Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has clarified Ghana’s position on its abstention in a United Nations Human Rights Council vote on July 7, 2025, to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (A/HRC/59/L.2). Speaking as part of the government’s response through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ablakwa emphasized that Ghana’s vote pertained solely to issues of violence against women and other forms of sexual orientation, not an endorsement of LGBTQ+ rights.
“Ghana only voted on issues concerning violence against women and other forms of sexual orientation, not in support of LGBTQ+,” Ablakwa stated, addressing criticisms from MPs and advocates who have slammed the abstention as a betrayal of Ghana’s conservative values. The resolution, which passed with 29 votes in favor, 15 against, and Ghana among three abstaining nations, has fueled intense debate amid efforts to advance the “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill.”
The anti-LGBTQ+ bill, reintroduced in February 2025 by Assin South MP Reverend John Ntim Fordjour and nine others, seeks to criminalize same-sex relationships, advocacy, and related activities. Critics, including Okaikwei Central MP Patrick Boamah, who called the abstention “shocking,” Ningo Prampram MP Samuel Nartey George, who deemed it against Ghana’s “espoused position,” and Moses Foh-Amoaning, who labeled it “the wrong decision,” have urged swift action on the bill. Ntim Fordjour also issued a one-week ultimatum to name those delaying its gazetting.
In a July 9 press release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated that the abstention aligns with Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which defines gender as male or female, and clarified that the vote focused on protection from violence and discrimination, not supporting LGBTQ+ rights. Minister for Government Communications Felix Ofosu Kwakye, in a July 7 Asempa FM interview, defended the Mahama administration, stating that President John Dramani Mahama is working to pass the bill as a government initiative and criticized the previous NPP government for failing to advance it during its eight-year tenure.
Ablakwa’s clarification seeks to address the backlash, including from Foh-Amoaning’s National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, which has proposed constitutional amendments to criminalize LGBTQ+ activities.
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