For the past nine months, Liberia has used its experiences of prolonged armed conflict to serve as a principled voice in United Nations debates about the humanitarian consequences of a number of the most intractable geopolitical crises – from Gaza and Sudan to Ukraine and Iran. Yet, hidden beneath this virtuous veneer lies a troubling contradiction. As my country prepares to assume the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council (UNSC) in December as a non-permanent member, it is flouting our Constitution and contravening UN conventions by hosting deportees expelled from the United States.
A year before its current charm offensive across the Atlantic – where a delegation led by the president is now courting American lawmakers in Washington and broadcasting its peace and security agenda at UN General Assembly convenings in New York – Liberia signed an agreement on September 10, 2025 with the Trump administration to accommodate an undisclosed number of third-country nationals deported from the US. Since January 2025, the Trump administration has struck deportation agreements with 35 countries, almost a third of them in Africa, to receive foreigners whose US immigration statuses range from regularised (and legal) to protected from removal. Liberia’s cooperation is one of the largest and has proved particularly controversial.
Late last month, the first 20 of an expected 1,200 deportees arrived in a widely reported – and condemned – handover at Roberts International Airport (RIA). In a dramatic turn of events, the six who refused to disembark were whisked off to Equatorial Guinea under opaque terms. For those still in Liberia, it is equally unclear who they are, why they were deported, where they will reside, whether they are free to leave, and what legal standing they possess.
Although the agreement between Monrovia and Washington is skimpy on the details, it remains politically fraught, ethically suspect and illegal. Deportations without due process, and involving cruel and inhumane treatment, contravene principles within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Consenting to host third-country nationals without legislative approval breaches Article 34(f) of Liberia’s Constitution.
Several deportees who landed at RIA on August 20 said they had been detained in the US without due process, contrary to articles 8 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantee the right to an “effective remedy” and a “fair and public hearing” before an independent court or tribunal. They also said they had been chained during the flight to Liberia, treatment that may violate Article 5, which states that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. Other UN agreements which may have been flouted include the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which both Liberia and the US are parties.
On the home front, Liberia’s Constitution states plainly that any “treaties, conventions and such other international agreements negotiated or signed on behalf of the Republic” must be ratified by the National Legislature. Our Legislature neither deliberated on nor approved the agreement to host third-country nationals, which was unilaterally authorised by the executive. On that basis, implementing the agreement without legislative approval is unconstitutional.
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