"A document revealed by Human Rights Watch in September and seen by AFP said Eswatini agreed to take 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million to build its border and migration management capacity. Questioned in parliament about the arrangement, Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg confirmed the government had received the $5.1 million. We were told it was for the US deportees after we enquired, he said, adding the ministry had been kept in the dark throughout the process."
"Washington branded some of them depraved monsters convicted of crimes including child rape and murder. They are being held without charge in Eswatini's maximum-security Matsapha correctional centre, notorious for detaining political prisoners, according to their lawyers. One of them, a 62-year-old Jamaican who had reportedly completed a murder sentence in the US, was sent back to Jamaica in September. Lawyers and civil society groups in Eswatini have gone to court to challenge the legality of the detentions."
Eswatini received $5.1 million from the United States in exchange for accepting deported migrants under a third-country deportation programme. The kingdom has taken in 15 men so far, with five arriving on a US military plane in July and another batch in October. A Human Rights Watch document indicated Eswatini agreed to accept up to 160 deportees for funding to build border and migration management capacity. Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg confirmed receipt and said funds were placed with the national disaster agency, which cannot legally spend unappropriated money. Detainees face legal challenges and are held without charge in a maximum-security centre.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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