Would deporting migrants to Ghana implicate the United States in African courts?

Written by: Mohammed Omran

A team of lawyers has filed a lawsuit before West Africa's highest human rights court on behalf of deportees sent to Ghana as part of the United States' intensified anti-immigrant campaign. ImmigrationThey demanded a halt to deportations to what they described as "unsafe countries," and the disclosure of details of the agreement concluded between Washington and Accra.

Deportees from West Africa have filed a lawsuit against the United States over their deportation to Ghana.

This lawsuit is the latest legal action in Africa to challenge the immigration policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration, which have included the deportation of people who had legal protection within the United States.

Lawsuit before West Africa's highest court

The legal team said on Tuesday that the law firm Merton & Everett, in collaboration with the Transnational Disputes Clinic of Cornell Law School in the United States, and the Global Council for Strategic Litigation, a coalition of non-governmental organizations, filed the lawsuit before the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

The court is the highest judicial body of the Economic Community of West African States, which has 12 member states.

Deportation to third countries

The lawsuit states that in cases where US courts prevent the return of some migrants to their countries of origin, for fear that they would be subjected to torture or persecution, US authorities have deported them to so-called ”third countries,” including Ghana.

According to the lawyers, Ghana later returned these people to their countries of origin, or dumped them in neighboring Togo without official documents, AFP reported.

Oliver Barker-Formauer, senior partner at the law firm Merton & Everett, said: “No one should be returned to a place where they may face persecution, torture or serious threats to their dignity and safety.”.

Accusations of violating the law

A statement issued by the legal alliance said the lawsuit accuses Ghana of violating local and regional laws by “facilitating deportations to unsafe countries.”

The statement added that some of those deported were beaten by members of the US immigration authorities and were held in unsanitary facilities in Ghana, according to testimonies from people who spoke to AFP over the past year.

60 deportations since September

The lawyers explained that the United States has deported at least 60 people to Ghana since last September, while 27 of them are parties to the current lawsuit.

Although Ghanaian authorities announced that the agreement would be limited to receiving citizens of West African countries, they did not disclose details of the agreement signed with the United States.

The report noted that shortly after the agreement came into effect, the United States lifted the restrictions it had previously imposed on granting visas to Ghanaian citizens.

Calls to cancel the agreement

The plaintiffs asked the court to compel the Ghanaian government to disclose the terms of the extradition agreement concluded with the United States, and to issue a decision to terminate it.

AFP confirmed that it contacted the Ghanaian government for comment, but received no response.

Similar claims

This case follows a similar lawsuit filed earlier in June before the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, aimed at halting US deportations to Equatorial Guinea, which has been used as a transit point for deported Africans.

The legal coalition said that the individuals who filed the lawsuit before the ECOWAS court had previously sought asylum or other forms of legal protection within the United States, and the majority of them had already received that protection.

He added that the Trump administration relied on a legal interpretation that considers the judicial ban to only prevent the direct return of these people to their countries of origin, but does not prevent sending them to third countries.

The deportees are no longer in Ghana

The lawyers confirmed that none of the 27 deportees included in the lawsuit are still in Ghana, explaining that many of them are currently living in hiding in their countries of origin, while others have fled to third countries, where they are still living in a state of uncertainty, waiting for their legal fate to be determined.

Observers believe that the expected ruling in the case could set a legal precedent in West Africa, as it may determine the extent of responsibility of countries that receive deportees under agreements with other countries, and the extent to which those agreements comply with regional and international obligations regarding the protection of refugees and human rights.