Liberia losing moral authority after US deportees deal

For the past nine months, Liberia has used its experiences of prolonged armed conflict to serve as a principled voice in UN debates about the humanitarian consequences of a number of the most intractable geopolitical crises – from Gaza and Sudan to Ukraine and Iran, writes Robtel Neajai Pailey, academic, activist and author, in Al Jazeera. Yet, hidden beneath this virtuous veneer lies a troubling contradiction, states Pailey. ‘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 US. 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 10 September 2025 with the Trump administration to accommodate an undisclosed number of third-country nationals deported from the US.’lAlthough the agreement between Monrovia and Washington is skimpy on the details, it remains politically fraught, ethically suspect and illegal, states Pailey.

‘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.’ or degrading treatment or punishment”.’ Pailey believes that 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. Pailey adds that by accepting mostly black and brown deportees under questionable arrangements, Liberia is complicit in executing ‘make America white again’-era expulsions that would shame its founding mothers and fathers who fled 19th-century chattel slavery and racial discrimination in the US. Pailey states in Al Jazeera that she encountered evasion at every turn from Liberia’s lawmakers in her attempts to uncover the truth aout the deal and the reported $5m payment.

Pailey says her country has a long track record of signing dubious deals with the US. ‘Most recently, the US-Liberia Bilateral Health Co-operation Memorandum of Understanding was signed last December. In exchange for more than $124m in planned “assistance” from the Trump administration, Liberia handed over access to its citizens’ health data without our permission.’ She points out in the Al Jazeera analysis that exactly a century ago – in 1926 – Liberia finalised another agreement with the US that undermined its sovereignty. ‘Heavily indebted and desperate to ward off French and British colonisers, it accepted under duress a $5m loan from the Finance Corporation of America, a private subsidiary of US-based Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company. This was in exchange for signing a 99-year lease of 404 700 hectares, enabling Firestone to extract unprocessed rubber at a measly six cents per acre. Loan terms authorised the US President to appoint Americans as administrators of Liberia’s finances, and forbade Liberia from borrowing without Firestone’s written consent. This set into motion an enduring legacy of US resource extraction from which Liberia has never recovered.’ Pailey feels if Liberia is to assume its rightful place as Africa’s first independent black republic – and a post-war ‘success story’ at that – it must cancel bilateral agreements with the US that weaken its autonomy, violate national laws and erode citizens’ trust.