PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC -Former speaker Nizam Mohammed has described as “complicated and tedious” efforts by the Trinidad and Tobago government to bring back at least 100 nationals stranded in countries such as Syria and deemed as conflict zones.
“A lot of discussions have taken place, and we have looked at all the ramifications surrounding the return of our people from Syria,” Mohammed, who has been advising the government on the issue, told reporters following a two-hour meeting with Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley on Monday.
A statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister following the deliberations said, “the meeting focused on the issue of Trinidad and Tobago nationals stranded in countries deemed conflict zones” without elaborating.
It said that Mohammed was accompanied to the meeting by two other officials and that “this group has been in ongoing discussions with the Muslim Community as it relates to this matter.”
The government delegation included National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Reginald Armour SC, Foreign, and CARICOM Affairs Minster Dr. Amery Browne, and Minister in the Office of Prime Minister Stuart Young.
Mohammed told reporters that while the government is committed to bringing back the nationals, including women and children currently held at detention camps and jails in Syria and Iraq, there are technical issues that need to be sorted out and determinations on how costly the exercise will be.
“The government is committed to repatriating our citizens, but we have all agreed it is a highly technical matter,” Mohammed told reporters, adding, “it involves international relations. It involves other countries.
“We’ve got to collaborate and to co-operate and to seek assistance where assistance is required and that kind of thing,” Mohammed said, describing the issue as “relatively comprehensive.
“It is estimated that you have over 100 of our people out there, and each will be a particular case. Therefore, you can understand how complicated and tedious, possibly a very dull exercise.
“It is not a simple matter of just taking our people and bringing them back home. All the circumstances surrounding this situation are such that they have all kinds of international implications and the government. However, it is committed, has to be very thorough in its approach.”
Mohammed said while a specific framework had not been outlined during the meeting, “some more fundamental action is in the making right now.”
Mohammed said that even before the meeting on Monday, the group had been meeting with relatives, religious organizations, and the leadership of the Muslim organizations.
“We have been telling them that the feedback that we have gotten from the government, and more particularly the Prime Minister, is that the government is serious about this repatriation issue,” Mohammed said, careful not to ascribe any timelines.
“Certain steps are going to be taken, talking with different missions abroad and that kind of thing, and those are the sorts of activities that are going to be taking place before we come up with something substantial,” Mohammed said.
Last month, the international non-government organization Human Rights Watch said that over 90 nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, including at least 56 children, are unlawfully detained in life-threatening conditions as Islamic State (ISIS) members.
The organization has accused the government f taking almost no action to help the detainees return to Port of Spain.
“Trinidad and Tobago is turning its back on its nationals unlawfully held in horrific conditions in northeast Syria,” said Letta Tayler, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.
“The government should bring home its citizens, help victims of ISIS rebuild their lives, and fairly prosecute any adults linked to serious crimes,” she added.
The ‘Trinidad and Tobago: Bring Home Nationals from Northeast Syria’ report indicated that approximately 90 to 100 Trinidad and Tobago nationals are detained in northeast Syria by US-backed, Kurdish-led regional forces.
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