Court Decides On Refugees, April 24

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, 15 April 2008
An Accra Fast Track High Court will on April 24, decide on whether or not to allow the deportation of 23 Liberian refugees to their home country.

This follows an ex-parte application filed against the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice by the 23 refugees, including seven minors.

The motion of notice for a writ of habeas corpus was sworn by Theresa Cheddah Dogbey of the Buduburam Refugee settlement, near Kasoa in the Central Region, on behalf of the 22 others.

The motion is seeking, among other things, an order for the release of the detained refugees and another order to restrain the Minister of the Interior, the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) from taking further action against them, including their deportation.

All 23 plaintiffs were brought to the court room by GIS officials.

The court, presided over by Justice P.K. Gyaesayor, now with the Court of Appeal, on April 8 ordered the GIS to allow lawyers access to the plaintiffs who are still in the custody of the service, following allegations by Nana Oye Lithur of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) that the GIS had refused to allow them to interview the refugees.

At the hearing yesterday, when the judge sought to know if the GIS gave counsel access to the refugees, Nana Oye Lithur said, "we had access after a struggle. We are still complaining about the attitude of the GIS officials."

Moving the motion for the plaintiffs, Mrs Lithur said in order for the Immigration Act to apply, the court’s task would be to review the plaintiffs’ refugee status.

She said the plaintiffs are not illegal immigrants but rather undocumented refugees, adding, "they made all reasonable attempts to register with the Refugee Board but to no avail."

Counsel said all the plaintiffs have relatives who are registered refugees and for that matter, they are entitled, as of right, to remain in Ghana by virtue of Article 12 of the Refugee Law.

She argued that the Director-General of the GIS has no power to deport the plaintiffs because "they are not here subject to the Immigration Act but rather are subject to the Refugee Act."

"Their continued stay is subject to the recognition of their relatives, refugee status and the GIS Director cannot seek to deport them when she has no power."

Mrs Lithur stated that as the defendants have labelled plaintiffs as "a security threat", it was obligatory for the Attorney-General to prove the allegation which he had failed to do in their defence.

She called for the immediate release of the minors. When the judge sought to know who should take care of those minors, Mrs Lithur said: "The Juvenile Justice Act should be able to specify where they should be".

Yvonne Atakorah Obuobisah, a Principal State Attorney representing the Attorney-General, said in their defence, the UNHCR, in collaboration with the GIS, undertook the exercise to deport the refugees and the applicants were found not to have been registered.

"The database of the UNHCR does not recognise the plaintiffs. They have no right to live in Ghana."

Mrs Obuobisah argued that the relatives the plaintiffs were depending on under section 12 of the Refugee Law have ceased to be refugees since democratic elections were held in Liberia.

"The conditions under which they fled are no more. For about three years now they have been able to organise a successful general election."

Saying that most Liberian refugees in Ghana are now willing to go back to their country, she added, "with that aside, there are other refugees who were properly registered without any hindrance and the plaintiffs cannot use their inability to register as an excuse."

Mrs Obuobisah said under Act 573 section 21, the Director-General of Immigration has the power to deport them. "They are being detained for a period that will make it necessary for the GIS to remove them," she said.

Mrs Obuobisah argued that every step taken by the Ghana government in the exercise was done in collaboration with the Liberian Ambassador to Ghana and added, "as far as the rules are concerned, the GIS has not done anything wrong in this process."

She also challenged the procedure used by the refugees to file the application contending "under Order 25 Rule 3 of the High Court, the plaintiffs, request for injunction is not properly laid before the court."