18/08/2025
WADPN Calls on ECOWAS and National Governments to Protect the Most Marginalized
Story: Benjamin Makafui Attipoe, Accra
The West Africa Drug Policy Network (WADPN) and its partners have called on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and national governments particularly in Ghana, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, to take decisive steps towards decriminalisation and protection of human rights. According to WADPN, the criminalisation of people who use drugs, s*x workers, and People With Diverse Sexual Orientations (PWDSO) across West Africa continues to deepen cycles of poverty, stigma, disease and violence as advocates also continue to raise awareness for these communities.
A statement issued by the Campaigns and Communications Officer of WADPN, Mr. Michael Kumordzi Tetteh, noted that in Ghana and Nigeria, punitive drug laws have contributed to prison overcrowding, HIV prevalence and the isolation of people from healthcare systems. It said, according to the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD), chaired by the late Mr. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, drug use should be treated primarily as a public health issue, not a criminal one.
Decriminalisation, the statement indicated, does not encourage drug use; it redirects funding from punishment to harm reduction, rehabilitation and community care, adding that countries like Portugal and Uruguay have demonstrated that such policies lead to improved health outcomes and reduced crime rates.
Mr. Tetteh said Senegal stands alone in West Africa with a comprehensive and regulated framework for s*x work, adding that despite its limitations, this model has helped reduce HIV transmission, enabled access to health services and improved tracking of violence and abuse. According to him, by contrast, in Ghana, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, s*x workers face arbitrary arrests, harassment, and limited legal recourse, often exacerbated by moralistic laws and a lack of public health infrastructure.
WADPN and its partners are therefore calling on national agencies to decriminalise s*x work, adopt rights-based regulatory approaches and recognise s*x workers as legitimate members of the society with the right to safety, health, and dignity.
WADPN, the Campaigns and Communications Officer noted that the PWDSO community across West Africa faces state-sanctioned discrimination. He explained that in Nigeria for instance, the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act has led to increased violence, extortion by the police and a climate of fear. In his view, Ghana's recent anti-human rights bill and Burkina Faso's silence on legal protections, reflect the dangerous trend of targeting people for who they are.
Mr. Tetteh said these legal environments are in direct violation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which guarantees dignity, equality, and freedom from discrimination for all people. He said the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) Resolution 275 affirms the need for protection of individuals from violence based on their real or perceived s*xual orientation or gender identity.
He stressed the need for ECOWAS to go beyond its current commitments to drug control and regional security. To this end, the regional body, he emphasized must, among other measures, adopt a regional human rights and health strategy for key populations, support member states in drug law reform and harm reduction scale-up, create mechanisms to monitor abuses against s*x workers and PWDSO and also hold governments accountable to international human rights treaties.
Mr. Tetteh observed that decriminalisation is not just a legal question; it is a question of life or death. He therefore urged ECOWAS and national governments to amend repressive laws, expand community-led health services, fund rights-based education and policing reforms and also include affected communities in decision-making.
‘As advocacy campaigns draw global attention to the struggles and resilience of marginalised groups, West Africa must not be left behind. Justice, health, and dignity for all cannot wait’, the statement concluded.
The WADPN is a coalition of West African Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that have come together to support drug policy reform in West Africa by building the capacity of local CSOs to address the impact of drug markets on democracy, governance, human security, human rights and public health. The Network has membership and established chapters in all the sixteen (16) ECOWAS West African countries, including Mauritania.
The goal of the Network is to promote an evidence-based drug control response that seeks to promote and protect the human rights, health and well-being of people and communities who use drugs and are exposed to or living with HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and other blood-borne (drug-related) infectious diseases.
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