Lawyer Criston Williams is calling for the government to provide support for Trinidadian nationals, particularly children, returning from Syria.
He made the plea after two children, who were born there to Trinidadian parents, were ordered by a British court to be placed with their grandparents in Trinidad.
They arrived in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend under the protection of a valid guardianship order issued by the High Court of England and Wales.
The children, who were previously held in an orphanage in northeast Syria, were relocated to the United Kingdom in April 2022 through British government intervention.
There, a legal process lasting three years culminated in relatives being appointed as their guardians.
Speaking with Newsday, Williams emphasised the sensitive nature of the situation, warning that, "The children are fine but of course they need support from all arms (of the State). Not just support from one arm, we need institutional support."
He pointed to the government’s approach to the issue of repatriation from conflict zones and the government’s failure to pass the relevant legislation to accommodate these people.
“It's about four years now they're saying that it cannot be done. And the question is why? Why is it that this legislation could not have been passed? It shows the lack of will.”
Williams suggested the government needs to do what it must to facilitate the return of its nationals as this issue will not fade any time soon.
“There are still more than 50 children across there.
“If verification is needed and DNA is needed, we can ask our US partners to go do that for us and have our nationals return in that manner. If our government doesn’t want to do it, then we will need to find someone that will do it for us.”
Williams recalled the experience of a man and his son who returned from Syria in 2019, saying their case does not inspire confidence that the new arrivals will receive meaningful support.
“A man and his son returned from Syria in 2019. Now the son is going to school and there are a lot of issues. He is always getting suspended etcetera, and there is no institutional support, none.
“This is someone who the government is aware may be very traumatised from when he returned from Syria and there is no support. We have tried but there is no support at all. So if there's none for him, there wouldn't be any at this stage for the two children.”
Calling for urgent and co-ordinated assistance, Williams said there is only so much that non-governmental organisations can do.
“Help for the returnees has to be done with the State. It must be with the institutions so they could assist. The State has to intervene at some point.”
He added, “The support we want is to have the persons reintegrated back into society. We can't really tell what the scope of that support would look like unless it is analysed on a case-by-case basis.”
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the family Raheema Khan said no support has been forthcoming from the Children’s Authority or any other similar state institution.
She noted some of the children who return to TT do not know any other way of life than the conflict zone.
She asked how the government could not consider plans to address the children’s rehabilitation.
“If the main issue was reintegrating these children into society then you should have put something in place via the Children’s Authority or psychologists.
“That makes me wonder what we are going to do when these rest of children return from Syria.”
She criticised people who say the children should not be allowed in TT.
“These children spent six years in a detention camp surrounded by armed guards. They have paid a high enough price.”
“We can’t leave people stateless and leave innocent children in these camps to grow up in a prison to pay a price for something they didnt do!”
She lambasted the hypocrisy of people accepting the return of deportees but not these children.
“If we don’t have an issue with that, how can we have an issue bringing back these children and their mothers who are traumatised and injured? How can we be two-faced like that?”
