Rights groups file complaint to halt U.S. deportations via Equatorial Guinea

Five human rights organizations filed a complaint Friday with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to stop Equatorial Guinea from accepting U.S. deportees and routing them to countries where they face persecution, The Korea Times reported.

The action targets a $7.5 million deal between Washington and Equatorial Guinea and challenges the Trump administration's use of third-country agreements to remove migrants — including those with legal protections against direct deportation — to nations where they face torture, sexual violence, imprisonment or death.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Global Strategic Litigation Council, EG Justice, the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa and the Pan African Lawyers Union jointly submitted the complaint on behalf of 14 deportees currently held in Equatorial Guinea, according to The Korea Times, citing AFP.

Under the arrangement, the U.S. sends deportees to Equatorial Guinea — a small Central African nation governed by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo since 1979 — where they are detained without charge before being transferred to their home countries. About 32 people, all African nationals, are believed to have been sent through Equatorial Guinea since last year under the $7.5 million deal.

Some detainees have already been forcibly removed to countries where they face what the groups describe as risks of persecution, torture, sexual violence, imprisonment and death. Legal and medical access are being withheld from those still detained, the groups said.

The five organizations issued a joint statement describing the practice as a deliberate circumvention of existing legal safeguards. "The U.S. is increasingly treating these protections as if they are a loophole that allows the U.S. to enlist third countries to effectuate return," the groups said, according to The Korea Times.

The complaint requests that the commission issue orders halting further transfers and guaranteeing detainees access to lawyers and doctors. Similar third-country deportation agreements have been struck with nations across Africa and around the world as the Trump administration expands enforcement to migrants who previously held legal protection against removal, according to The Korea Times.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, based in The Gambia, has the authority to issue binding interim orders in the case. The complaint comes as the Trump administration has pursued similar deportation agreements with countries across Africa and beyond, according to The Korea Times.