Rights groups sue Ghana over US third-country deportations

Ghana is facing a legal challenge at West Africa's highest court over its role in accepting migrants deported from the United States under President Donald Trump's third-country deportation policy.

Human rights lawyers have filed a case on behalf of 27 deportees, arguing Ghana violated regional and international law by helping return people to countries where they risk persecution, torture or other serious harm.

The lawsuit says many of those deported had previously been granted asylum or other legal protections in the United States but were instead flown to Ghana because US courts blocked their direct removal to their home countries.

Lawyers also allege that some deportees were later sent onward to neighbouring Togo without identity documents, leaving them stranded and vulnerable.

According to the legal team, at least 60 people have been deported to Ghana since September under the policy.

The case, filed before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Nigeria, seeks to hold Ghana accountable for facilitating what campaigners describe as unlawful deportations and could test the legality of third-country removal agreements across the region.