The ECOWAS Court of Justice has ordered the Ghanaian government to pay a total of $75,000 in damages to 30 members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF) who were unlawfully detained without trial, violating both Ghana’s constitution and regional human rights laws. The ruling, delivered Friday at the Osborne Foreshore Court in Lagos, Nigeria, concluded that the individuals were arrested on May 8, 2019, and held for prolonged periods—some over a year—without formal charges, in breach of Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Presiding Judge Ricardo Gonçalves, alongside Justices Sengu M. Koroma and Dupe Atoki, rejected Ghana’s argument that national security concerns justified the detentions. The Court ordered the government to pay $2,500 to each detainee, converted into Ghanaian Cedis. The individuals were arrested under Ghana’s 1976 Prohibited Organisations Decree, which criminalizes activities by groups seen as threats to national unity. The applicants, however, claimed their detention was politically motivated, linked to their group’s push for the secession of Ghana’s Volta Region.
While the Court agreed to hear the case, it ruled that the HSGF lacked legal standing as it had not proven it was a formally registered entity. Additionally, the Court dismissed the group’s claim to self-determination, finding no lawful basis to assert such a right on behalf of the population. In a strongly worded decision, the Court instructed Ghana to either prosecute the detainees within two weeks or release them unconditionally, emphasizing that no national security rationale permits indefinite detention without due process.
All other reliefs were denied, and each party was ordered to bear its own legal costs. The full judgment will be published following official endorsement by the judges.
