Grave food shortages and extreme weather conditions in Syria have left some families in Trinidad and Tobago worried that their loved ones trapped in refugee camps will not make it to the end of the year.
Several members of a group who refer to themselves as “Concerned Muslims” are trying to get at least 74 children between the ages of three to 17 as well as 24 women to their homes in T&T.
At least 38 of those children were involuntarily taken abroad by their parents, while 31 of them were born in Syria and four were born in Iraq to T&T parents.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) website there are 2,500 people in the Al Roj camp in North-East Syria and half of these are children, some of them from T&T. Other camps with T&T nationals are Al Hol and Jarablus.
Members of the Concerned Muslims Group gave some of the horror stories of what their relatives are facing in Syrian camps over the last few years, during a Zoom interview with the Sunday Guardian last week. They said their pleas to the T&T Government to bring home these "innocent children" have fallen on deaf ears.
Some of the families described the freezing cold in winter to the 55 degrees celsius heat in the summer to a lack of food to eat as some of the problems that they face in refugee camps.
UNICEF’s website confirmed what local families have said about the harsh winters and the lack of basic resources like food and clothes for children at the camps.
Terry Ann Roberts, who lives in Curepe, described the conditions in the camps as "inhumane" and "not even fit for a dog to be in."
Roberts gave the story of her grandson who was born in T&T and at age four was taken to Iraq by her son and his wife when they migrated in 2014.
Her son migrated, she said, for "a better life."
Eight years later, she said, "My 11-year-old grandson sent me a voice note asking for money for things to eat and clothes. It is heartbreaking for a child to ask for these things knowing that we are here in T&T drinking and eating and having a merry time and they’re over there starving. I even sent the voice note to Minister (Fitzgerald) Hinds and no response.”
As the war intensified, Roberts said, her son and his family ended up in Syria where he was killed in 2017 while returning from an internet cafe where he made regular visits to communicate with her.
"My family and all the children over there want to come to T&T. The reason why they’re not back here is because of the block the T&T Government is putting up to prevent that from happening. We have been sending correspondence and giving the Government everything necessary to have our families back home. I sent the current National Security Minister WhatsApp messages of our family cold and starving and he never replied."
Roberts said the US authorities have said that they are willing to help to bring the families back home but the T&T Government has not shown any interest.
Shanaz Mohammed, also from Cunupia, explained that her five grandchildren and daughter-in-law are in the Al Roj camp in Syria.
Her son took his family there in 2014 and he was killed in 2019.
She said she has been trying to get her family back to T&T since 2019 and has not been successful.
"We have done every single thing we could possibly do to bring them back. We’ve written letters to the different authorities and no results. My grandchildren are suffering there. It’s so cold that they freeze in the winter and when it’s hot in the summer, it’s almost 55 degrees. It’s horrible.”
She remains pessimistic about her daughter-in-law and grandchildren returning anytime soon given the reluctance of the Government to do anything.
When asked if local families are prepared financially and otherwise to receive their loved ones from Syria, she replied that they are ready with their financial resources and other means to assist them to reintegrate into society.
Another person from Caroni who is in the group, and who asked not to be named, has two daughters and five grandchildren who are in Syria, told about their sufferation.
"One of the mothers is having seizures, there is a lack of food and they face extreme weather patterns. They originally left T&T around 2015. One of the husbands was killed and we cannot account for the next one. It is devastating."
He said that they have been lobbying the T&T Government since 2019 and so far it has been fruitless.
"We have been forced to try the courts to get the Government to talk. The State prefers to spend millions of dollars in court to prevent our children who are stuck there from getting emergency travel documents. There are international organisations like the Red Cross, UNICEF, and the US Embassy who are willing to help. The US is willing to repatriate and help re-integrate these women and children."
He said once the court gives the permission and their families are given emergency travel documents they will be able to return home.
The father also said that they will shoulder the costs and other logistics to reintegrate their families back into local society.
He said a private citizen has given an apartment building in St Helena to house these migrants once they return.
"We have nurses, psychologists, therapists who are able to provide assistance to them. The families are willing to pay for everything. The Muslim community here has all the resources to help them get back into society."
Tamjeed Ali, whose name is on an ad that was in the media two weeks ago and is also part of the Concerned Muslims Group, appealed to the Government to carry out its responsibility to protect its citizens and return them home.
"If we do not get these women and children back home soon they are not going to survive 2022. They would die. All we need is a document from the Government allowing them to return home."
The Sunday Guardian reached out to National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds for an update on what the Government is doing to assist in bringing nationals back home but he did not answer his phone or respond to WhatsApp messages.
A newspaper ad two weeks ago by an activist from the Concerned Muslims Group accused the Government of saying some of the children are not of T&T heritage and so there is no reason to bring them to T&T.
In April 2021, High Court Judge Joan Charles ruled that it cannot order the Minister of National Security to repatriate a group of 12 women and children being held at a refugee camp in northern Syria.
The judge stated that there was no legislative or policy framework in place for repatriating nationals from war zones.
She also stated that the minister does not have the legal power or discretion to repatriate or facilitate the repatriation of these nationals.
No figure on reintegration
Criminologist Daurius Figueira, a volunteer who works with families who have relatives in Syria, could not say how much it will cost the Government and other stakeholders to reintegrate the migrants into our society.
"Presently, we are looking at housing as there are 74 children and 24 women and we are hoping that they come first as they are the biggest group. The process of rehabilitation and reintegration will take a long time, given the size of the group. Housing is important as the children cannot be separated from their caregivers. The children are all victims of war and the only persons in their lives are the mothers."
However, he said that the different stakeholder groups are willing to contribute to the cost of reintegrating these families back into T&T’s society.
"We know we must shoulder part of the burden of it. The families who are here and the Muslim community as a whole are ready to contribute."
He is working on a policy paper which he said will be made available to the public in a few weeks.
While Figueira and other interest groups are making plans, they have no signals from the Government as to what they intend to do with these migrants when they return.
"The Government has never sent a delegation to the camps to meet with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which is the military arm of the Kurdish autonomous region and they run the camps. The United Nations has insisted that the countries from which these migrants have come from are supposed to send a delegation to the SDF in order to identify their citizens and take them back to their home countries," Figueira said.
He believes that there are powerful interest groups in T&T who do not want the migrants to return as they think they may engage in terrorist activities.
Despite this, he said the Americans have influence over that Syrian region where the camps are, and inevitably they will have these citizens returned to T&T. He said that the Government should make the wise move and start preparing for their reintegration into society.
"The Government is paranoid. With a public education campaign we have carried out, the masses now believe that the children must come home," Figueira said.
