ECOWAS Court Finds Ghana Guilty of Arbitrary Detention, Human Rights Violations

Wale Igbintade 

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has ruled that the Government of Ghana unlawfully and arbitrarily detained 30 members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF), in violation of their human rights.

In Suit No: ECW/CCJ/APP/12/24, the 30 individuals and the HSGF challenged their arrest and detention under Ghana’s 1976 Prohibited Organisations Decree following a May 8, 2019 crackdown on the group. 

The applicants alleged violations of their rights to liberty and protection from arbitrary detention.

Presiding Judge Hon. Justice Ricardo Gonçalves, alongside Justices Sengu M. Koroma and Dupe Atoki, held that the ECOWAS Court had jurisdiction over the matter, as the alleged human rights violations were continuing and occurred within its operational timeframe.

While the court struck out HSGF as an applicant for failing to establish legal personality, citing the absence of registration documents. It admitted the claims of the 30 individual applicants.

The court found that although the arrests were initially based on national security concerns and a valid law, the prolonged detentions, some exceeding a year without trial, breached Ghana’s constitutional requirement for arraignment within 48 hours and violated Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

However, claims related to the right to self-determination were dismissed.

The court held that HSGF lacked standing as a juristic person to assert that right on behalf of a community, and that the individual applicants were not proper parties to seek such relief.

As reparation, the court awarded each of the 30 applicants the equivalent of $2,500 in local currency. 

It also ordered the Ghanaian government to either prosecute them within two weeks or release them unconditionally.

All other claims were dismissed, and both parties were ordered to bear their own legal costs. 

The full judgement will be released upon formal endorsement by the judges.