On August 31, 2023 claims about Liberia’s participation in the second Summit for Democracy held in Lusaka, Zambia from 29 – 30 March this year ensued in a live radio interview that featured Unity Party’s Montserrado County Senatorial candidate, Mr. Wilmot Paye.
At around one hour forty-one minute (1:41) of the nearly two-hours interview on Prime Fm and simulcast on Okay FM, Mr. Paye claimed that President Weah, in March this year, signed the “Lusaka Summit which seeks to promote gay rights in Liberia”.
Mr. Paye’s claims: “You in the media are you not aware that in March this year President Weah signed the Lusaka summit which seeks to promote gay rights in this country”
Also, in response to Mr Paye’s claim, Minister of Information Culture Affairs and Tourism Ledgerhood Rennie also counter-claimed that “there was no Declaration, no Documentation, no Communique signed at the summit in Lusaka”.
Claim #1: The Lusaka Summit sought to promote gay rights in Liberia?
Verdict: Incorrect
We fact checked this claim by searching for publicly available information on the Democracy Summit. The Summit is a virtual and in-person forum hosted by the United States for leaders from around the world to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing democracy today. The first edition of the summit was held in December 2021.
Africa session of the Summit for Democracy 2023 was held in Lusaka Zambia from the 29-30 March 2023. According to the US State Department, the Summit for Democracy held in Lusaka was about taking action towards strengthening democratic resilience, demonstrating how democracies are delivering for citizens, and highlighting how democracies are best equipped to address the world’s most pressing challenges.
Therefore, the claim by Mr. Paye that the Summit in Lusaka was to promote gay rights is incorrect.
Claim #2: No declaration, no documentation, no communique signed at the Summit for Democracy in Lusaka.
Verdict: Incorrect
During the interview with Mr. Paye, Information Minister Rennie phone-in and claimed that “there was no declaration, no documentation, no communique signed at the Summit for Democracy in Lusaka”.
Minister Rennie claimed: “There’s no document referred t as the Lusaka document, Liberia participated in a democracy summit that had its theme on democracy and the issues of the universality of the rights of individuals.
“Liberia was represented by our Foreign Minister, there was no declaration, no documentation, no communique signed, he sits on the radio and lie to the Liberian people”.
But our research found a 17-count Declaration of the Summit for Democracy 2023 on the website of the US State Department. This declaration was endorsed by countries that attended the Summit.
This means that the claim by the Information Minister that there was no declaration signed at the summit is incorrect.
Claim #3: Did President Weah Sign the Document?
Verdict: Incorrect.
The Unity Party Senatorial candidate for Montserrado also claimed that President Weah signed the declaration on behalf of Liberia.
Our search found that President Weah did not attend the Summit for Democracy in Lusaka Zambia.
We found photos of the summit which shows that Liberia delegation at the Summit for Democracy in Lusaka Zambia was headed by Foreign Minister, D. Maxwell Kemayah.
The delegation did not include President Weah, it had heads of civil society organizations in Liberia and officials of government.
Therefore, the claim by Mr. Paye that President Weah signed on behalf of Liberia is also incorrect.
Claim #4: Did Other Countries Sign the Declaration with Reservations?
Verdict: Correct
Mr. Paye, during the radio interview, also claimed that unlike Liberia, other African countries signed the Declaration of the Summit for Democracy with reservations specifically on Count 8.
Count 8 of the Declaration promotes human rights and equality for all individuals and combating all forms of discrimination and exclusion on any grounds.
To verify this, we further read the Declaration and at the end of the seventeenth-count declaration, there is a list of all the countries that endorsed the declaration.
There is also a listing of countries that endorsed the declaration with reservations or disassociation from the text of certain paragraphs of the Declaration.
The African countries that endorsed the declaration are Mauritania and Zambia. The two nations had reservations or disassociation over Count 8.
Count 8 specifically talks about promoting gay rights, but it calls for “combating all forms of discrimination including on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, color, religion or belief, national or social origin, property, birth, indigeneity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, pregnancy, political opinion, class, genetic information, or age, and promote inclusion and the full and equal participation of all individuals in marginalized or vulnerable situations, including internally displaced persons.”
Our search of Zambia’s reservation of Count 8 of the declaration found a news article published on April 13, 2023 by the Lusaka Times. The article reports that Zambia was concerned about some words in Count 8 which include “gender equality” and “gender identity,” “discrimination and exclusion on any grounds,” “marginalized groups,” and “sexual orientation.
The article stated that the Zambian government was concerned that some terms in Count 8 have been broadened to include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI) people, noting that the government only recognized heterosexuality and asexuality.
Therefore, the claim that some countries had reservation on Count 8 of the Declaration is correct. Zambia and Mauritian had reservations of Count 8 while Malawi had reservation of Count 17.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content.
Thanks for the claraty.