Ghana: State treatment of LGBTQI+ persons March 2021 © Asylos and ARC Foundation, 2021 This publication is covered by the Creative Commons License BY-NC 4.0 allowing for limited use provided the work is properly credited to Asylos and ARC Foundation and that it is for non-commercial use. Asylos and ARC Foundation do not hold the copyright to the content of third-party material included in this report. Reproduction or any use of the images/maps/infographics included in this report is prohibited and permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder(s). This report was produced with the kind support of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Feedback and comments Please help us to improve and to measure the impact of our publications. We would be extremely grateful for any comments and feedback as to how the reports have been used in refugee status determination processes, or beyond, by filling out our feedback form: https://asylumresearchcentre.org/feedback/. Thank you. Please direct any comments or questions to
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[email protected] Cover photo: © M Four Studio/shutterstock.com 2 Contents 2 CONTENTS 3 EXPLANATORY NOTE 5 BACKGROUND ON THE RESEARCH PROJECT 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 FEEDBACK AND COMMENTS 7 WHO WE ARE 7 LIST OF ACRONYMS 8 RESEARCH TIMEFRAME 9 SOURCES CONSULTED 9 1. LEGAL CONTEXT 13 1.1 CONSTITUTION 13 1.2 CRIMINAL CODE 16 1.3 OTHER RELEVANT LEGISLATION AFFECTING LGBTQI+ PERSONS 20 2. LAW IN PRACTICE 24 2.1 ARRESTS OF LGBTQI+ PERSONS 26 2.1.1 Arrests of gay men 29 2.1.2 Arrests of lesbian women 31 2.1.3 Arrests of cross-dressers 32 2.2 PROSECUTIONS UNDER LAWS THAT ARE DEPLOYED AGAINST LGBTQI+ COMMUNITY BECAUSE OF THEIR PERCEIVED DIFFERENCE 33 2.3 CONVICTIONS UNDER LAWS THAT ARE DEPLOYED AGAINST LGBTQI+ COMMUNITY BECAUSE OF THEIR PERCEIVED DIFFERENCE 36 3.