9 April 2008
Accra — The high court in the Ghanaian capital Accra on 8 April ordered the government to postpone a planned deportation of 22 Liberians claiming to be refugees being held at the country's immigration office, just hours before they were due to leave the country in contravention of a previous government promise not to deport any more refugees.
The 22 Liberians, among them women and children, have been kept at a holding room at Ghana's immigration headquarters since 31 March. They were among 600 Liberian refugees arrested and detained in recent weeks, following riots by refugees demanding repatriation to a third country or US$1,000 each if they were to return to Liberia.
The minister of state at the interior ministry, Nana Obiri Boahen, told IRIN that the government had chartered a plane with the intention of carrying the 22 back to Liberia on 8 April.
"[But] We are democrats, we believe in the rule of law so we will halt the deportation and allow their lawyers access to them and wait for the outcome," the minister said.
So far 16 Liberian refugees have been deported. The government said they were not registered and did not have refugee status, a claim partly contradicted by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). It said only three of the 16 were unregistered.
According to Minister Boahen, the 22 Liberians set to be deported on 8 April were illegal immigrants not refugees because they lack the requisite documentation to prove their refugee status.
But a coalition of Ghanaian human rights organisations made up of the Legal Resources Centre and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative said they have evidence to prove otherwise. The lawyers are expected to meet all 22 detainees between 9 and 11 March to gather evidence for a court hearing on 14 March.
The two human rights groups have already filed an affidavit in support of the suit at the high court on behalf of one of the detainees, Theresa Cheddah Dogbey, who the coalition says was a registered refugee with UNHCR in Accra. Her 10 year-old daughter Joetta Solo and husband both hold refugee identity cards and are at a refugee camp in Ghana, the coalition said.
The head of public affairs at the UNHCR office in Accra, Needa Jehu Hoya told IRIN that as far as the agency is concerned all registered refugees have been safely returned to the designated refugee camp at Buduburam, and the agency does not recognise the 22 detained at the immigration headquarters as refugees.
The head of the Legal Resources Centre, Edward Amuzu, told IRIN the coalition will be asking the court to free them all nonetheless.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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Let the Ghanaian government do what they think is good for them.but they should also know that Liberian are not stupid we will make sure that our people are treated like human. if they think this will go free, that is a joke.we are going to get the persons behand the whole thing and bring them to justic.
I urge any journalist to further explore this issue and its many intricacies. The UNHCR in Ghana must be asked for a fully detailed account of all of the dates that they registered refugees at Buduburam since 1990. All of the criteria required for refugees to be provided with id, and copies of the notices for individuals who were denied. The UNHCR needs to explain how any lapses in the implementation of their procedures over the past 18 years may have led to some individuals being inappropriately denied the proper documentation. These inadequacies combined with injustice on the part of certain Ghanaian authorities are exacerbating a tense situation. It should be simple for any well connected or experienced individual to unearth all of the facts that have been misconstrued by every party involved in this crisis. It is not too late for this situation to be resolved more fairly than it began.
I think the UNHCR is responsible for the incident. They played biaised on the Liberian Refugee Situation in Ghana and the goverment forgot to know that Liberia is hosting "over" 50,000 Ghanians. What a mess?
Look Ghana, do you really want to know what happened to the documentation you are requestint from the Liberian refugees who you say are not documented? The real answer is, your citizens have used those documents to come to the The United States of America as Liberian refugees. You do not want to wash you dirt in the open.
Question: Who can prove the Liberians are register refugees? Answer: Only the Ghanian authority. With the tens of thousands of Ghanians who are in Germany, UK and the USA as Liberians refugees. This is simple under table argument. It seems that UNHCR have started denying Ghanians to travel as LIberians as they did legally in the past 15 yrs. I say legal because the head of the UNHCR who Liberians complain were finally channel through was a Ghanian. Common sense - All of the food aid distributed in Liberia during the course of the war in Liberia, there was no corn seeds given out. Only on Buduburam Refugee Camp did the Liberians recieve corn seeds in bags. This was a sabortage by the Ghanians authority. Give the Liberians corn seed which is the stable food of Ghana and they be force to sell it. this will help keep the price of corn lower in that region. What about the Ghanian family who came to America as Liberians refugee using their names, while the real Liberians were still on the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana? Only after the Liberian who file for his family learn that his family was already in US from the Immigration office in the US before less then ten out of a thousands of Ghanians were caught and deported. Where ? In Liberia because out of shame the Ghanian government deny knowing their own beloved citizen. Let the Ghanians go ahead, since they want to enjoy refugee benefits they will one day become refugees. Let the Ghanian authority go ahead and deport the Liberians. "Let the eagle perch, let the kite perch; and if one say the other should not perch,... " -Chinea Achebe_Things Fall Apart.
HELLO, I'M JUST A CONCERN HUMAN WHO IS ALSO FOLLOWING THE LIBERIAN REFUGEES CRISIS IN GHANA.MY POINT IS WHERE IN THE WORLD THIS CAN HAPPEN IN THIS TIME OF DEMOCRACY THAT YOU SENT REFUGEE HOME FROM YOUR COUNTRY, BECAUSE THEY PROTEST TO BE HEAR CONCERNING THEIR CONDITION. MR MINISTER, LIBERIAN ARE GOOD AND GOD FEARING PEOPLE PEACEFUL PEOPLE WHO JUST WANT TO BE HAPPY.I MUST SAY THAT THEY LOVE GHANA AND APPRECIATE THE HOSPITALITY THAT WAS GIVEN TO THEM IN THIS NATION.LET ME ASK YOU A QUESTION: WHY DID LIBERIAN NEVER PROTEST IN THE PERIOR OF THE AFRICAN NATION CUP? ALL BECAUSE THEY LOVE GHANA AND WEST-AFRICA.GIVE ME BRAKE! WHERE ARE WE LEADING TO,LIBERIAN WILL LOVE TO GO HOME BUT GIVE THEM TIME TO DO SO.LIBERIA IS JUST RECOVERING AS YOU KNOW, THIS ITSNT TIME FOR THE TWO NATION TO HAVE THIS KIND OF MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN OUR PEOPLE YOU ARE BEEN A GOOD HOST DON'T END YOUR GOOD WILL LIKE THAT. THANKS MR HUMAN.