The ECOWAS Court of Justice has ruled against Ghana for violating the rights of a Ghanaian woman married to a Nigerian after authorities reportedly confiscated her passport and denied her entry into her own country. The Applicant, who was issued a Ghanaian birth certificate and passport by the Ghana High Commission in Lagos, Nigeria in 2018. Later in 2018, she married a Nigerian citizen, Henry Obukohwo Omorere, and changed her name to Mary Omorere.

When she applied to renew her passport in the United Kingdom in 2023, her application was unduly delayed and eventually denied on the ground that her birth certificate was questionable and was advised to obtain a Nigerian birth affidavit, which she refused, as she has no Nigerian heritage. Due to the Respondent’s refusal to renew her passport, the Applicant has been unable to visit Ghana, including being prevented from attending her grandmother’s funeral in 2024. She claimed the situation rendered her effectively stateless and without valid travel documentation.

In the court’s judgment delivered in open court on 24 June 2026, it found the respondent state in violation of the rights to freedom of movement, non-discrimination, and family life guaranteed by the African charter on human and Peoples’ Rights.

Consequently, the Court ordered Ghana to pay the sum of $15000 in compensation, as well as resolve the issues relating to her passport and report to the court within 6 months.

This is a very significant judgment because the ECOWAS Court effectively recognized that a state cannot use passport administration in a way that unjustifiably prevents a citizen from traveling, returning home, or maintaining family relationships. By doing so, the Court affirmed that passport control is not a purely domestic administrative matter immune from regional human‑rights scrutiny.

The Centre for Community Law commends the Court for this landmark Judgment and urges Ghana to swiftly implement the same.