Court sanctions repatriation of Liberian refugees (UNPUBLISHED)

April 24, 2008

THE Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday gave its consent to the planned repatriation of 23 Liberians who have been described as illegal immigrants by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
According to the court, available records from the GIS, the Refugee Board of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Liberian Embassy indicated that none of the 23 Liberians was registered as a refugee.
The presiding judge, Mr Justice P. K. Gyaesayor, said the court was satisfied that the applicants were not refugees and did not qualify to be, adding that “the matter should not be seen as an emotional or gender issue but it should be seen as the law taking its course”.
“The Constitution of the Republic of Ghana is supreme. The removal of the applicants is lawful and does not contravene the laws of the country,” Mr Justice Gyaesayor held.
He further held that the Liberians had neither been granted refugee status nor had justified their continuous stay in the country and for that matter they were illegal immigrants.
It, accordingly, refused go grant an interim injunction which sought to stop their repatriation by the immigration authorities.
“The application to restrain the respondents from repatriating the applicants is refused. The children should accompany their parents,” the court ordered, in apparent reference to the seven minors who were party to the suit.
On April 14, 2008, Nana Oye Lithur, counsel for the 23 Liberians, argued before the court that her clients were refugees who had not been documented by the UNHCR after several requests.
But a Principal State Attorney, Mrs Yvonne Attakorah Obuobisah, had countered the assertion, insisting that the 23 were illegal migrants who posed a security threat to the country.
Giving reasons for the court’s decision, Mr Justice Gyaesayor indicated that the documents the applicants had relied on as belonging to relatives they claimed were refugees proved otherwise.
The court held that the war in Liberia had ended, resulting in the conduct of elections and the subsequent installation of a new President.
It said the war brought about the influx of Liberians into the country and that now that it was over, it was only appropriate that they went back to their country because the refugee status, if any, had come to an end.
It further argued that the applicants had not justified their stay in the country.
It said it was true that the 1992 Constitution guaranteed the right to movement, among other rights, but added that those rights went with responsibilities, in accordance with the law.
According to the court, the detention of the Liberians by the GIS authorities did not violate or contravene the law, adding that under the law, the Director of the GIS had the power to repatriate a person whose stay was seen to be unlawful.
The court also held that persons could be arrested and detained while awaiting repatriation.
It did not award costs.