The international community must not remain silent in the face of inhumane migration policies. Every human being, regardless of their status, has the right to seek asylum and live in safety. These policies must be based on compassion, respect for international law, and human dignity — not on financial transactions and opaque agreements.

In a revelation that casts a harsh light on the U.S. administration’s migration policy, a $7.5 million transfer to Equatorial Guinea has come to light.

Officially intended to help manage refugee crises, this money was allegedly used as a bargaining chip to persuade the small Central African country to accept migrants deported from the United States. This transaction amounts to commodifying the right to asylum and outsourcing inhumanity.

While Washington justifies this approach as part of its “fight against illegal and mass immigration,” the revelation exposes a much darker reality. Behind the rhetoric lies a strategy of outsourcing the rejection of migrants to countries where the human rights situation is deeply troubling.

Equatorial Guinea is regularly condemned for systematic human rights abuses, lack of civil liberties, and endemic corruption. Sending migrants who have fled persecution, violence, or poverty to such an environment is tantamount to throwing them to the wolves. It demonstrates a deliberate disregard for the principle of non-refoulement – the cornerstone of international refugee law – which prohibits returning a person to a country where they risk persecution.

This policy is not merely about statistics on a dashboard. It has faces, stories, and traumas. These men and women, seeking safety and hope, are reduced to dehumanized diplomatic pawns. Their journey, already fraught with peril, ends in a country where their safety is not guaranteed and where their fundamental rights – to freedom, dignity, and a fair trial – are violated daily.

Civil society organizations condemn these practices in the strongest possible terms. It is imperative that this agreement, and others like it, be fully investigated. The U.S. Congress must exercise oversight and ensure that humanitarian funds are not diverted from their intended purpose to finance an aggressive and unethical deportation policy.

The international community cannot remain silent. Every human being, regardless of status, has the right to seek asylum and live in safety. Migration policies must rest on compassion, respect for international law, and human dignity not on checks and opaque deals.

History will judge harshly those who, in the name of border control, have traded away the fate of the most vulnerable and betrayed the very principles they claim to uphold. Defending migrants’ rights is not a political option; it is a humanitarian imperative.