti-LGBTQ brigade argue gay rights are antithetical to Ghanaian culture.
This is a fallacy as many anthropological writers have unearthed the existence of the phenomenon in ancient Ghanaian culture.
Further, the principle that everyone is entitled to basic human rights, regardless of identity, is not a foreign concept.
It is a cornerstone of Ghana’s constitutional democracy and the international human rights framework to which the country voluntarily ascribes.
Protecting LGBTQ rights does not compel anyone to change their beliefs or values.
Rather, it ensures that all citizens can live free from violence, discrimination, and stigma, conditions that undermine social cohesion and national development.
LGBTQ persons have suffered and continue to suffer harm.
There are credible reports and evidence of violence, harassment and exclusion that they suffer on a daily basis, thus necessitating an urgent need for protection.
The recent curriculum controversy provides an opportunity for Ghana to reaffirm its commitment to human rights education.
Teaching about concepts like gender identity or sexual orientation within a health or human rights framework DOES NOT equate to advocacy.
Rather, it equips young people to understand diversity, respect each others dignity and uphold the rights that make peaceful coexistence possible in a pluralistic society.
If Ghana is to live up to its constitutional promise of equality, justice and respect for all persons, then it must ensure that its laws, policies and educational frameworks protect the rights of everyone, regardless of who they are or whom they love.
Remember, human rights are indivisible, universal and essential to the prosperity and dignity of EVERY Ghanaian
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh
