82 women, children at ISIS refugee camps want travel documents to return home

A Port of Spain law firm which has been fighting for the repatriation of at least ten women and children held at the Kurdish-run al-Hol ISIS refugee camp in northern Syria, has gone a step further to elicit help from international agencies to bring back home at least 82 of them at various camps in the middle-eastern state.

But before anything can be done, the women and children are in need of valid travel documents to verify their nationality.

Attorney Kerrina Samdeo, of the firm CJ Williams and Co, has written to the chief immigration officer asking for the necessary steps to be taken to facilitate the repatriation of the 82 women and children by providing them with valid travel documents.

At a hearing of the lawsuit involving ten of the women and children in September, it was argued that as citizens they cannot be denied entry into the country. However, attorneys for the State said it was not established that they were citizens of TT.

In her letter to the chief immigration officer, Samdeo said the necessary step to facilitate the repatriation of the group is the need for a valid travel document that acknowledges their nationality.

“Having been detained at the refugee camps in Syria, our clients do not have the opportunity to make an application for any valid travel documents that acknowledges their nationality,” Samdeo wrote.

She said as nationals they are entitled to be admitted to TT pursuant to section 4 of the Immigration Act Chapter 18.01.

She also pointed out there were no embassies or official diplomatic relations the group can go to at the refugee camps that have an official relationship with the TT Government.

Samdeo also said the firm was collaborating with international agencies for refugees, including the UNHCR’s office in Geneva, Switzerland, to facilitate access to the women and children so they can eventually be brought back home.

She quoted an excerpt from correspondence from Grainne O’Hara, the director of the division of international protection of the UNHCR, who said the agency supported the position of the UN secretary general that “in the absence of legitimate protection concerns in their countries of origin, the best solution for Trinidadian and all other foreign nationals stranded in limbo in al-Hol and other locations in Syria, is for their countries of origin to acknowledge their nationality and taken concrete steps to ensure their prompt repatriation.”

The attorney warned that failure to accede to the request for valid travel documents would indicate that TT did not wish to ensure compliance with international laws and had adopted a position that was contrary to its international obligations and against the socio-economic interests of the country.

Samdeo said the circumstances of the women, and in particular the children, required an expedited and multi-faceted approach.

In asking for a response, the attorney said if one is not received the group intends to file for judicial review asking the courts to grant their requests for travel documents.

Newsday understands that the attorneys have not yet received a response and are in the process of putting together its application for judicial redress.

National Security Minister Stuart Young has repeatedly said that Government had to verify if there were TT children at ISIS before it could act.

He said his ministry has set up a multi-agency team, Team Nightingale, to provide policy, advice and necessary action on the return of people from ISIS war zones.

"We have a responsibility to verify claims before acting, and the public’s interest is priority in exercising the associated duties."

He previously said: "The deterioration in these zones of conflict (war zones) is of concern to many countries, including TT. From a national security perspective, facts must always be properly ascertained and verified before acting, these would include, but not be limited to, the nationality of persons."

But Samdeo, in her letter, said the unsafe and unhealthy conditions at the camps have now worsened owing to the coronavirus pandemic. She quoted several international news reports on the effects covid19 is having on the camps’ detainees. The al-Hol camp alone was said to hold approximately 65,000 people of many nationalities, among them are nearly 40,000 children.