The Republic of Ghana was ordered by the ECOWAS Court of Justice to provide Isaac Mensah with documents regarding the investigations into his father’s enforced disappearance and subsequent actions within four months of the judgment’s service. This order was issued on Friday.

The right to information of Isaac Mensah was violated by Ghana, according to Justice Edward Amoako Asante, the ECOWAS Court Judge Rapporteur. As a result, the state was ordered to provide Mensah with the information he requested.

Isaac Mensah requested a 2009 UN/ECOWAS Investigation Report, the coroner’s report on carcasses evacuated to Ghana, and a report on the disbursement of funds paid by The Gambia to the affected families, among other documents.

In July 2005, the court dismissed all other claims sought by Isaac Mensah and the Registered Trustees of the African Network Against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED) against the Republic of Ghana regarding the arrest, detention, and disappearance of certain West African migrants in The Gambia.

The applicants claimed in the November 18, 2020, application that Peter Mensah, a Gambian and father of Isaac Mensah, was one of several West African migrants who were apprehended by state security agents in The Gambia and either murdered or disappeared.

The applicants contended that Ghana violated its human rights obligations under the African Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by failing to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the enforced disappearance of Peter Mensah in The Gambia, provide an effective remedy, and provide the applicants with access to information regarding the unlawful detention and disappearance of Peter Mensah.

The applicants requested that the court instruct the state to conduct an effective investigation into the disappearance of Peter Mensah, provide the applicants with copies of past fact-finding reports and other requested documents, and provide US$1.5 million in compensation to the first applicant, Isaac Mensah.

The Ghanaian authorities responded by contesting the competence of the ECOWAS Court to adjudicate the matter, as the incident took place in The Gambia, which is not under Ghana’s jurisdiction.

Ghana also objected to the admissibility of the application on the grounds that the applicants failed to establish their relationship with Peter Mensah, the primary victim of the alleged human rights violations.

Consequently, Ghana requested that the court dismiss the case due to inadmissibility and lack of jurisdiction.

Nevertheless, the court declared that it had jurisdiction over Isaac Mensah’s claim regarding the violation of the right to information. However, it declined jurisdiction over the alleged violation of the prohibition against enforced disappearance, right to effective remedy, and right to truth.

The ECOWAS Court observed that the incidents that served as the foundation for those claims took place outside the Republic of Ghana’s territory; consequently, the court lacked jurisdiction over them.

The initial applicant’s application regarding the violation of the right to information was acknowledged by the court; however, he was unable to file a lawsuit on behalf of the other 23 individuals who claimed to be members of the Mensah family. This was due to his lack of authorization to file a lawsuit on their behalf.

The second applicant, Registered Trustees of African Network Against Extra-judicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED), was also excluded from the suit due to the absence of evidence of a mandate to initiate the application on behalf of the applicants.

Justice Gberi-BèOuattara and Justice Ricardo Claúdio Monteiro Gonçalves were also present on the sideline.