More Venezuelan children coming to Authority

CHILDREN’S Authority director/CEO Safiya Noel says the authority has noted an increase in requests from the Immigration Division to care for children of Venezuelans detained for illegal entry.

Asked to comment on a news article about a group of Venezuelans recently held in Cedros, Noel said yesterday if people are detained for illegal entry and they have children, many times, Immigration Division would contact the authority for help with caring for the children until the adults are released.

“So we make ourselves available for those children who come in and cannot remain with their parents. And when it is the parents are leaving we just release the children back into their care. So yes, we have seen an increase in requests from the Immigration unit and we do our best to facilitate.”

Noel said the number of these children the authority is required to house is very small compared to the wider population of children in TT. “We need more space in the system to house children but what we really need is for children to remain with families.

“That is what we really need. We don’t need children emptying out into other spaces. That is not what we need really. Which is why we continue to appeal to parents.” Noel was also asked how cases of abuse against Venezuelan children were treated by the authority.

“Children who are coming from Venezuela or any other part of the world, they are afforded their rights in terms of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. But they are afforded their rights within the confines of the local law.”

She said if a child who is abused is a non-national, the authority investigates as it would any other child, get to the root of the problem and provide interventions for the safety of that child. “So it is no different whether it is a non-national or a citizen of TT. We will intervene.” In the House, two Fridays ago, Oropouche West MP Vidia Gayadeen-Gopeesingh asked if five children in a group of ten Venezuelans, had been admitted to the Child Protection Unit at the Oropouche Police Station.

National Security Minister Stuart Young replied that immigration officers took the very humane decision, after doing an assessment of these Venezuelans including the children, and decided to release them on supervision orders.