EXCESSIVE AND UNNECESSARY USE OF 9,945. Food given to prison inmates was FORCE inadequate due to the insufficient feeding There were several incidents of excessive and grant of GHC1.80 (US$0.30) a day per unnecessary use of force by the security inmate. forces. Various media reported that National WOMEN’S AND GIRLS’ RIGHTS Security operatives assaulted journalist Peter At the end of the year, the Affirmative Action Tabiri on 7 May as he reported on a casino bill was still pending. raid. The operatives allegedly kicked, slapped In March, UNFPA Ghana in partnership and poured water on him, injuring his right with the government launched the Orange ear. Support Centre and the Boame mobile On 11 May, National Security operatives phone app to report cases of domestic arrested and allegedly assaulted reporter violence. Caleb Kudah from Citi FM after they found “Witch” camps remained open, despite the him filming abandoned state-funded vehicles government’s promise to close them. Older within their premises. They then stormed Citi women accused of witchcraft were at risk of FM’s office and arrested Caleb Kudah’s being banished to such camps. A colleague, Zoe Abu-Baidoo. Both were commemorative forum was held on 23 July, a released without charge. year after a mob lynched an elderly woman, On 29 June, police and military forces shot to call on parliament to criminalize the dead two protesters and wounded four others labelling of people as witches. In December, during a protest in Ejura Sekyedumase in the various media reported that youths beat to Ashanti Region. A three-member Ministerial death an elderly woman in Nalerigu in the Committee commissioned to conduct a North East Region because they suspected public inquiry into the incident submitted its her of being a witch. report to the government in July. On 1 July in Wa, in the Upper West Region, LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS military officers went on a rampage, beating Discrimination against LGBTI people people over a suspected stolen phone. The intensified. In February, police officers Military High Command tasked a four- searched and closed the recently member committee to investigate the inaugurated office of LGBT+ Rights Ghana, a incident. Three officers from the Wa Barracks non-profit organization. On 20 May, police were demoted while eight others were tried arrested 21 LGBTI activists for unlawful and jailed for 30 days by a disciplinary board. assembly during a training session. They ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS were released on bail in June and their charges were dismissed on 5 August. On 14 January, a police officer arrested In June, the Promotion of Proper Human Selorm Gborbidzi, a reporter from the Accra- Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values based newspaper The Finder, after he started bill was introduced in parliament. The bill filming a scuffle between the officer and the further criminalized LGBTI people and driver of a commercial vehicle. He was introduced prison sentences for anyone released after four hours and charged with expressing support or “sympathy” towards obstruction of justice, illegally filming a police LGBTI people. The bill also encouraged officer on duty and insulting a police officer. conversion therapy and gender “realignment” INHUMANE DETENTION CONDITIONS for children. Prison overcrowding continued. According to RIGHT TO HEALTH the Director General of the Prisons Services, On 1 February, the Ghana Medical as of 24 June the total prison population was Association declared an increase in doctors 13,200, despite an authorized capacity of Amnesty International Report 2021/22 177