‘Wrong to say we did nothing’

National Security Minister Stuart Young.
National Security Minister Stuart Young.

MINISTER of National Security Stuart Young said it was wrong to say TT authorities did nothing to get the Ferreira boys out of Syria and repatriated with their mother to Trinidad.

At a press conference at his office in Port of Spain yesterday, Young said when the International Red Cross approached the government in July last year about the boys being in a refugee camp in Syria, and wanting government assistance in dealing with it, he immediately set about establishing a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency team that was dubbed Team Nightingale.

Included in that team was a number of various organisations including the Child Protection Unit and the Children’s Authority.

“We need to ensure we are ready to be able to assess these children. We tried to make arrangements to get our own personnel out to these camps in Syria. We had even asked for assistance to do a video conference with these boys and to do all we could from here in TT to do the verification exercise. Unfortunately we weren’t able to carry out a lot of those exercises because we weren’t provided with the resources, over on the Syrian side, to make the contact that we wanted so desperately to make. “There is very little information while investigations and verification processes are taking place, and that is what has been taking place since August of last year. In this particular case, there was an unenthusiastic response to the approach made by our TT law enforcement when the mother of these two young boys was contacted. That is what we faced.”

Young said the authorities were not able to find any record of a police report being made in 2014 to now, of the children being abducted by their father.

“When we began the conversation at the outset of the investigations as to ‘Would you be prepared to take the children back? Would you be able (allow) an assessment of the environment if the children are to return?’, we found that she (the mother) did not seem to be in any level of anxiety or had any level of wanting to get the children back in a hurry.” The minister then implied that it was only when there was a change of status in the mother’s personal life and the media got on to the story that the modus operandi of the mother changed.

“So it is completely wrong to say that the government was not doing anything. We were carrying out very complex investigations. Up to last week, the British intelligence was unable to verify what was asked. Despite trying to make all attempts to connect with the children, we were unable to do so.”

He said there are reports the children have been picked up by their mother and they are on their way home. “We have systems in place for their return home. Team Nightingale has everything prepared upon these children’s return to TT. We will ask for an assessment to be done to understand where they are because, ultimately, we would like them to return to a normal way of life.”

Young also said the children will be allowed to go home from the airport with their mother instead of being placed into the care of the Children’s Authority, and at an appropriate time the assessment will be done and psychological assistance will be provided once requested.

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