Chapter 5 of the Ghanaian Constitution (1992, as amended by the Constitution of the Republic Of Ghana (Amendment) Act, 1996) is dedicated to “Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms”. In this chapter, Article 12 (2) states that 

“Every person in Ghana, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in this Chapter but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest”.

In addition, Article 17(2) prohibits discrimination notably on the premise of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, creed, social or economic status.  

No reference is made to discrimination related to sexual orientation or gender identity in the Ghanaian Constitution. However, it should be noted that same-sex sexual activity is criminalised  under the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) (the “Criminal Code”) (see below legislation). 

In February 2024, an anti-LGBTQI+ Bill entitled ‘Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021’ (the “Family Values Bill” or the “Bill”) passed its third reading in the Ghanaian Parliament. As of October 2025, the President has not signed it into law and therefore the Family Values Bill has not come into effect. Amnesty International  has underlined that “the Bill has been strongly criticized by national and international human rights organizations” and has described it as “one of the most draconian anti-LGBTI rights bills in the continent”.  

The Ghanaian Criminal Code criminalises acts of “unnatural carnal knowledge”. Concretely, section 104 of the Criminal Code states that: 

“(1) Whoever has unnatural carnal knowledge— 

(a) of any person of the age of sixteen years or over without his consent shall be guilty of a first degree felony and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than twenty-five years; or 

(b) of any person of sixteen years or over with his consent is guilty of a misdemeanour; or 

(c) of any animal is guilty of a misdemeanour. 

(2) Unnatural carnal knowledge is sexual intercourse with a person in an unnatural manner or with an animal.”

Interpretation 

The Criminal Code also provides that: 

• “Misdemeanour” shall be construed in accordance with section 296(4) of the Criminal Procedure Code which states that “where a crime (…) is declared by any enactment misdemeanour and the punishment for the crime is not specified, a person convicted thereof shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.”
• Evidence of “Unnatural Carnal Knowledge” is defined in Section 99 of the Criminal Code as: “Whenever, upon the trial of any person for an offence punishable under this Code, it is necessary to prove carnal knowledge or unnatural carnal knowledge, the carnal knowledge or unnatural carnal knowledge shall be deemed complete upon proof of the least degree of penetration.”

In practice, in July 2024, the Country Policy and Information Note on Ghana (UK Home Office) highlighted that: 

According to the Ghana’s Constitution Review Commission “unnatural carnal knowledge is defined at common law to involve penile penetration of anything other than a vagina,” adding: “the law only anticipates the situation where a man has unnatural carnal knowledge of a woman or another man, but does not envisage the situation where a woman engages in unnatural carnal knowledge of another woman.”

However, Human Rights Watch assessed that “While section 104(1)(b) of the Criminal Offences Act in Ghana does not expressly criminalize same-sex conduct between females, Human Rights Watch found that this law impedes lesbian and bisexual women’s ability to seek justice and legal redress”

As mentioned in the preamble, the Family Values Bill (full title: ‘Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values’) passed its third reading in Ghanaian Parliament in February 2024, but has not been passed into law by Presidential Assent. 

Among the Family Values Bill’s provisions are notably: 

“Duty to report (Section 5):

• A person in whose presence an offence is committed under this Act shall report the commission of the offence to a police officer, or in the absence of a police officer to a political leader, opinion leader or the customary authorities of the community in which the offence is committed.”

“Prohibition of LGBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities (Section 6):

(1) A person commits an offence if the person

(a) engages in 

(i) sexual intercourse between or among persons of the same sex; 

(ii) sexual intercourse between a man and an animal or a woman and an animal;

(iii) pansexual activity; 

(b) marries or purports to marry a person who is of the same sex as that person; 

(c) knowingly marries or purports to marry a person who has undergone gender or sex reassignment, except in the case of a person who has undergone a surgical procedure to correct a biological anomaly, including intersex;

(d) marries or purports to marry an animal;

(e) holds out as

(i) a lesbian,

(ii) a gay, 

(iii) a transgender,

(iv) a transsexual, 

(v) a queer, 

(vi) a pansexual, 

(vii) an ally (i.e. means a non queer person who (a) supports or advocates for the queer community, or (b) is an individual within the LGBTTQQIAAP+ community and identifies with another member of the community), 

(viii) a non-binary, or

(ix) any other sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female. 

(f) provides or participates in the provision of 

(i) a surgical procedure for sex or gender reassignment; or

(ii) any other procedure that is intended to create a sexual category other than the sexual category of person assigned at birth except in the case of correcting a biological abnormality including intersex; or

(g) undergoes

(i) a surgical procedure for sex or gender reassignment; or

(ii) any other procedure that is intended to create a sexual category other than the sexual category of person assigned at birth except in the case of correcting a biological abnormality including intersex.

(2) A person who commits an offence under paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), or (g) of subsection (1) commits second degree felony and is liable to a fine of not less than 750 penalty units and not more than 5000 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than five years or both. 

(3) For the purposes of this section, “sexual intercourse” occurs where:

 (a) a person penetrates the anus or mouth of another person with the penis of that person or other contraption; or

(b) a person, by use of any object or contraption, penetrates or stimulates the vagina or anus of another person; or

(c) a person, by use of the penis of the person or any other object or contraption, penetrates the anus or other bodily opening of an animal for sexual gratification.”

“Prohibition of gross indecency (Section 10):

(1) A person who wilfully commits a grossly indecent act is liable to a term of imprisonment of not less than 6 months and not more than 1 year. 

(2) For the purposes of this section, a ”grossly indecent act” notably means 

(a) public show of amorous relations between or among persons of the same sex, 

(b) public show of amorous relations between or among persons where one or more of the persons have undergone gender or sex reassignment; or

(c) intentional cross-dressing to portray that the person is of a gender different from the gender assigned at birth with intent to engage in an act prohibited under this Act.” 

Further sections include:  

• • Prohibition of promotion of and advocacy for activities prohibited under the Bill (Section 12):

• The Bill provides for a jail term of up to 10 years (and not less than five years) for anyone involved in the promotion of activities prohibited under the Bill. Prohibited means of promotion are broad and include “media, technological platform[s], technological account[s] or any other means”. This extends to anyone who “uses an electronic device, the internet service, a film, or any other device capable of electronic storage or transmission to produce, procure, market, broadcast, disseminate, publish or distribute a material for purposes of promoting an activity” prohibited under the Bill (Section 12(1))

• The Bill provides for a similar sentence (up to 10 years) for a person who participates in an activity that promotes or supports sympathy or a change in public opinion towards an act prohibited by the Bill. (Section 12(2)). 

• The Bill aims to disband and prohibit all “LGBTTQQIAAP+” groups, societies, clubs, associations or organisations, and makes it an offence to fund such organisations. Again, contravention of these provisions carries a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment. 
• The Bill aims to prohibit the ability of all LGBTTQQIAAP+ persons to adopt or foster children. This includes “allies” (17(g)) and “a person of any other sociocultural notion of sex or sexual relationship that is contrary to the sociocultural notions of male and female or the relationship between males and females, each of whose gender is assigned at birth” (17(k)).

In December 2024, two challenges to the Bill were dismissed by the Ghanaian Supreme Court on the basis that the Bill was not yet law and therefore the challenges were “premature”. As of October 2025, the Bill has not received Presidential Assent and therefore has not been passed into law.  The Bill was resubmitted to Parliament in mid-2025 to restart the legislative process and there have been increasing calls for the President to push for the Bill to be passed. 

Whilst the Family Values Bill has moved through the Parliamentary process, the Ghanaian legal system has continued to uphold its existing anti-LGBTQI+ legislation. In July 2024, the Ghana Supreme Court upheld the Ghanaian Criminal Code criminalising same-sex sexual activity. Whilst it appears that there have been no convictions under this law, there have been multiple recent instances of arbitrary arrests of individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation (see, for example, these instances in 2021 and 2022). 

Amnesty International has stated that the Family Values Bill and its provisions are in violation of domestic and international law, in particular: 

• it is a clear violation of Article 21 of the Ghanaian Constitution which universally protects all person’s rights to freedom of association and expression; 
• it also contradicts the 2014 Resolution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights which calls on State Parties “to ensure that human rights defenders work in an enabling environment that is free of stigma, reprisals or criminal prosecution as a result of their human rights protection activities, including the rights of sexual minorities”. The Resolution condemns human rights violations and attacks against LGBTQI+ individuals in African States and urges States to end acts of violence and abuse and punish all forms of violence; 
• it restricts transgender people from accessing gender affirming treatment, thereby violating their right to the highest attainable standard of health, which is protected under international human rights law, including by the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, Article 12).

Amnesty International also states The Bill purports to breach several other established frameworks of human rights law, including: 

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, wherein each State Party  covenants to protect individuals from discrimination and uphold rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. 
• African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which is the primary human rights instrument in Africa (and to which Ghana is a signatory). Signatories are legally obligated to protect the rights in the treaty. States are obliged to prohibit torture and ill-treatment, ensure equal treatment of individuals, and protect freedom of expression and freedom of association. However, the Charter can be interpreted conservatively, and includes the following provisions which could be used to restrict LGBTQI+ rights: 
  • Article 18: “(1) The Family shall be the natural unit and basis of society. It shall be protected by the state which shall take care of its physical and moral health. (2) The state shall have the duty to assist the family which is the custodian of morals and traditional values recognised by the community”.
  • Article 17: “(2) The promotion and protection of morals and traditional values recognised by the community shall be the duty of the state”.