Ghana Accused of Dumping West African Migrants Deported From U.S. in Togo.
West African migrants deported from the United States to Ghana earlier this month have been transferred to neighbouring Togo by force, according to their lawyers, who are pursuing lawsuits in US, Ghanaian and regional courts alleging violations of fundamental human rights.
Of 14 people who landed in Ghana from the US on 6 September, lawyers say 11 were kept in detention. After around two weeks at a military camp near Accra, six of them were allegedly taken across the border to Togo.
"The deportees were forced by armed military guards to climb wire fences," said Samantha Hamilton, an attorney for Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), a civil rights organisation that has filed a lawsuit in the US on behalf of the migrants.
"A woman in her late 50s was thrown on the back of a motorcycle and smuggled across the border."
The lawyers believe that Togo was chosen for its proximity. It is two and a half hours' drive from where the deportees were held in Ghana.
Only two of the people removed between 18 and 19 September are Togolese nationals, according to their lawyers, the others hailing from other countries in West Africa.
"A Malian woman who only speaks Bambara was left to fend for herself in Togo. She was sexually assaulted and now she's been kidnapped, and her kidnappers are demanding a $50,000 ransom from her family," Hamilton told RFI.
West African migrants deported from the United States to Ghana earlier this month have been transferred to neighbouring Togo by force, according to their lawyers, who are pursuing lawsuits in US, Ghanaian and regional courts alleging violations of fundamental human rights.
Of 14 people who landed in Ghana from the US on 6 September, lawyers say 11 were kept in detention. After around two weeks at a military camp near Accra, six of them were allegedly taken across the border to Togo.
"The deportees were forced by armed military guards to climb wire fences," said Samantha Hamilton, an attorney for Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), a civil rights organisation that has filed a lawsuit in the US on behalf of the migrants.
"A woman in her late 50s was thrown on the back of a motorcycle and smuggled across the border."
The lawyers believe that Togo was chosen for its proximity. It is two and a half hours' drive from where the deportees were held in Ghana.
Only two of the people removed between 18 and 19 September are Togolese nationals, according to their lawyers, the others hailing from other countries in West Africa.
"A Malian woman who only speaks Bambara was left to fend for herself in Togo. She was sexually assaulted and now she's been kidnapped, and her kidnappers are demanding a $50,000 ransom from her family," Hamilton told RFI.
Ghana Accused of Dumping West African Migrants Deported From U.S. in Togo.
West African migrants deported from the United States to Ghana earlier this month have been transferred to neighbouring Togo by force, according to their lawyers, who are pursuing lawsuits in US, Ghanaian and regional courts alleging violations of fundamental human rights.
Of 14 people who landed in Ghana from the US on 6 September, lawyers say 11 were kept in detention. After around two weeks at a military camp near Accra, six of them were allegedly taken across the border to Togo.
"The deportees were forced by armed military guards to climb wire fences," said Samantha Hamilton, an attorney for Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), a civil rights organisation that has filed a lawsuit in the US on behalf of the migrants.
"A woman in her late 50s was thrown on the back of a motorcycle and smuggled across the border."
The lawyers believe that Togo was chosen for its proximity. It is two and a half hours' drive from where the deportees were held in Ghana.
Only two of the people removed between 18 and 19 September are Togolese nationals, according to their lawyers, the others hailing from other countries in West Africa.
"A Malian woman who only speaks Bambara was left to fend for herself in Togo. She was sexually assaulted and now she's been kidnapped, and her kidnappers are demanding a $50,000 ransom from her family," Hamilton told RFI.
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