Audio By Carbonatix
Anti-LGBTQ campaigner Moses Foh-Amoaning has called on African parliaments to develop a coordinated strategy to resist what he describes as aggressive lobbying by the United Nations and other international organisations in support of LGBTQ rights.
Speaking at the closing forum of the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty and Values, Mr Foh-Amoaning said that African lawmakers must strengthen their efforts to defend what he described as the continent's cultural and family values against external influence.
The conference brought together parliamentarians and stakeholders to discuss issues relating to family, national sovereignty, and traditional values.
Addressing participants, Mr Foh-Amoaning expressed concern that discussions at the conference had not sufficiently focused on how African countries should respond to international advocacy for LGBTQ rights.
"I didn't hear the strategies to respond to the very vocal and active LGBTQ+ worldwide lobby," he said.
"They're very strong, and we need to have a strategy towards it because they have dominated the United Nations system."
Mr Foh-Amoaning further claimed that some African officials working within international organisations had opposed efforts to pass Ghana's Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill.
According to him, individuals he described as African experts within the UN system sided against supporters of the legislation during debates surrounding the bill.
"What hurts me is that our own African experts within the UN system, they are the ones, for example, when we were debating the bill in Ghana, they were on the other side against us," he said.
He alleged that some of those officials privately acknowledged concerns raised by supporters of the bill but publicly maintained a different position because of their professional responsibilities.
"And on the quiet, when we confront them, they will say, 'Oh, you know, we are doing our job,'" he claimed.
Mr Foh-Amoaning said African countries must move beyond discussions and develop practical strategies to counter international advocacy efforts.
"What we should have is a strategy to respond after the institutionalisation. We should have a strategy to respond to the vocal voice out there," he said.
He also called for stronger cooperation between African countries and nations in other regions that have expressed reservations about LGBTQ rights and related social policies.
According to him, building alliances with like-minded countries could strengthen the influence of conservative voices within international institutions.
"It's not just about Africa. Asia has its own negative response to LGBTQ+ and values that are counter to Asian societies, like in Korea and in China."
He added that countries in the Middle East and other regions could also become important partners in advancing what he described as shared values.
"In Asia and the Arab lands, we must network with these societies so that we build a stronger force within the United Nations system," he stated.
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