Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 14/Aug 06:09

Remember the children

DINESH RAMBALLY AS THE country continues down the dangerous path we are on, led by a dangerously incompetent PNM government, we have become desensitised to the most terrible things. Multiple murders, home invasions, economic freefall, environmental catastrophes, and a TTPS that, when criticised, responds with mass harassment of the population – all these have become the norm. But as we look at everything with jaded eyes, one crucial thing has slipped from national consciousness: the fate of our children who are languishing in refugee camps in the Middle East. At last count, some 72 children and 25 mothers remain in refugee camps in northeastern Syria and Iraq awaiting repatriation. The Government has made promises, made a show of appointing a committee and introducing flawed legislation – a draft repatriation bill was introduced in 2020 and withdrawn. But as of two weeks ago, according to an article in the Trinidad Guardian quoting former PNM senator Nafeesa Mohammed, no one has yet been repatriated. A Returnees Bill is scheduled for debate in the next parliamentary term, but there has been no consultation and civil society input. Among the many enormities of which this government is guilty, this must certainly be the worst. What kind of person, what kind of country would abandon its nationals and leave them to suffer? If, as Dr Eric Williams famously said, “There is only Mother Trinidad and Tobago,” this is akin to a mother abandoning her children. If we do not save them, who will? Even if we do not consider this a domestic issue, for a government as sensitive as this one is to the country’s international image, this is not a good look. An article about TT refugees in the camps published in the London Guardian last year (March 17) was headlined “Trinidad and Tobago is failing its children locked in Syrian camps.” It opened with the question: “When is it acceptable for a government to lock its citizens out of their country to leave them stranded overseas, trampling the human and constitutional rights of those who pay their salaries?” Other countries which had adopted a hands-off posture to their nationals in the same position, including the UK, Sweden and Australia, have since taken steps to repatriate their nationals. But, I must reiterate, the primary concern here is the children. These are innocents. They were taken to these places by their parents, and some were born in the refugee camps and in the Middle East. They are doubly victimised. It is not that getting these children home is impossible. It has been done. Two young boys were repatriated thanks to the tireless efforts of their mother, Felicia Perkins-Ferreira, and some international help in 2019. This involved the co-ordination of multiple actors, including an international newspaper, a rock star loaning his private jet, and international relief organisations. But it all began with the determination of a mother to retrieve her children, who was willing to brave every manner of danger to get her children back, after they had been taken by their father to live in the ISIS caliphate in 2014. Their father was killed and the children were found on a roadside and taken to a camp by aid workers. Surely the TT Government has more resources than a lone parent. Surely it has more determination than good Samaritans and aid workers towards the children of TT. Surely it must want to do something to help these children after failing so many here at home. I speak of the other horror stories of abuse and rape in children’s homes in Trinidad which the Government has promised to address. But governments are notorious for not acting without being prodded or pushed. As a country which prides itself on our religiousness, and makes great show of it, we should also be aware of the great horror we are closing our eyes to daily and allowing our government to get away with. Among the many plagues we face now is that of human trafficking and missing people. Here is an instance where we know where our missing children are. It just takes will and effort to get them back. As a parent myself, I speak for all the parents and grandparents who live every night and day worrying about their children: bring our children home. Thanks to DNA technology and databases, we know exactly who and where they are. I urge our citizens to make their feelings known about this. I urge our religious authorities to apply pressure in any way they can. The time to act is now. Dinesh Rambally is the MP for Chaguanas The post Remember the children appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.