Africa-Press. Human rights organizations have filed a complaint against Ghana before the court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria, accusing it of assisting the United States in deporting individuals to countries where they may face serious harm.
The complaint was filed on behalf of 27 of at least 60 deportees sent to Ghana since September as part of Washington’s policy of deporting individuals to a “third country,” targeting those whom U.S. judges have determined cannot be returned directly to their home countries.
The complaint states that the deportees informed authorities that they had received forms of protection in the United States, but most were deported within hours or days of arriving in Ghana to the countries they fled from, while some became stranded in other countries without a means to continue their journey.
In cases where Washington is barred from returning individuals to their home countries, it sends them to a “third country.” Reports indicate that Ghana has been returning them to their home countries or “dumping them in neighboring Togo without documentation.”
The complaint alleges that Ghana is violating local and regional laws by “facilitating deportations to unsafe countries,” according to a statement from Ghanaian human rights organizations that filed the complaint. The organizations stated that the lawsuit aims to compel Ghana to disclose the terms of its agreement with the Trump administration and to prevent it from accepting any future deportees under this arrangement.
Ghana has not disclosed the details of its agreement with the United States, only confirming that it pertains to individuals from West Africa. Shortly after the agreement took effect, Washington lifted visa restrictions it had imposed on Ghana.
A similar lawsuit was filed in June before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to halt U.S. deportations to Equatorial Guinea, which has also been used as a transit point for African deportees. That lawsuit was filed on behalf of 14 deportees, some of whom remain detained in Equatorial Guinea under conditions “amounting to arbitrary and indefinite detention,” according to the indictment.
The organizations noted that none of the 27 deportees remained in Ghana, adding, “Many of them are now hiding in their home countries or have fled to third countries where they are waiting in a state of limbo.”
Beatrice Njiri, a lawyer with the Global Strategic Litigation Council representing the deportees, told a news agency that they seek to dissuade other ECOWAS members from entering into similar agreements with the Trump administration. She added that the group is also demanding compensation of no less than $100,000 for each deportee from Ghana, along with other damages.
