COMMUNICATING HUMAN RIGHTS: SOCIAL MEDIA AND HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY FOR LGBTQ+ RIGHTS IN GHANA

Human Rights Advocacy is a critical component of promoting and protecting human rights around the world. Effective communication strategies are important for sustaining advocacy goals and the creative use of social media has become relevant to the discussion of human rights activities particularly issues of LGBTQ+. This paper aims to present a research study that investigates the social media’s utilization by human rights activists, in this context, LGBTQ+ activists use social media for LGBTQ+ rights advocacy in Ghana. Using a thematic analysis grounded in a co-cultural communication theory, the study investigates how human rights activists utilize social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (now X) for advocacy, community building, and countering discrimination and misinformation. However, activists face problems such as online harassment, doxing, and cyberbullying. The study broadens the applicability of Co-Cultural Communication Theory (CCT) by establishing its relevance in digital settings, where underrepresented groups negotiate identity while simultaneously proactively managing risks and communication in a hostile environment.