RADHICA DE SILVA
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Venezuelan nationals staged a protest outside the Immigration office in San Fernando yesterday, as they called on international human rights agencies to investigate human rights violations in T&T.
Led by the Community Refugee Network, the Venezuelans caused a furore at Knox Street as they stood in the rain waiting to hear their names being called in their Order of Supervision matters, which are granted in lieu of detention.
Spokesperson for the network, Yesenia Gonzales, said every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, women and children line up on the street waiting for hours to get their order of supervision renewed by Immigration officers.
“They spend from 7 in the morning to 3 in the evening. Mothers breastfeed their babies in the hot sun. Children on the road where cars pass and it is dangerous. No water and no bathroom to use and they keep them here for hours. They tell them they have to come because they have an order of supervision but when they come here, they force repatriation. They are being deported,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales said what was more troubling was that within recent times deportation has increased.
Venezuelan migrants protest outside the Ministry of National Security Immigration Division, San Fernando yesterday.
KRISTIAN DE SILVA
“Registered Venezuelans who are holders of TT registration cards, amnesty documents, registered by UNHCR with refugee or asylum seeker status, are also being given deportation orders,” she claimed.
“They say those papers have no value because they come here illegally. Why are women and children separated? When they go in there, they threaten them to sign the deportation order.
“These people are running from persecution in their country. They sought asylum and an amnesty was given to them. They are given registration and work permit and amnesty. If they have amnesty, how are you going to send them back.”
She explained that the deportation was a violation of international conventions.
“I am calling on international agencies to raise their voice and speak out on this. There is xenophobia. What they doing to people here is inhumane. They are suffering little children, taking advantage of mothers and separating children from parents. Yesterday, they took a lady away from her children and want to deport her. How can you do that?” she asked.
Attorney Siddiq Manzano said many asylum seekers and refugees were being subjected to forced repatriation. Saying they had several matters before the court, Manzano said it’s sad to see how the Venezuelans are treated.
Activist Yesenia Gonzalez joins with Venezuelan migrants who protested outside the Ministry of National Security’s Immigration Division in San Fernando yesterday.
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“More attention has to be paid to the violations that are occurring. If we were to deport people who have fled persecution from their countries abroad, it is unlawful to return them. We are asking citizens and the Government to have some sense of compassion and humanity,” he said.
Manzano said there has been no meeting with Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds about the issues.
Meanwhile, founder of the La Romain Migrant Support group Angie Ramnarine said it was distressing to see children in the street awaiting information from the Immigration Division.
“Some of them know where I live so they will come in to use the bathroom, to get a drink of water, to freshen the children,” Ramnarine said.
She noted that T&T was a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol but every day there are breaches of these conventions.
Efforts to contact Chief Immigration Officer Charmaine Gandhi-Andrews and Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds for comment yesterday were unsuccessful as calls and messages went unanswered.
Venezuelan migrant Ernesto Luis Acosta Guerro shows the deportation order which he was served with at the Ministry of National Security Immigration Division, San Fernando yesterday.
KRISTIAN DESILVA