PLEASE LET US STAY

A CUBAN family who fled an oppressive regime in their homeland two years ago and have been in this country ever since, is begging government to allow them to stay in TT legally.

Marcella**, a Cuban and asylum seeker says that with no legal documents she cannot register her ten-year-old daughter to go to school. The young mother made the appeal while addressing a gathering at the Convocation Hall in the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain on Wednesday evening on the occasion of World Refugee Day.

She, with her husband and daughter fled Cuba because they dared to speak out against the communist regime. She and her family have been living with a non-governmental organisation while they have been trying to get their legal papers processed.

TT has a refugee policy, but there is no legislation. This country acceded to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol in November 2000. To date, these have not been incorporated into domestic legislation but the drafting process to do so is under way.

A refugee policy adopted in 2014 by Cabinet, envisions the government providing recognised refugees a permit of stay, work authorisation and access to public assistance. Asylum seekers who wish to claim protection in TT are bound by the Immigration Act and its regulations, which include not being able to work or attend school.

In the region, TT is the third most popular country for asylum seekers behind Belize and the Dominican Republic respectively. As of May, there were 336 applications for asylum. In 2016, there were 163 asylum applications. Cubans account for the largest number of people seeking asylum here.

Asylum seekers are defined as people who have sought international protection and whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined. A person is a refugee if they fulfil the criteria set out in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"This is very stressful because we are asylum seekers. We have been living here for almost two years. I am still awaiting the process to get my legal papers, but it is a long process. We are fighting for rights here to have a life.

"We want to tell Trinidadians we are not here to thief anything, we are only trying to stay alive. We want a chance to be free from persecution. We want a chance to live and contribute. But as asylum seekers, we have no rights. Right now our child cannot attend school," Marcella said.

"I am from Cuba and when you speak against the government you are followed by the police, you are followed everywhere. We were feeling like we we were strangulated. I work in a restaurant or wherever I can get work. We are trying to be alive when I get something where I can feed my daughter and feed myself.

"We cannot live in the streets. At this moment we are nothing. My husband works wherever he gets it. We have no papers to show for any ministry," she said. Marcella said she just wants her family to get proper accommodation, decent jobs and safe haven without having to look over their shoulders in fear.
(**not her real name)