Ghana minister orders arrest of all gays in Western Region

Paul Evans Aidoo, the minister for the region, has directed the Bureau of National Investigations and other agencies to find gay people and bring them before the courts.

He has also called on landlords and tenants to inform on those they believe to be gay.

According to Ghanaian news reports, he said: All efforts are being made to get rid of these people in the society.

Mr Aidoo also said that he did not believe estimates of 8,000 gays and lesbians living in the West Region.

According to Joy News, he said: I dont believe it; nobody believes it. We do not see them.

In Ghana, homosexuality is still considered a moral aberration, or even a myth.

The Constitution guarantees the protection of human rights regardless of race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender, but does not mention sexuality.

In practice, few people in Ghana have been convicted of homosexual acts.

Homophobic violence, however, remains a real problem, and gay Ghanaians are generally forced to hide their sexuality behind closed doors.

(By Jessica Geen for PinkNews.co.uk)

Note by Cary Alan Johnson, Executive Director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission:
"We understand that there have been no arrests specifically related to the statements, but that there is a state of fear permeating the local LGBT community--which was likely the intended result. [...] We at IGLHRC are not taking direct action, but supporting the approach of local movement to handling this in-country.