PORT OF SPAIN – The Trinidad and Tobago government Friday said it had not been able to repatriate any of its nationals in Syria, despite an international human rights group saying that at least 56 children are unlawfully detained in life-threatening conditions.
Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said despite the creation of an advisory committee on repatriation headed by former Speaker Nizam Mohammed, the repatriation of Trinidad and Tobago nationals from Syria “is a highly sensitive and complex manner”.
“The government of Trinidad and Tobago is committed to ensuring that the return of qualified persons, organised in a way that balances the need of those returning with national security considerations that is in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Rowley, responding to a question from the opposition on the matter, added that “to date none of the nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, who are situated in the conflict zones in Syria have been repatriated to Trinidad and Tobago”.
Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch urged Port of Spain to heed the call of the United Nations (UN) top counter-terrorism expert to bring home all its nationals detained in northeast Syria for alleged association with the Islamic State (ISIS).
He made the expert’s findings public on December 18, 2023. In July 2023, the UN expert, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, visited locked camps and other detention centres in northeast Syria where United States-backed, regional forces are holding an estimated 90 Trinidadians, including at least 21 women and 56 children.
The Trinidadians are among more than 55 000 Syrians and foreigners from dozens of countries, most of them children, detained in camps and prisons for alleged ISIS ties. Most have been detained since at least 2019.
During her visit to Roj camp in Syria, Ní Aoláin interviewed a Trinidadian mother detained there and the woman’s son, now 21, detained at a locked “rehabilitation” centre for boys and young men.
While he made no reference to the UN experts report or the Human Rights Watch call, Prime Minister Rowley told legislators that in March 2023, the government took a policy decision “to attempt to repatriate ISIS affiliated Trinidad and Tobago nationals, who are in various locations in Syria and Iraq”.
He said in announcing the initiative the government also appointed a three member team of eminent persons “to work closely with and through state agencies tasked with the responsibility of planning and facilitating the organised return of these persons”.
He said the three-member team provides a “critical interface with civil society, family members and community of these group of nationals,” and that the work is being coordinated through “Task Force Nightingale,” an inter-ministerial committee established in 2018.
Rowley said that the committee is to advise on and develop a legislative and policy framework to facilitate and execute the organised repatriation of the people.
“The Ministry of National Security is actively working to ensure that all arrangements that are necessary in order to achieve the singular goal of the successful repatriation and reintegration of Trinidad and Tobago nationals is progressed in the way that balances the needs of those returning with national security considerations that is in the best interest of all the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Rowley said he would not be adding any more details to what he told Parliament, saying “these are national security matters which are being dealt with by the Ministry if National Security behind closed doors”. (CMC)
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