Refugees, asylum-seekers beg outside Parliament

A HANDFUL of refugee and asylum seekers protested outside Parliament yesterday, calling on politicians to help them escape abuse and victimisation while they are being processed by the UN’s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

One of the spokesmen for the group, Venezuelan Alejandra Larez, who had been visiting TT for over two decades before seeking refuge here, called on the Government to honour signed UN treaties.

TT signed the UNHCR’s 1951 Refugee Convention in 2000. The UN in the past has called on the country to continue abiding by its international obligations as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and other applicable international instruments that are incorporated into its official Refugee Policy, in particular the principle of non-return, known as non-refoulement, and Article 31 of the convention, which requests signatories “not to impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence” to people who are in need of international protection.

Larez cried: “Are you pushing us to do illegal acts in your country? If we don’t work, how will we eat?

“Children not allowed to go to school, and if they go to private school, they are not recognised by the the Education Ministry because they can’t get a student permit.

“It is a limbo we are dancing in. Please take action. Yes, no one asked us to come here, but no one asked the refugees to have problems in their country. It is a matter of die or live. We have to run away from our country, and we end up in this situation.”

Larez said the group, which consisted of both Venezuelans and Cubans, wants the treaty to be respected as well as their basic human rights. She said some asylum seekers who have been documented by the UNHCR have been arrested and charged in contravention to the treaty. They are currently held at either the Immigration Detention Centre or the Maximum Security Prison, mainly for entering the country illegally. She added that some are here for political and some for economic resons.

Venezuelan psychic Yesenia Gonzalez, who joined the protesters, called on the Government to close down the IDC because it was in breach of basic human rights and contributed to both emotional and mental abuse of Latin Americans seeking refuge in TT.

One such person was Roy Cumberbatch, whose grandparents were Trinis. His parents and two of his three siblings are either in prison or the detention centre. He lives in Pleasantville with his schizophrenic brother and is made to travel to Port of Spain every day to visit the immigration office. His youngest sibling is 14 and is expected to reappear before a magistrate next week to answer a charge of illegal entry.