An alliance of international lawyers has filed a complaint with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights seeking to halt U.S. deportations of migrants to Equatorial Guinea under a controversial third-country agreement.
The complaint, submitted Friday, targets the “third-country” pact between the West African nation and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Under the policy, the U.S. may deport to Equatorial Guinea individuals who cannot be safely returned to their home countries. The practice has drawn wide criticism for sending migrants to nations with poor human rights records, where they often have no ties and do not speak the local language.
The case is brought on behalf of 14 deportees. Some remain detained in Equatorial Guinea under alleged conditions of “arbitrary and indefinite detention,” according to the filing.
Six of the individuals represented in the complaint were forcibly deported from Equatorial Guinea within the past week, despite expressing fears of persecution or torture, said the human rights groups representing them. Three were sent back to Equatorial Guinea after their home countries refused to accept them. Lawyers said they have lost contact with the other three.
The groups involved include Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Global Strategic Litigation Council, and U.S.-based EG Justice, along with the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (Gambia) and the Pan African Lawyers Union (Tanzania).
The complaint requests that the commission—which monitors compliance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights—suspend further deportations and ensure deportees receive access to lawyers, among other interim measures. The commission may hear the case or refer it to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Tanzania.
Around 32 people are believed to have been deported to Equatorial Guinea since last year, according to AFP, but the total number remains unclear.
The U.S. State Department’s 2024 human rights report cited “credible reports” of “torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” in Equatorial Guinea, along with other “serious human rights problems.”
The Trump administration, which is running a mass deportation campaign, has defended third-country deportations as legal and part of its strategy to “end illegal immigration, end mass migration, and strengthen the security of America’s borders.”
