REFUGEES TO BE DEPORTED - Court Orders

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, 25 April 2008
AN Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday ruled that the 23 Liberian refugees arrested by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for living in the country illegally, should be deported to their home country.

This followed the court’s dismissal of an ex-parte application filed by the refugees, including seven minors against the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

The motion on 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, among other things, sought 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 GIS from deporting them to Liberia.

All the 23 plaintiffs were present in court when Justice P.K. Gyaesayor, now with the Court of Appeal, read the ruling.

The court held that the plaintiffs failed to satisfy it that they were registered refugees living in Ghana legally under the Refugees Act.
Justice Gyaesayor noted that the Refugees Board, the Liberian Embassy in Ghana and the GIS have all confirmed that the names of the plaintiffs are not on their database.

Plaintiffs, he further pointed out, had relied on the registration cards of their relatives to claim refugee status, emphasising that "those registration cards have been found to belong to people who are asylum seekers and this does not entitle the holders to a refugees status."

Justice Gyaesayor said moreso, the civil war in Liberia is over and the country has been able to hold a democratic election. "There is no doubt that the situation in Liberia now is conducive for them to return. Their right to live in Ghana has thus ceased," he said.

"This issue should not be seen on emotional or gender basis. They have been found to be staying in Ghana illegally. The rights they are seeking should have gone with responsibilities.

"Even if the ECOWAS protocol, which gives the right to citizens to live in a member country for three months before his or her visa expires is anything to go by, then plaintiffs’ right to stay in Ghana expired long ago because they have stayed beyond three months," he pointed out.

"The Director-General of the GIS has not contravened the law. Their detention has been done in accordance with the law.

"The respondents produced acceptable evidence to back their intended deportation and the Director-General of the GIS has a free hand to carry out the exercise," he said.

The court later advised plaintiffs to take the minors along even though they (minors) are entitled to live in Ghana.

The refugees were represented in court by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) both human rights organisations.

Nana Obiri Boahen, Minister of State at the Ministry of the Interior, was the government’s representative in court.

Refugees at Buduburam, some of whom have been here since the civil war in Liberia in 1989, on February 19, embarked on a sit-in to back their demands for an improved repatriation package from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

They were demanding 1,000 dollars per adult and resettlement in a western country.

Following weeks of unrest, security agencies moved in to maintain order.

Representatives of the Liberian government later flew in to hold discussions with Ghanaian and UNHCR officials, leading to the formation of a tripartite committee to draw up modalities for their repatriation.