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Leading rights group Amnesty International has condemned Ghana’s authorities for carrying out medical tests on the private parts of two male students accused of having sex with each other.
The tests amounted to “torture and degradation of their human dignity” in violation of Ghana’s constitution, Amnesty’s Ghana spokesman Robert Amoafo told BBC Pidgin.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Ghana, with religious groups and politicians such as the speaker of parliament opposed to legalising it.
The two, aged 18 and 23, were allegedly caught having sex when other students barged into their room at a private hostel at a university in Takoradi, the main city in Ghana’s Western Region.
Regional police spokesperson Olivia Adiku confirmed to BBC Pidgin that medical tests had been carried out on the genitals of the two, as part of investigations into the incident.
Background
Two men were arrested in Takoradi in the Western region for allegedly engaging in homosexuality.
The suspects Amos Abuakwa, 23, and Percy Ansah, 18, were picked up after they were caught by two students of the Takoradi Technical University Benjamin Asare and Isaac Amankra who became suspicious after hearing unusual noise from the room of one of the suspects, who is also a student of the technical university.
The 18-year-old suspect is reported to be a final year student of Ideal College, a private senior high school in the area.
The development comes as homosexuality is reported to be on the rise in the Effiekuma community in Takoradi.
Meanwhile, a recent report by Human Rights Watch said the LGBTs are treated as second-class citizens due to what it termed “colonial-era laws that criminalizes same-sex activity.”
Human Rights Watch is therefore questioning the retention of section 104 of the Criminal Offences Act since that is thwarting efforts to protect the rights of members of the LGBTI community.
By: Graphic.com.gh
