Rights lawyers sue Ghana over third-country deportation deal with the US

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — An international coalition of human rights lawyers and advocates sued Ghana on Tuesday, accusing the government of forcing deportees from the U.S. back to the home countries they had fled in violation of their rights.

It’s the latest legal case targeting an African country over a deal it signed with the Trump administration to accept deportees who aren’t its own citizens.

The lawsuit was filed at a regional court, the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States. The coalition includes the Global Strategic Litigation Council, a network of lawyers and advocates.

It’s the first case ever brought under a 1979 regional treaty that guarantees free movement across West Africa.

The case represents 27 people among the at least 60 the U.S. has deported to Ghana since September 2025 as part of an agreement between the governments. Ghana agreed to take in deportees, hold them and arrange their onward removal, despite most of them having received orders of protection by U.S. judges against being deported to their home countries, according to a statement by the coalition.

According to Tuesday’s statement, most of the 27 people were flown from Ghana to their home countries within hours or days of arriving, despite telling Ghanaian authorities about their U.S. protections. Some described being shackled during the flight from the U.S. Once in Ghana, they said they were held under armed guard in military camps, hotels and airport holding cells, often in poor conditions.

The coalition accuses Ghana of violating non-refoulement, which is the international legal principle barring countries from sending people to places where they face persecution or torture.

A spokesperson for Ghana’s government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ghana is one of at least nine African nations to strike third-country deportation deals with the U.S.

Under the often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say, as part of the U.S. crackdown on immigration. Immigration lawyers say the administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum-seekers back to their home countries.

Medical evaluations cited in the new lawsuit found signs of post-traumatic stress and severe depression in several of the 27 people involved.

The lawsuit asks the regional court to stop further transfers, force Ghana to release the deal’s terms, award damages and bar the country from making similar agreements in the future.

Earlier this month, rights lawyers filed a case against Equatorial Guinea, another African country that signed a deal with the U.S., before Africa’s top human rights body, accusing the country of forcing deportees from the U.S. back to their home countries in violation of their rights.

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.