“Promises were made and promises are being broken – please emancipate these children and women and bring them home.”
So said attorney Nafeesa Mohammed yesterday, as she called on the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Government to fulfil its promise to repatriate the 72 children and 25 women from Syrian and Iraqi refugee camps as the United National Congress (UNC) had promised.
“This Emancipation Day, let us ask ourselves one simple question: if freedom is worth celebrating, why are we still allowing our own women and children to be abandoned and rendered stateless?” Mohammed added in African Emancipation Day greetings.
“Emancipation isn’t merely about remembering the chains of the past—it is about refusing to ignore the suffering of the present. A nation that celebrates freedom cannot, in good conscience, leave its own women and children begging for it.”
Mohammed has led the lobby for the repatriation of the group since 2019. Some 130 T&T nationals went to Middle East conflict zones from 2012-2015, joining the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group. Following ISIS’ defeat in 2018, however, survivors were detained at the refugee camps.
The United States’ Central Command has, since 2019, been urging countries to repatriate their citizens to prevent entrenched radicalisation and has worked with various territories to facilitate the return to their home countries.
The People’s National Movement government began moves to repatriate the women and children. Persad-Bissessar, as Opposition leader, had promised, during the UNC’s campaigning, to bring them home. Reintegration plans have been proposed by families, who have signed legal documents to guarantee responsibility for the persons when they return home.
The new UNC Government appointed an inter-ministerial team headed by Attorney General John Jeremie to deal with the matter. Yesterday, he didn’t reply to queries on if work is close to completion, when it will be, what issues are being faced, if identification verification is an issue and is US assistance will be discussed when a high-level US team visits T&T soon.
Yesterday, Mohammed said, “What is Emancipation without compassion? Is it worth celebrating? Every Emancipation Day, we celebrate the triumph of freedom over oppression. We honour those who suffered, endured, and those who refused to abandon the hope of liberty. But what does emancipation mean? Can we truly celebrate freedom while turning away from our own citizens still trapped in a humanitarian crisis? “
Citing the Government committee, Mohammed added, “The people deserve to know what has been done? What progress has been made? Transparency and accountability aren’t optional—they are owed to the nation and to these families. Country after country has brought its nationals home through carefully managed repatriation programmes. Trinidad and Tobago continues to delay. Promises were made. Promises are being broken.
“For years, T&T’s women and children have remained stranded in camps in northeast Syria and Iraq. Many of the children were taken there by adults or were born into a conflict they never chose. They’ve spent years growing up behind fences, deprived of the safety, education, and childhood every child deserves.”
Mohammed said that to minimise the burden on the State, advocates have made available to the authorities comprehensive repatriation, reunification and reintegration plans with professionally trained personnel in these fields ready and willing to assist.
“What makes this even harder to understand is that while our Government appears willing to strengthen diplomatic relationships abroad, it has shown little urgency in rescuing its own vulnerable displaced citizens,” she said.
“We seem more prepared to build new international partnerships than to fulfil our humanitarian duty to Trinbagonians who have been suffering for years. History will not only remember what we celebrated. It will remember what we tolerated,” she lamented.
