Making the best for 35 deportees

At this juncture, I would like to once again put forward a recommendations in addition to "monitoring."

1) Deportee should be changed to "returning citizens" or other, as the negative stigma does nothing to promote a positive re-integration process.

2) A welcoming and re-integration strategy must be formalised where on learning about the impending arrival of individuals that their next of kin be contacted and given the necessary support by the State/NGO to receive the aid individual.

3) Documentation should be received from the country they are arriving from with an outline of their skills and potential for employment, psychological profile, history as an inmate, etc where they can be matched before hand with possible working and/or training opportunities.

4) There must be a period of orientation into TT life as they would have been incarcerated for many years, in some cases 25 plus years and would need time and counseling to adjust to "outside" life not to mention life in a new country, remembering that many left here as babies and/or small children.

5) For those who do not have next of kin or where it is not possible to have them housed with friends or family, decent housing must be sourced by Government or an NGO for those particular individuals where they can have a head start on their new productive life in TT. Life on the street or less than desirable places will only promote desperation that could easily lead to further criminality.

6) We must remember that these "returning residents" have done their time for their crimes and are now free citizens of TT. Respect and support must be the order of the day if we hope to re-integrate them into our society and have them contribute in a positive way. Anything less would not be in keeping with the high moral and spiritual values and ethics we all so espouse.

GREGORY SLOANE-SEALE

National General Secretary Designate - YMCA of Trinidad and Tobago;

Executive Member - TT Coalition on the Rights of the Child (TTCRC)