Humanity Under Attack In Ghana

Earlier this month, youth in Teshie organised and implemented a strict regime of fear and violence targeting a group of women and their families. However, the media's portrayal of these events did not reveal the broader threat these actions have for all families, communities and society in Ghana.

Headlines on Ghana's news websites stated, “suspected group of lesbians assaulted” and “lesbians sh*t-bombed, stoned at Teshie”. While the media's reporting was stark, Ghanaians remain blinded to the most severe threats to human rights and the family structure. By re-telling these events from the perspective of the community members involved in this crisis in Teshie, we hope to make a case for strengthening impartial human rights norms in Ghana.

At the Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights, Ghana (CEPEHRG) located in Teshie, we present these events in terms of the humans affected in our community, and therefore the humanity that was under attack in Ghana. In the first part of this article, labels such as “lesbians” and “gays” are replaced with “women” or “men”.

We intentionally removed these words that bias how we interpret these events to reveals three distinct human rights abuses that occurred in the past month. In the second part, we reengage in the discussion about sexuality to describe why these unpunished crimes, and the sentiments fuelling them, affect us all.

Youth incite violence, invade privacy and threaten women and families in Teshie

On Monday March 2, 2015 CEPEHRG received reports of mob violence at Pillar 14 in the Teshie suburb of Accra. After hearing of these reports from multiple sources, CEPEHRG staff went on a fact-finding mission on Friday March 13, 2015 and gathered the following information to document three human rights violations:

Invasion of Privacy: These events began during the week of February 23, 2015, when a woman in Teshie left her mobile phone at a shop to be charged. While the phone was being charged, someone had taken the woman's phone and distributed pictures stored on the phone without her knowledge or consent. StarFM described one of these pictures as a “private selfie of a tattooed girl kissing her partner in the privacy of their bedroom”.

Later that same week, the woman's mother told CEPEHRG that some youth entered their home and confronted her daughter, insulting them both and threatened to return. To ensure her daughter's safety and report the harassment, the mother issued complaints to five police stations, including the Teshie, Nungua, Labadi, Osu and Jamestown police stations. The woman explained to CEPEHRG that she is no longer able to walk freely in the community. She has since relocated but visits the mother from time to time.

De-humanising violence: On Sunday March 1, 2015, a party was organised in Teshie Pillar 14 to culminate a cultural rite performed for twins – a ceremony typical of the Ga community in Accra. Some youth in the community reported this event to the Teshie Police. The police commander gave the party a “go-ahead” after taking the organisers' statements, confirming the event's purpose as a cultural rite, and visiting the party venue with fellow officers. The organisers went further to seek support from the leader of AKRO (a community based group that ensures order). According to a community member, AKRO gave a note authorizing them to go ahead with the event. Persistent on putting a stop to the activity, youth stormed the event just 30 minutes after it started throwing stones and human excreta at the attendees. There were reports of some party attendees sustaining injuries.

Destruction Of Property:
On the following day (2 March 2015) a similar group of youth demolished a wooden structure where one of the party attendee's grandmother lives. They posted warning notices in the community threatening even worse attacks should they see these women in the community gathering for similar parties or outdooring. The statement was titled “big warning” and read “this is a serious warning to all lesbians and gay in Teshie. If we see any of this bad luck people doing party or outdooring, what we did the first time would be small. Nobody should try this.” The notice was endorsed in the name of AKRO youth.

Humanity Under Attack In Ghana
Taking out the word, “lesbian” out from the story above removes an unnecessary bias that allows many readers to attribute blame to the victims and to ignore the severe human rights violations that occurred. The harassment and fear these actions have inflicted upon innocent community members in Teshie is unconscionable. After a person is degraded to the extent of having human excreta thrown on them, then threatened with more severe human rights abuses, the obvious threat of bodily harm or even death come to mind. To prevent an escalation of these crimes and to demand justice, CEPEHRG has reported these human rights abuses to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and , the police.

From all accounts, the women and their family members who were being targeted committed no crimes, nor had intentions of doing so. For the sake of speculation, Ghana's penal code outlaws certain sexual acts that are deemed “unnatural”, including anal and oral sex (heterosexually or homosexually), but does not necessarily outlaw homosexuality. Certainly, it is not illegal, and rather very natural for people to have sexual interests between the same sex. If it was not natural, then why would people be doing it?

Regardless of the victims' sexuality, reckless youth and mob violence do not have the authority to seek for justice by means cruel or benign. In Ghana, we have a government, judicial system and police, and it's about time we recognise this and check our biases at the door before we call for violence or condone it. Put simply, the victims in these cases were women, mothers, daughters, and grandmothers. They are human and their human rights were violated. When we allow segments of our society to begin deciding on their own accord who is worthy of fear, violence or safety, we degrade humanity entirely. When the families of suspected lesbians or gays are targeted, it not only destroys those families and sends young and vulnerable men and women on a downward spiral. Furthermore, these events threaten the very notion of family because it shows that Ghanaians have allowed fringe elements in society to instruct us through fear and intimidation as to who to love and how to take care of our families.

The police and families should be commended for seeking out justice, but their investigation should not end here. The youth engaged in fear mongering and violence need to be put in line. And together with the families and communities, we need to begin standing up for the human rights of all people, and respond when these rights are threatened by few. The Ghanaian family systems must depend of on equality and diversity for all persons.

For more information about this topic, please contact Mac-Darling Cobbinah by calling +233 277 754247, or e-mail Mac-Darling at [email protected].