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Article

17 Sep 2021

Author:
Maya Gebeily, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Cameroonian migrants deported from UAE face conflict or exile

On Sept. 3, the UAE's interior ministry said it had deported most of the 376 people detained for offences related to human trafficking, assault, and extortion...

[and] the detentions and deportations took place "in accordance with legal procedures" and in coordination with the embassies of the workers' home countries.

...the forced returns of Cameroonians this summer to a country beset by violence could amount to a violation of international law, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW)...

It is unknown how many of the 376 deportees were from Cameroon, but the Cameroonian consul-general in Dubai estimated the number to be about 30.

...six deported Cameroonians said they were repeatedly denied access to lawyers or information about the charges against them following their arrest, and that their concerns about the ongoing violence back home were dismissed...

HRW said the Emirati government had committed refoulement by forcibly returning people to Cameroon without assessing their safety.

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