Renewed calls to bring nationals home from ISIS refugee camps

ANOTHER attempt is being made to repatriate a group of women and children detained at ISIS refugee camps in northern Syria.

Earlier in March, a letter was sent to the chief immigration officer asking for passports and other travel documents to be issued to them, saying they had, at some point, been issued Trinidad and Tobago passports, but no longer had them.

The letter, sent on behalf of 24 women, said the immigration division can confirm their passport information which they need for their release from the refugee camps and to re-enter TT.

The women and children are represented by a team of attorneys from the firm Criston J Williams and Co.

Williams reminded chief immigration officer Charmaine Gandhi-Andrews of numerous letters written on the women’s behalf which have remained unanswered.

He said there was no consulate where they can obtain their passports or other travel documents, adding they needed acknowledgement of their nationality so that they can be released from the detention camps.

The attorneys are working with an international expert and have drafted a plan for their repatriation, rehabilitation, reintegration and remedy.

The families of the women and almost 50 children at refugee camps in northern Syria have filed judicial review proceedings in the high court over the delay in having them repatriated.

The legal proceedings were filed after they received no response to a series of letters to the Attorney General. A ruling is expected on March 31.

The families claim the women and children were part of a vulnerable group because of their refugee status and were at risk of exploitation and abuse.

They say several attempts were made to have the issue of repatriation addressed since April last year.

Photographs and international reports submitted with both the letters and in the lawsuit highlight conditions at the camps  said to be unsafe and unhealthy, with hardly any food or water, and  an infestation of flies. Toilet facilities are holes dug in the ground.

The families complain that they are concerned about the women’s safety at the camp. They also pointed out that at least five countries have repatriated their citizens from the camp, including France, the US and the UK, which started repatriating children. There are also at least two orphans at one of the refugee camps.

They also said the International Committee of the Red Cross was willing to help with the repatriation of the women and children if the Government makes a request.

One mother who is at the al-Hol camp in Syria with her six children wrote to the Prime Minister last year, in a desperate plea for help. There are some 73,000 people at the over-crowded al-Hol camp.

She said she had both a master of science and bachelor ofscience degree and worked for the government in the past. She left TT in 2014 for Syria with her husband and children, since they wanted to live in a Muslim country. She said at the time it was not yet Islamic State.

She said they were influenced by the attractive videos they saw on the internet, but when they got there they realised their decision was a complete mistake.

She spoke of the conditions at the refugee camp. She said she knew they were viewed as criminals or terrorists, but said at no time did they have any intention of being part of any terrorist organisation bringing harm or damage to anyone.

She said they were only being supportive wives to their husbands and realised their mistake only when they got to Syria.

She assured they were not going to be a burden to TTand, if allowed to return home, they will not be a treat to anyone but will contribute by being productive, law-abiding citizens as they were before.

“We only want the chance to return home…Please do not let us die here,” she pleaded with the prime minister on behalf of those at the al-Hol camp.