Coco Lance
RNZ Pacific digital journalist
The Tongan
government has launched its first national policy dedicated
to helping deportees, or “returnees”, back to the kingdom
reintegrate into society.
Many Tongan nationals
deported to the island after spending decades overseas
return to a country they barely know, faced with the
daunting prospects of social isolation, and limited
support.
But advocates are hoping the policy – Tonga
National Returnees Reintegration Policy & Strategic Plan
of Action 2026-2030 – will reduce reoffending and help
people rebuild their lives.
The document was as
unveiled on Wednesday in Nuku’alofa following a year of
collaboration between government agencies, churches,
non-government organisations and deportees
themselves.
The process brought those groups together
with a shared goal: developing a more coordinated response
for people returning to Tonga.
“The vision … which
basically is the heart of what the policy is about, and
something that the various stakeholders came to agree to, is
full reintegration and restoration of returnees’ life,”
Katrina Ma’u Fatiaki, a member of ‘Dare to Dream’,
said.
Dare to Dream is an organisation which has spent
years championing the rehabilitation of
returnees.
While not all returnees have criminal
convictions, many of the people Dare to Dream works with,
were deported after offending overseas.
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Any person who
has returned to their country of origin because of criminal
deportation, visa overstaying and family reunification, is
considered a returnee.
Fatiaki said more than 1000
Tongans had returned since 2000, with around 628 classified
as criminal returnees.
“Majority of these returnees
are young men aged 25 to 35, and so they’ve spent extended
periods overseas. And so, there’s obviously cultural gaps,
limited support, and that’s one of the reasons we have this
policy,” she said.
Many deportees return to a country
they barely know after spending most of their lives
overseas, she added.
“Because they’ve been sent back
because of criminal activities, they come back and their own
homeland is almost like a foreign land. So the policy is
about making them feel valued, so they know they are
respected citizens of the country.”
Fatiaki said it
was the lived experiences of returnees that guided and
shaped the policy from the outset.
“Their testimonies
have always been about the social isolation that they have
faced.
“A lot of them that have been sent back,
because of the isolation and the stigma, and one of the
biggest challenges is for them to reintegrate back into the
communities, and society at large,” she said.
Fatiaki
explained a lack of employment opportunities and support
services often contributed to people returning to
crime.
“Often they turn back to criminal activities
because the support systems are not there. That includes
trying to find employment and also other support
mechanisms.”
The policy’s strategic plan identifies
eight priority areas: successful reintegration, health and
wellbeing, faith-based support, social protection and
accountability, risk management, human rights, community
safety, and collaboration with international
partners.
Fatiaki said the biggest strength was that
it had been developed alongside those it was designed to
support.
“The beauty about this policy is that it
wasn’t created in isolation. It was created by the returnees
for the returnees.”
During Wednesdya’s launch,
attendees were encouraged to “welcome returnees back with
compassion and support”, something Fatiaki believes reflects
a wider societal desire to help returnees.
In
attendance was Crown Prince Tupouto’a ‘Ulukalala, who did
stress a concern that Tonga had limited resources to
reintegrate the returnees, but agreed that society must
welcome returnees’ with “open arms.”
Left as a
baby
Dare to Dream representative Jay Latu knows very
well the challenges of returning to a “foreign”
land.
Born in Tonga, he moved to the United States as
a one-year-old before being deported back to Tonga 45 years
later.
“My own journey reflects the long and complex
road that many of us have walked. I left the shores of Tonga
all the way back in 1971 – I was just a baby. Living in a
different country for 45 years … I spoke a foreign
language, adapted to a foreign culture,” Latu told
attendees.
“When you return after nearly half a
century, it’s overwhelming … the foreign country you lived
in is no longer yours. You feel like a stranger in your own
ancestral land. You carry the heavy weight of social stigma,
the pain of isolation, and the daunting challenge of
starting a whole new life from scratch.”
Latu said
returnees had a unique viewpoint that could aid the
community and ensure growing issues, such as the prevalence
of methamphetamine across Tongan communities, are battled by
those who have experienced its impact overseas in foreign
countries.
“We are not here to be a burden to Tonga,
but a shield,” he said.
“Through this programme, we
are building bridges to our younger generation, we want to
work directly with them and the churches, schools,
villages.”
“We are here to help,” he
added.
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