UN pleads for Equatorial Guinea not to send US asylum seekers to their home countries: 'Their life would be in danger'
Source: The Guardian
UN pleads for Equatorial Guinea not to send US asylum seekers to their home countries: ‘Their life would be in danger’
Human rights experts make rare public appeal as US deportees describe being held in ‘prison-like’ conditions
Maanvi Singh
Thu 14 May 2026 12.00 BST
Last modified on Thu 14 May 2026 18.52 BST
Human rights experts at the United Nations issued a rare public appeal to Equatorial Guinea, urging the central African country to halt its plans to return US deportees to their home countries, where they face political violence, torture and death.
The statement, co-signed by a representative of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, adds diplomatic pressure on Equatorial Guinea, one of the world’s most repressive regimes, to comply with international human rights standards and avoid refoulement, or the expulsion of people to countries where they face persecution.
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The Trump administration made deals with dozens of countries to receive US deportees, as part of the president’s goal of “mass deportation”. The US gave Equatorial Guinea $7.5m to take in third-country nationals, who had been granted protections against expulsion to homelands where they faced persecution.
The UN’s public plea came after several deportees sent by the US to Equatorial Guinea said security officials presented nine of the US deportees with salvo-conductos – temporary travel documents – and told them they would be deported imminently to their home countries.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/un-equatorial-guinea-us-deportees