Written Memorandum on the Ghanaian Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill

Dear Committee

We, Human Rights Watch, submit our written memorandum on the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Act, 2025, currently under consideration. Our views and opinions are based on sustained field research and documentation of human rights conditions in Ghana, and broader expertise in international human rights law as it pertains to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons globally.

INTRODUCTION

Human Rights Watch is an independent, non-governmental organization that investigates and reports on human rights abuses in more than 90 countries worldwide. We have documented rights violations affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons across Africa for over two decades, including sustained field research in Ghana since 2016. We submit this memorandum to the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Ghana in connection with its consideration of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025. Our purpose is to set out rights violations associated with criminalization of same sex sexual conduct and the broader penalization of LGBT identity, expression, association, and support, as enshrined in the bill's provisions. This memorandum sets out our serious concerns regarding the bill's compatibility with Ghana's binding obligations under international and regional human rights law and urge the Committee to recommend against the bill's passage in its current form.

SUMMARY OF VIEWS 

Human Rights Watch is gravely concerned that the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025 represents one of the most expansive legislative attacks on rights to come before the Parliament of Ghana. The Bill extends well beyond the regulation of conduct, criminalizing identity, stifling advocacy, dismantling important civil society structures, and compelling citizens to surveil and denounce one another. This violates multiple provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter)[1], the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)[2], and other international legal instruments binding on Ghana.

The specific clauses and sections we are addressing are as follow:

First, the Bill's criminalization of LGBT identity and any other sexual minority identity under Section 3(1)(e) would penalize who a person is rather than any harm they have caused to others, in direct violation of Article 2 and Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Second, the prohibition of consensual same-sex conduct under Section 3(1)(a) violates Articles 4, 5 and 6 of the African Charter, Article 5 and 6 of Protocol to the African Charter on human and peoples’ rights on the rights of women in Africa. It is also inconsistent with Ghana's obligations under the ICCPR as authoritatively interpreted by the UN Human Rights Committee.

Third, the severe measures imposed on expression, advocacy, funding, and association under Sections 9, 11, 12, and 13, with penalties of up to ten years of imprisonment, are disproportionate and otherwise unjustifiable under the permissible limitations recognized by the African Charter, or international human rights law. These measures would effectively eliminate civil society engagement on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity in Ghana, as well of sexual and reproductive health rights.

Fourth, the Bill’s definition of “ally” in Section 18, when read alongside Section 9, exposes journalists, healthcare providers, lawyers, researchers, and human rights defenders to criminal prosecution simply for performing their professional duties. This violates the African Charter’s protections of expression and association and has negative consequences for other rights, notably the rights to public participation, health, and education at all levels.

Fifth, Section 10’s prohibition on any information directed at children that discusses gender identity or sexuality, coupled with the Bill’s explicit exclusion of comprehensive sexuality education from the definition of “human sexual rights,” would deprive children of access to evidence-based health information. This violates article 16 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child[3] as well as the corresponding provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.[4]

Sixth, the mandatory reporting regime under Section 16 and the extradition amendment under Section 19 together create a system of state-enforced denunciation and transnational prosecution that is incompatible with the right to dignity, privacy, and liberty under the African Charter and other international human rights standards.

Human Rights Watch urges the Committee to recognize that the protection of cultural values and the fulfillment of human rights obligations are not mutually exclusive, and that the Bill as currently drafted violates multiple human rights obligations that are contrary to Ghana's international commitments. We call on the Committee to recommend against its passage.

DETAILED COMMENTS

1. Section 3.1.e of the Bill prohibits a person from identifying as lesbian gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, pansexual, an ally, non-binary, queer or any other identity contrary to binary male-female categories

This provision criminalizes identity and not conduct and therefore violates the following:

• African Charter. The rights of LGBT persons to receive protection exists expressly in a number of material respects through 
  • Article 2: "Every individual shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognized and guaranteed in the present Charter without distinction of any kind such as race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, religion, political or any other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status." The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights has interpreted "other status" to include sexual orientation and gender identity[5]in its Resolution 275[6].
  • Article 3: “every individual is equal before the law”. 
  • Article 4: “Human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right”.
• At the 55th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Luanda, Angola, 28 April to 12 May 2014, the Resolution on Protection against Violence and other Human Rights Violations against Persons on the basis of their real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity was adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission), expressly condemning "the increasing incidence of violence and other human rights violations, including murder, rape, assault, arbitrary imprisonment and other forms of persecution of persons on the basis of their imputed or real sexual orientation or gender identity".
• The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol)[7], Articles 2 and 3, require states to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and to protect every woman's inherent dignity. 
• ICCPR[8], 
  • Article 17: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honor and reputation”; 
  • Article 26 “All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, color, sex, language, religion political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.

2. Section 3 (1) (A) of the Bill prohibits same-sex sexual intercourse, with penalties of between 2 months and 3 years in prison

This provision affects the rights to privacy and constitutes degrading treatment incompatible with the right to dignity guaranteed by the following:  

• African Charter, 
  • Article 4 (as above). 
• Article 5: “Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation and degradation of man particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited”. The criminalization of consensual intimacy between adults amounts to a degrading treatment incompatible with the right to dignity.
• Article 6: "Every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person. No one may be deprived of his freedom except for reasons and conditions previously laid down by law. In particular, no one may be arbitrarily arrested or detained". Imprisonment for consensual adult conduct constitutes arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
• ICCPR, Article 17 (privacy) as affirmed by the UN Human Rights Committee in Toonen v. Australia[9] established that criminalization of consensual same-sex conduct violates the right to privacy and the prohibition on discrimination.

In an environment in which homophobic views abound, and few are willing to publicly come to the defense of LGBT people, it is easy for violence to flourish. Human Rights Watch’s research corroborates that LGBT people are often victims of mob attacks, physical assault, sexual assault, extortion, discrimination in access to housing, education and employment, and family rejection on the grounds of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The law against “unnatural carnal knowledge” that is currently used to criminalize same-sex sexual conduct has contributed to the commission of these abuses and acts as an impediment to access to justice, deterring many individuals, victims of crime, from seeking redress and therefore, contributing to a culture of impunity.

• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)[10], 
  • General Recommendation No. 24 (1999)[11] on Women and Health. The CEDAW Committee affirms in paragraph 18 that states parties are required to ensure that health systems are responsive to the needs of all women, including those who are lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, and that discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in access to healthcare and health information constitutes a violation of CEDAW. 
  • General Recommendation No. 28 (2010), On Core Obligations, Article 2[12]. The Committee affirms in paragraph 18 that discrimination against women is inextricably linked with other factors affecting women's lives, including sexual orientation and gender identity. It affirms that states parties must address intersecting forms of discrimination and that CEDAW's protections extend to lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women.
  • General Recommendation No. 35 (2017) on Gender-Based Violence[13], the Committee affirms in paragraph 12 that laws that criminalize sexual orientation and gender identity constitute a form of gender-based discrimination that enables and reinforces violence against women. Paragraph 29 (b) specifically calls States parties to take measures to prevent gender-based violence against women including through legislative measures and ensure that legislation does not create conditions conducive to such violence. Criminalizing LGBT identities and same sex sexual conduct contravene these requirements. 

3. Sections 9, 11, 12, 13 of the Bill on suppression of Expression, Advocacy and Association

Section 9 imposes 5 to 10 years’ imprisonment for producing, disseminating, or distributing any material that promotes an act prohibited under the Bill, or for engaging in any act aimed at changing public opinion. Section 11 criminalizes funding or sponsorship of prohibited acts with 3 to 5 years imprisonment. Sections 12 and 13 mandate the disbandment of existing LGBT organizations and prohibit the formation of any new ones, with 3 to 5 years imprisonment. 

These provisions violate:

• African Charter, 
  • Article 9: (1) "Every individual shall have the right to receive information." (2) "Every individual shall have the right to express and disseminate his opinions within the law." The African Commission has affirmed that permissible restrictions on expression must be strictly proportionate and [14]; blanket criminalization of advocacy does not meet this requirement.
  • African Charter, Article 10(1): "Every individual shall have the right to free association provided that he abides by the law."
  • African Charter, Article 11: "Every individual shall have the right to assemble freely with others. The exercise of this right shall be subject only to necessary restrictions provided for by law, in particular those enacted in the interest of national security, the safety, health, ethics and rights and freedoms of others." The disbandment of civil society organizations and prohibition of new ones under Sections 12 and 13 cannot be justified under these limitations. LGBT organizations pose no threat to national security or public safety. Their disbandment will actively worsen, rather than protect public health by cutting off HIV prevention services. Without evidence of harm, criminalizing vital support for people who are discriminated on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity clearly breaches Article 11 of the African Charter.
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 
  • Article 12: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” 
  • UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant), para. 12(b): “The right to health in all its forms and at all levels contains the following interrelated and essential elements … Health facilities, goods and services have to be accessible to everyone without discrimination, within the jurisdiction of the State party … accessibility includes the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas concerning health issues.”  
  • UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant), para. 18: “the Covenant proscribes any discrimination in access to health care and underlying determinants of health, as well as to means and entitlements for their procurement, on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, physical or mental disability, health status (including HIV/AIDS), sexual orientation and civil, political, social or other status, which has the intention or effect of nullifying or impairing the equal enjoyment or exercise of the right to health.”  
  • UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant), para. 24: “States are under the obligation to respect the right to health by, inter alia, refraining ... from censoring, withholding or intentionally misrepresenting health-related information, including sexual education and information, as well as from preventing people’s participation in health-related matters.”  

Access to health information is a necessary element of the right to health under international human rights law. Organizations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights clearly fill an important role in providing public health information (not only to LGBT people). This prohibition constitutes an unjustified restriction on access to such materials, which violates Ghana's obligation to respect the right to health under ICESCR and other conventions. 

• ICCPR, 
  • Articles 19 (1) “everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference”; (2) everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice”; 
  • Article 22 (1): “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests”.

4. Section 9 and 18 of the Bill on Targeting Human Rights Defenders, Journalists and Healthcare Providers

The definition of "ally" in Section 18 encompasses anyone who produces or disseminates material promoting a prohibited act, exposing journalists, researchers, healthcare workers, lawyers, and civil society actors to criminal prosecution of up to 10 years under Section 9. This violates:

• African Charter, 
  • Article 9 on freedom of expression and information, as above.
  • African Charter, Article 10 on freedom of association, as above.
  • African Charter, Article 16 (1): “Every individual shall have the right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical and mental health.” Exposing healthcare providers to criminal liability for providing care directly obstructs access to health services for specific groups.
• The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (1998), which affirms the right of individuals and organizations to promote and protect human rights without fear of reprisal[15].

5. Section 10 of the Bill on Prohibition of Propaganda Directed at Children

Section 10 mandates a prison sentence ranging from 6 to 10 years for any material directed at a child that “sparks interest” in a prohibited act or imparts knowledge about any gender other than male or female. This provision, when juxtaposed with the Bill’s definition of “human sexual rights” in Section 18, which explicitly excludes comprehensive sexuality education and any matter pertaining to gender identity or reproductive sexual rights, constitutes a violation to the following: 

• African Charter,
  • Article 16 (right to health, as above): Denying children access to evidence-based, age-appropriate health and sexuality education undermines their right to seek and receive information of all kinds aimed at their physical and mental wellbeing.
• African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,
  • Article 14: States parties shall ensure the provision of health education and services to children.
• International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),
  • Article 12, on the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (as above).
  • UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) General Comment No. 14, on the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas concerning health issues (as above). 
  • UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) General Comment No. 14, on equal enjoyment or exercise of the right to health (as above).
  • UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) General Comment No. 14, on the Right to respect the right to health by, inter alia, refraining ... from censoring, withholding or intentionally misrepresenting health-related information (as above).
  • Article 13: “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. They further agree that education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups, and further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace”. This right to education also encompasses access to accurate health information.
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
  • Article 24(1): “States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health . . . .”
  • Article 24(2): “States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures: . . . (e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health . . . .”
  • Article 13(1): “The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.”
  • Article 17: “States Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health.”
• The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has consistently affirmed that comprehensive sexuality education is essential to children's health and development and must not be restricted on grounds of morality or cultural.[16] In its concluding observations on Ghana, the committee specifically recommended that Ghana introduce comprehensive sexuality education into school curricula and ensure that all children have access to accurate and objective sexual and reproductive health information.[17] The UN special rapporteur on the right to education described sexual education as “both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights, such as the right to health, the right to information and sexual and reproductive rights”[18]. 
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 
  • Article 10 (c) on the right to education. According to the General Recommendation no 36 on the rights of girls and women to education[19], when girls and women lack access to high-quality education, they ultimately face major difficulties, including lack of personal autonomy and choices, including control over their health and sexual and reproductive decisions, lower-quality health care for themselves and their children, intergenerational poverty and lack of power-sharing and participation on an equal basis with boys and men in both the private and public domains.

6. Section 16 and 19 of the Bill on Mandatory Reporting and Extradition

Section 16 imposes a legal duty on all persons with knowledge of an offence under the Bill to report it to the police or a community authority within three days. Section 19 consequentially amends the Extradition Act, 1960 to designate all offences under the Bill as extraditable offences. These provisions violate:

• African Charter
  • Article 5 (right to dignity, as above): Mandating citizens to denounce one another on grounds of sexual identity or conduct is degrading to the human person and incompatible with the right to dignity.
  • Article 6, the right to liberty, as above. The mandatory reporting regime creates conditions for arbitrary arrest and detention based on identity alone.
• ICCPR 
  • Article 17 on the right to privacy and Article 26 on non-discrimination. The UN Human Rights Committee has affirmed, in its General Comment No. 16 on Article 17 and in its Concluding Observations on Uganda, that laws criminalizing consensual private conduct between adults causing no harm to third parties, and enforcement mechanisms attached to such laws, including mandatory reporting obligations, are incompatible with the right to privacy under Article 17 of the ICCPR and the prohibition on discrimination under Article 26[20].
• Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) 
  • Article 3 on the right to dignity (as above). 
  • Article 4 on the right to Life, Integrity and Security of the Person. States parties are required to take appropriate and effective measures to prevent and condemn torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment against women. The mandatory denunciation of women to law enforcement on the basis of their identity or intimate relationships constitutes treatment that is incompatible with this obligation. As documented by Human Rights Watch[21], most lesbian women are pressured and sometimes forced to marry men in order to maintain ties with their families and community. Many of those who refuse to do so encounter harassment and violence.
  • Article 8 on Access to Justice and Equal Protection before the Law. The mandatory reporting regime systematically denies lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women the protection of the law. LGBT victims of crime, particularly lesbian and transgender women told Human Rights Watch that the anti-gay law inhibited them from reporting to authorities for fear of exposure and arrest. Ghana’s laws ought to protect everyone from violence, but fear that the anti-gay law could be used against them, combined with social stigma, serves as a barrier to seeking access to justice. 

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The Committee should exercise its constitutional oversight mandate and recommend that the Bill not proceed to a second reading in its current form, on the grounds that its provisions are incompatible with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Maputo Protocol, and Ghana's broader international human rights obligations.

2. The Committee should recommend the removal of Section 3(1)(e) and all related provisions that criminalize a person for identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or any other sexual orientation or gender identity. Criminal law should target harmful conduct towards others, not a punishment of who a person is.

3. The Committee should recommend the removal of Section 3(1)(a) and related provisions criminalizing consensual same-sex conduct between adults in private, in line with Ghana's obligations under Article 18(2) of the Constitution, Article 6 of the African Charter and Article 17 of the ICCPR. 

4. The Committee should recommend the suppression of Sections 9, 11, 12, and 13, which impose criminal penalties of up to ten years for advocacy, funding, and association related to LGBT issues. Freedom of expression, association, and assembly are constitutionally guaranteed rights and reaffirmed by all the international conventions cited in this document. 

5. The committee should recommend the substantive revision of “ally” in section 18 which as currently drafted, exposes journalists, healthcare providers, lawyers, researchers, teachers, parents and human rights defenders to criminal prosecution on the ground of performing their professional duties.

6. The Committee should recommend the removal of the exclusion of comprehensive sexuality education from the definition of "human sexual rights" in Section 18, and the repeal of Section 10 insofar as it prohibits the provision of age-appropriate, evidence-based health and sexuality information to children and young people, in line with Ghana's obligations under Article 14 of the Maputo Protocol and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

7. The Committee should recommend the repeal of Section 16's duty to report, which creates a regime of compelled surveillance and denunciation incompatible with the rights to dignity and privacy under the Constitution, the African Charter, and the Maputo Protocol, and which predictably exposes people including women, to arbitrary arrest, violence, and abuse on the basis of their sexual characteristics, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

8. The Committee should recommend the removal of Section 19, which amends the Extradition Act, 1960 to designate offences under the Bill as extraditable offences. This provision seeks to project Ghana's criminal regime beyond its borders and would expose Ghanaian nationals abroad to prosecution for the exercise of rights lawfully protected in their countries of residence. 

9. The Committee should recommend that Parliament undertake broad, inclusive, and transparent public consultations that give meaningful voice to LGBT Ghanaians, civil society organizations, healthcare professionals, legal experts, and human rights bodies, including Ghana's own Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, which has already warned that the Bill infringes on fundamental constitutional rights, before any further legislative action is taken.

10. The Committee should recommend that any future legislative initiative on matters of sexual conduct, family, and gender be subject to a formal human rights impact assessment measured against Ghana's obligations under the African Charter, the Maputo Protocol, the ICCPR, the ICESCR, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention Against Torture[22], prior to introduction in Parliament.

CONCLUSION

Human Rights Watch respectfully urges the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Ghana to recommend against the passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025 in its current form. 

Although the Bill appears to be a measure aimed at safeguarding Ghanaian cultural values and family life, it extends far beyond any reasonable exercise of those interests. It goes beyond mere regulation of conduct; it criminalizes identity, suppresses expression, dismantles civil society, mandates denunciation, denies health care, and exposes vulnerable members of Ghanaian society to state-sanctioned persecution. Such measures lead to adverse physical and mental health outcomes to LGBT people.

Ghana has long been regarded as a beacon of democratic governance, rule of law, and respect for human rights on the African continent. That reputation has been earned over decades through unwavering constitutional fidelity, independent judicial oversight, and active civic engagement. However, the passage of this Bill would jeopardize the gains made, place at risk the very lives of LGBT Ghanaians, their families, advocates, and healthcare providers, and endanger the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association, right to health and right to privacy of every person in Ghana, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The Committee is encouraged to consider this Memorandum alongside submissions from Ghanaian civil society organizations, legal scholars, and affected communities whose lived experience and contextual knowledge of the Ghanaian legal and social landscape necessarily exceed that of any international organization. We remain available to provide any further comparative analysis or documentation that the Committee may find useful in its deliberations.

Sincerely,

Dr Larissa KOJOUE, Researcher LGBT Rights, Human Rights Watch.

Dr Alex Müller, Director LGBT Rights, Human Rights Watch.

[1] African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, (African Charter), June 27, 1981 (ratified by Ghana, 1989).
[2] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966 (ratified by Ghana, 2000).
[3] African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990 (ratified by Ghana, 2005).
[4] Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force September 2, 1990; ratified by Ghana February 5, 1990).
[6] Resolution on Protection against Violence and other Human Rights Violations against Persons on the basis of their real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity adopted at the 55th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Luanda, Angola, 28 April - 12 May 2014.
[7] Protocol to The African Charter on Human And People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), 2003 (ratified by Ghana, 2005).
[8] International Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 (ratified by Ghana, 2000).
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rights 
[9] In the case of Toonen v Australia, the Human Rights Committee held that states have an obligation to protect individuals from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation (CAT, General Comment No 2 (2008) Implementation of article 2 by States parties, CAT/C/GC/2, para 21).
[10] UN General Assembly, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 18 December 1979, ratified by Ghana on 2 January 1986.
[11] CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 24 (1999) on Article 12 of the Convention (Women and Health), UN Doc. A/54/38/Rev.1, chap. I.
[12] CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the Core Obligations of States Parties under Article 2 of the Convention, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/28.
[13] CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 35 (2017) on Gender-Based Violence Against Women, Updating General Recommendation No. 19, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/35, para 12, 14, 23, 29 (a)(b), 38 (a).
[14] African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Media Rights Agenda and Others v. Nigeria, Communications 105/93, 128/94, 130/94, 152/96 (1998); African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Malawi African Association and Others v. Mauritania, Communications 54/91, 61/91, 98/93, 164/97, 196/97, 210/98 (2000); African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Law Office of Ghazi Suleiman v. Sudan, Communications 222/98 and 229/99 (2003).
[15] UN General Assembly, Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, UN Doc. A/RES/53/144, adopted by consensus on 9 December 1998. 
[16] See, for example, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 4: Adolescent Health, U.N. Doc. CRC/GC/2003/4 (July 1, 2003), paras. 24, 26, 27, 35(c), 37(a); Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 20 on the Implementation of the Rights of the Child During Adolescence, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/GC/20 (December 6, 2016), paras. 59, 61, 33-34. 
[17] UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations on Ghana, UN Doc. CRC/C/GHA/CO/3-5, 2015, para. 46–47. 
[18] UN Human Rights Council, Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Vernor Muñoz, U.N. Doc. A/65/162, July 23, 2010, para. 19.
[19] https://docs.un.org/en/CEDAW/C/GC/36 
[20] https://docs.un.org/en/CCPR/C/UGA/CO/2, para 13 (a), (b), (c), (d).
[21] https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/01/08/no-choice-deny-who-i-am/violence-and-discrimination-against-lgbt-people-ghana 
[22] Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), 1984 (ratified by Ghana, 2000).