Humanists have expressed their outrage at a call to “get rid” of gays in Ghana. Paul Evans Aidoo, the government minister for the Western Region of Ghana, reportedly told the Joy FM radio station in Accra that: "All efforts are being made to get rid of these people in society."  Aidoo, a devout Roman Catholic, went on to call for the Bureau of National Investigations to round up all gays and called on landlords and tenants to inform on people they suspect of being homosexual. "Once they have been arrested, they will be brought before the law.”

The worldwide problem of belief in witchcraft and the appalling human rights abuses to which it leads received a boost in September at the 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council held in Geneva, Switzerland.

We honour a man today who was always able to question superstition and strip it bare; make scary religious stories look ordinary; challenge traditional and conservative thinking, and make rational thinking remind us of the greatness in us all.

The UN Human Rights Council has published IHEU's written statement on witchcraft in Africa. The statement documents the abuse of children and others through accusations of witchcraft and supposed witch "cures". IHEU calls for improved education and policing to eliminate these twin scourges.

In a joint statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council, IHEU has called on the Council to join the fight against the twin evils of those practising witchcraft and those claiming to find and "cure" witches in Africa.

See: the list of IHEU Member Organizations

One-Day Workshop in Ghana

IHEU President’s Visit to Africa

By Leo Igwe

From November 25 to December 9, 2002, the President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Mr. Levi Fragell, made a high-profile visit to the African continent. The trip, the first of its kind by an IHEU President, took him to Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.

IHEU President Levi Fragell in Nigeria