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Ghana and the Paradoxical Situation of Its Asylum-Seekers: Selected Grounds for Alleged Persecution in a Supposed Democratic Country

Document Cited authorities 1 Cited in Related
Vincent
Author
Pages181-204
Published date01 May 2018
DOI10.3366/ajicl.2018.0227
Date01 May 2018
INTRODUCTION: THE STATE OF GHANA PLACED IN THE AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS CONTEXT

This study illustrates the paradoxical situation of asylum-seekers and refugees from Ghana, a country with more than 27 million inhabitants.1 Its current human rights record contrasts with that of a country with ‘[t]he poorest record in the area of respect of human rights2 on the continent’ in the 1980s.3

Since the early 1990s, a period defined as the ‘third wave of democratisation’ in Africa,4 Ghana has known democratic development which culminated in the presidential and parliamentary elections in 19925 and 1996, the latter recognised by world leaders such as former US President William Clinton and former British Prime Minister John Major as examples of genuine democracy.6

Over the years, Ghana has ratified most of the major human rights and humanitarian law treaties, both universal7 and regional.8

With reference to refugees, Ghana has been sensitive towards this category of vulnerable individuals fleeing persecution. Ghana acceded to the 1951 Geneva Convention on 18 March 1963 and the New York Protocol on 30 October 19679 and adopted the 1969 OAU Convention on 19 June 1975.10 On 2 February 2010 Ghana signed (not yet ratified)11 the 2009 Kampala Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa.12 In addition, Ghanaian domestic legislation is inclusive of a refugee law dating back to 1992.13 At a sub-regional level, Ghana, as a country member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in June 2015 signed a three-year cooperation agreement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the protection of refugees in the area.14 In 2001 Ghana participated in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the same UN agency.15

In 2015 Ghana committed itself to adopting the Statelessness Conventions (the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness) by 2016.16 In 2014 it had passed a constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty.17 In 2013 the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) declared the 2012 general election in the country to be peaceful.18 In 2006 Ghana was described in a UN publication as an ‘oasis of peace and tranquillity in West Africa and is moving increasingly towards consolidating democracy’.19

Nonetheless, Ghana is also the country in which in so-called ‘prayer camps’ thousands of mentally disabled individuals are regularly abused.20 In addition, in 2014, Ghana still ‘[d]oes not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking [of persons]’.21

From the above picture it is, perhaps, surprising to scrutinise that, at the end of 2014, worldwide, there were 29,850 asylum-seekers and refugees of Ghanaian origin,22 with more than 2,500 individuals in South Africa alone,23while in the same period 21,088 asylum-seekers and refugees of various nationalities were living in Ghana.24 Approximately 200 Ghanaian supporters of the national football team requested asylum in Brazil during the 2014 World Cup25 and were granted, as a beginning, a one-year sojourn in the country.26

By nationality of origin, at the end of 2015, as an absolute value Ghana was represented as fifteenth among African countries (including Western Sahara) for the number of refugees and thirteenth for the number of asylum-seekers.27 This data is important considering Ghana's worldwide reputation as a democratic country and the smaller number of refugees (and asylum-seekers) originating in other African countries which, like Ghana, have barely experienced violence, wars or open dictatorship in the last 25 years.28

This study will investigate the paradoxical situation by which a country, in which persecution is considered by the international community barely to exist, conversely presents a significant number of asylum-seekers and refugees, a situation which has lasted for many years.

The number of Ghanaian asylum-seekers and recognised refugees under UNHCR protection decreased from 15,879 in 2003 to 6,717 in 2007,29 but grew to 26,220 individuals at the end of 2011.30 At the end of the twentieth century the number of Ghanaian asylum-seekers and refugees jumped from 4,473 in 1993 to 14,289 in the following year because of post-election tensions. Since then the number of Ghanaians in search of protection has remained more or less the same (between 15,000 and 18,000 people), to be reduced by half between 2005 and 2006 (from 18,433 to 9,960 people). As a result of the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2004, producing a victory for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, President John Agyekum Kuffour was elected.31

This study sheds light on selected aspects of asylum claims by Ghanaian nationals, namely female genital mutilation (FGM) and political opinion.32 These two aspects have been selected after a review of 30 applications33 for asylum submitted in seven countries (Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US) by Ghanaian nationals in the last 25 years: FGM constituting a common cause for application for women and girls (eight out of ten cases reviewed) while political opinion represents a common ground of application for men (twelve out of 20 cases reviewed).

I will analyse if the applications have been successful or, if rejected, for what reason. In this way I hope to provide a clear outline of the situation in order to understand the principles under which the Republic of Ghana has been governed throughout the last decades and to disclose the root, if any, of the paradox of the existence of these asylum-seekers and refugees.

 A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE GENERAL CAUSES OF THE FLIGHT OF GHANAIANS FROM THEIR OWN COUNTRY

Land disputes, although important and inducing the flight of 3,500 Ghanaians into Togo in 2010, do not explain the high number of Ghanaian asylum-seekers and refugees in 2014.34 Sexual orientation represents another important cause of flight from Ghana, as shown by the 2014 Canadian case Salifu v. Canada35 and the 2013 Irish case E.P.A. v. The Refugee Appeals Tribunal.36 Sometimes the alleged sexual discrimination occurs in conjunction with a political motive;37 sometimes political discrimination is the exclusive reason for applying for refugee status.38 In this case the term ‘politics’ needs to be interpreted in a broad sense, to include inter-ethnic rivalries and conflicts as well.39 Alleged religious persecution is also among the causes of flight, as shown, for instance, by the 2013 Australian RRT Case No. 1310891.40

The reasons which Ghanaian citizens have for having fled or for fleeing from persecution are various. Among them I also include reasons linked to traditional practices, such as FGM.41 FGM is considered to be a form of sexual violence42 and is condemned by the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme (ExCom) in its Conclusion No. 73 of 1993.43 Another reason is the political situation in the country.

Unfortunately, no official record exists which shows exactly the number of applications for every ground of...

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