The African Union’s (AU) rights body on Monday expressed concern over deals by Rwanda and Uganda with the US that would allow the transfer of deportees to those countries.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), in a statement, urged Rwanda, Uganda, and other African states to ensure transparency in such deportation deals, protect the rights of deportees, and avoid policies that risk turning the continent into a “drop-off zone” for arbitrary expulsions.
The ACHPR called the agreements “part of a logic of externalisation of migration responsibilities and expose the persons concerned to increased risks of violations of their fundamental rights.”
The AU body said deportations may violate the principle of non-refoulement, the ban on collective expulsions, and the rights to dignity and asylum under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other international and regional agreements.
South Sudan, Rwanda, and Eswatini have already received deportees
