Human Rights Watch denounces that US deportations to third countries violate international law.

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced this Tuesday that the recent deportations from the United States to Eswatini , Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan of third-country nationals have exposed hundreds of people to the risk of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and refoulement, denouncing "a US political strategy that violates international law."

In this regard, the NGO has denounced that "opaque agreements that facilitate these transfers, some of which include US financial assistance, are part of a US political strategy that violates international human rights law and is designed to exploit human suffering as a deterrent to migration."

In this regard, he lamented the "harsh conditions" in which "at least five people from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen" are being held in a prison in Eswatini, as well as irregular arrests and deportations in Ghana and South Sudan.

"These agreements make African governments complicit in the Trump administration's horrific human rights violations against migrants, " said Allan Ngari, HRW's Africa advocacy director, referring specifically to arbitrary detentions and refoulements.

Human Rights Watch has therefore urged African countries "to refuse to sign agreements to accept third-country deportees from the United States and to terminate those already in place," as well as to allow access to independent observers, refrain from detaining deportees without a clear legal basis, and ensure that no deportee is returned to their home country if there is credible evidence that they would face persecution , enforced disappearance, torture, or other serious harm.

"These agreements cannot override governments' human rights obligations," Ngari said, urging the African Union to emphasize that "deportations that do not provide people with the opportunity to seek protection from persecution or torture are unlawful, abusive, and unacceptable."