Al Jazeera, 2 April 2026 reported that twelve people transferred from the United States arrived at Entebbe International Airport on 2 April 2026, under an arrangement described as temporary. ICET has not independently verified the report; the account below is Al Jazeera’s.
The legal challenge
According to the report, the Uganda Law Society and the East Africa Law Society challenged the transfer in court, describing it as “an undignified, harrowing and dehumanising process”.
The significance of that challenge is not only its outcome. It is that it was brought by the receiving country’s own legal profession, in the receiving country’s own courts. Much of the analysis of third-country transfers focuses on the obligations of the sending state. The obligations of the receiving state are separate, independent, and enforceable by its own institutions.
What obligations the receiving state carries
A state that accepts transferred people is not a bystander to another state’s removal decision. If it detains them, it answers for that detention. If it holds them without charge and without judicial order, Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is engaged. If it can be expected to send them onward to a country where they face torture, its own Article 3 obligation under the Convention Against Torture is engaged, whatever the sending state did or failed to do.
Domestic courts as the first forum
International mechanisms are important, and slow. Domestic courts in receiving states are often the fastest available route to a stay of detention, an order for access to counsel, or disclosure of where people are being held. Bar associations and law societies are frequently the only institutions with both the standing and the local knowledge to use that route.
ICET encourages national bar associations, law societies and human rights commissions in receiving states to treat these arrivals as within their ordinary remit. Where such an institution would find it useful, ICET can share the framework set out in our explainer on removal to a third country and the source material in our resource directory. Please contact us.
This article is published for educational purposes and is not legal advice. The law described here changed several times between 2025 and 2026. Anyone facing removal, or advising someone who is, should consult a qualified immigration lawyer. See also our explainer on removal to a third country.