"Ghana\u2019s fight over anti-LGBTQ law threatens $20 billion debt deal"

" Ghana\u2019s fight over anti-LGBTQ law threatens $20 billion debt deal \r\n\r\nGhana\u2019s Supreme Court will on Wednesday start hearing a case that has the potential to both threaten the West African country\u2019s $20 billion debt restructuring and test the World Bank\u2019s commitment to support\u00a0LGBTQ rights.\r\n\r\nThe court is being asked to strike down legislation that would\u00a0jail those who identify as LGBTQ\u00a0and punish\u00a0others \u2014 family members, co-workers, teachers \u2014 if they fail to inform on them to the authorities.\u00a0If the court rejects the appeal, the World Bank will face a dilemma: should it continue to support the anti-poverty fight\u00a0in Ghana or defend liberal values.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s a decision that\u2019s likely to reverberate way beyond Ghana\u2019s borders, setting a precedent for how the Bank handles the erosion of LGBTQ and other human rights globally.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe World Bank doesn\u2019t want to stop lending because there is such\u00a0great need,\u201d said Elana Berger, the executive director of the Washington-based Bank Information Center,\u00a0which works with activists to make development finance more accountable. \u201cIt\u2019s trying to walk a fine line between carrying out critical development\u00a0projects and demonstrating its commitment to non-discrimination.\u201d\r\n\r\nGhana\u2019s normally tight-lipped finance ministry warned in a leaked memo\u00a0in April that if the government endorses the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill it could jeopardize\u00a0$3.8 billion of World Bank funding over the next five to six years; potentially derail a $3 billion bailout program from the International Monetary Fund and hurt the country\u2019s efforts to restructure $20 billion of external liabilities.\r\n\r\nUganda approved similar legislation in May 2023. In the following August the World Bank halted new funding to the country, warning that the law \u201cfundamentally contradicts\u201d\u00a0its values. But the Washington-based lender is acutely aware that it cannot be seen to be interfering in a sovereign country.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s also mindful that cutting lending to African countries risks spurring them to borrow more from China, the top geopolitical rival of the US, the World Bank\u2019s biggest shareholder, said Paul Cadario, who spent almost four decades working at the institution before joining the University of Toronto.\r\n\r\nIn response to questions from Bloomberg News, the World Bank said that it doesn\u2019t comment on bills before they become law, adding that it has a \u201clongstanding and productive relationship with Ghana.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs\u00a0recently as 2021, it described the country as a \u201crising growth star and a beacon of hope for West Africa.\u201d Today however, Ghana is heavily indebted. It stopped making most of its debt repayments more than a year ago. And the future of both its restructuring and key government programs now rely on the continued support of the World Bank and IMF, which said it would wait for the court process to \u201cplay out\u201d before making any comment.\r\n\r\nThe World Bank is monitoring the progress of the legislation and preparing options to respond, according to people familiar with its operations, who asked not to be identified because deliberations are taking place in private. Even if the Supreme Court denies the appeal the law would still need to be ratified by President Nana Akufo-Addo \u2014 who will leave office after elections in December \u2014\u00a0and\u00a0who has yet to say whether he supports the legislation.\r\n\r\nBut there is a further complication. Both main contenders for the presidency \u2014 Mahamudu Bawumia\u00a0and\u00a0John Mahama \u2014 have attempted to outdo each other on populist issues. The anti-LGBTQ bill has been no exception.\r\n\r\n\u201cIn an election year, you have to be very careful,\u201d said Charles Abani, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ghana. \u201cThe international community fades into the background.\u201d\r\n\r\nDespite glimpses of progress in recent years \u2014 Gabon, Angola and Botswana have all decriminalized homosexuality \u2014\u00a0other countries\u00a0on the continent such as\u00a0Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, and Niger\u00a0are considering introducing legislation that deepens anti-homosexual discrimination.\r\n\r\n Rights vs Funding \r\n\r\nTo borrow from the World Bank, countries must commit to respect \u201cenvironmental and social standards\u201d that protect communities from harm and exclusion in projects the lender finances. Where there\u2019s a risk of these standards not being met, the borrower has to put in place mitigation measures to prove that authorities are still able to implement the projects in a way that isn\u2019t discriminatory or harmful.\r\n\r\nBut anti-LGBTQ laws would elevate that risk, according to the World Bank\u2019s anti-discrimination guidelines.\r\n\r\n\u201cTo what extent can we negotiate the lives of people\u201d said Alex Kofi Donkor, the director of the activist group LGBT+ Rights Ghana. \u201cThe only option is for the bill to be struck down.\u201d\r\n\r\nSupporters say the legislation \u2014 passed in February \u2014 is necessary to address gaps in a colonial-era law that already bans gay sex in Ghana, but which has been widely ignored for decades. It hasn\u2019t generated as many international headlines as the measures in Uganda, originally introduced in 2014, which were subsequently revoked after an international clamor including the suspension of a World Bank loan.\u00a0Uganda\u2019s version\u00a0grabbed global attention by prescribing the death penalty for \u201caggravated homosexuality\u201d for certain offenses.\u00a0Having same-sex relations in Uganda carries a penalty of as much as life in prison, but identifying as homosexual isn\u2019t itself criminal.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Ugandan law targets LGBTQ people in such a horrible way,\u201d said Donkor. \u201cBut the Ghanaian bill goes even further.\u00a0Even the family members of LGBTQ\u00a0persons could go to prison if they don\u2019t report them. That\u2019s why we keep reiterating how extreme this bill is.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe legislation appears to borrow from Nigeria, which outlawed civil society organizations that support LGBTQ groups in 2014, and from Uganda which drastically increased prison penalties. But it also draws from Russia by criminalizing speech, Hungary by preventing LGBTQ education and Saudi Arabia by targeting content providers which could extend to streaming services like Netflix Inc., said Kristopher Velasco, an assistant professor in the department of sociology at Princeton University.\r\n\r\n\u201cOther countries have one piece of the bill,\u201d said Velasco, \u201cGhana pulls all of them together into one dramatic legislation.\u201d\r\n\r\n Sovereignty Struggles \r\n\r\nAnti- LGBTQ activists are looking to coordinate efforts across the continent. At Uganda\u2019s Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, overlooking Lake Victoria and a short drive from the country\u2019s main airport in Entebbe, Sarah Opendi, Uganda\u2019s minister of state for mineral development, took the stage last week to welcome parliamentarians from Ghana, Comoros, Zambia, Ethiopia, Kenya and beyond to the second African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty.\r\n\r\nThe gathering emphasized the perceived conflict between international lending standards and family values. And hinted at the possibility of clashes between some governments and\u00a0lenders.\r\n\r\n\u201cFor decades, international institutions and donor countries have been providing substantial, much-needed foreign aid to address the multi-faceted needs of our countries,\u201d a promotional note read. \u201cHowever, along with this support, have often come requirements to implement policies and programs, which directly impact our national sovereignty, African culture, family values, and Africa\u2019s children.\u201d\r\n\r\nDavid Bahati, Uganda\u2019s state minister for trade who\u00a0introduced the original anti-LGBTQ bill in 2014\u00a0told the conference of the danger that \u201cwe are going to continue to be bullied, we are going to continue to be manipulated, we are going to continue to be influenced\u201d \u2014 a possible reference to Uganda\u2019s treatment after it pushed forward with its legislation last year.\r\n\r\n\u201cPoverty is one of the things that weakens our fight in our defense for family values and cultural values,\u201d Bahati told delegates.\r\n\r\nThose comments come against a backdrop of sub-Saharan Africa facing\u00a0an \u201cacute\u201d funding squeeze, according to the IMF. Borrowing costs are high, spurred by the US Federal Reserve\u2019s monetary policy that\u00a0kept global financing conditions tight. Some of the countries that sold eurobond debt when financing was cheaper are now spending a bigger chunk of their revenues on interest payments.\r\n\r\nGhana went into default in December 2022, and sought a $3 billion bailout from the IMF and additional support from the World Bank. Zambia and Ethiopia also defaulted.\u00a0Other countries are having to cut spending\u00a0on healthcare and\u00a0education\u00a0to keep up with debt repayments. They are also turning to concessional lenders like the World Bank and IMF to borrow at cheaper rates than those available on the international and domestic capital\u00a0markets.\r\n\r\nDemand for such financing outstrips\u00a0supply, in theory giving lenders leverage over governments.\u00a0Rights advocates have successfully encouraged institutions like the World Bank to spell out that sexual orientation and gender identity, or SOGI,\u00a0is considered a non-discrimination category. That language has caused much\u00a0unease in some conservative circles, including a growing number in African parliaments.\r\n\r\nThe World Bank has long had non-discrimination standards covering marginalized groups, but the development of a policy specific to SOGI was created in the wake of Uganda\u2019s 2014 bill, said Fabrice Houdart, who was president of GLOBE, a resource group for LGBTQ\u00a0employees of the World Bank, at the time. It was the first time the World Bank suspended loans for violating social standards on the basis of discrimination against sexual and gender minorities, he said.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt seemed more like a capricious move in 2014. There were no proper consultations. Even LGBT groups weren\u2019t consulted,\u201d said Houdart. \u201cThe Bank\u2019s stand against Uganda\u00a0in\u00a02023 was very different,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was rooted in policy.\u201d\r\n\r\n \u2018Global Interference\u2019\u00a0 \r\n\r\nThe Entebbe conference showed\u00a0how organized the opposition to the institutionalization of LGBTQ rights has become, using the argument of national sovereignty.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe irony is that a lot of anti-LGBTQ policy is tied to global interference,\u201d said Velasco. \u201cGlobally,\u00a0the pro-family movement, which is largely led by the US, has other things they are working\u00a0on, including issues about women\u2019s health, such as abortion and contraception.\u00a0They\u2019re against anything that limits procreation,\u201d he added. \u201cThey\u2019re very worried about fertility rates.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe family values movement defines family as a unit created from the union of a man and a woman, and sees broader definitions of family as a threat to population growth, making LGBTQ groups a target of their advocacy work, said critics.\u00a0Sam George, the main sponsor of the Ghanaian bill, has attended at least two \u201cpro-family\u201d conferences in the US, organized by conservative Christian groups that promote the \u201cnatural family\u201d and push an anti-LGBTQ agenda.\r\n\r\nThe UN\u2019s Abani urges caution however over next steps\u00a0for both the government in Accra and the international institutions. Sanctions, he says, should be a conversation of \u201clast resort,\u201d\u00a0because it risks \u201cstoking sentiments in favor of the bill in an election year.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn Uganda, sanctions were the \u201creal\u201d\u00a0reason why the 2014 law was repealed, argued Clare Byarugaba,\u00a0a coordinator at Chapter Four Uganda, a rights advocacy group which has urged the World Bank to maintain its position on the country until the law is repealed.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe got to a point where we had nothing left to lose and it was the only tool that worked,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are sharing the strategies we\u2019ve used over the last 10 years in Uganda with Ghanaian activists.\u201d"

"Ghana\u2019s fight over anti-LGBTQ law threatens $20 billion debt deal"

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