On their journey to Trinidad, Venezuelan children endure treacherous seas on cramped pirogues, confronting a myriad of trauma-related disorders as they face deprivation, lack of formal education, and poverty.
Some of these children also face another peril when they arrive: being forced to beg on the streets alongside adults.
On April 5, during an Enquiry into the Prevalence of Child Labour in T&T, held by the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Human Rights, Equality and Diversity Supt Claire Guy-Alleyne said the TTPS alongside the Immigration and the Children’s Authority will be cracking down on children begging or seeking to make a quick dollar at major traffic areas around the country.
Along Palmiste Boulevard in San Fernando, it is common to see migrant women and children holding up placards which read: “Help me, friend. In need of baby milk and diapers.”
The migrant children, their faces scorched from the sun, are made to sit on the sidewalk. Small and vulnerable, they play sadly at the side of the road. Migrant children have also been seen begging at Oliviere Drive in Penal, loitering near Gulf City Mall, and along the Gulf View Link Road in La Romain.
Angie Ramnarine, coordinator of the La Romain Migrant Support Group and manager of Child-Friendly Spaces of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice, said adult migrants solicit funds in affluent areas, knowing people from these areas are more likely to give them money.
Noting a concerning uptick in migrant child begging, Ramnarine said some migrant parents do not seem to care about endangering their children, so they deliberately bring their children onto the streets to help get money.
“These children are distressed and uncomfortable. It is not in a child’s nature to be in the sun begging,” Ramnarine said.
“They know that having these children with them will tug at people’s heartstrings, so they bring them out on the streets to beg,” she added. Saying this has become a career for some migrants, Ramnarine said it was time for the authorities to act to stop child exploitation.
“I have offered to find these migrants jobs and offered a space at our child-friendly schools, but they just prefer to work on the streets and exploit their children,” Ramnarine claimed.
She also claimed that many of the migrants who choose to beg are better off financially than the ones who spend every day working menial jobs.
“The Children’s Authority must take the lead to protect these children. We need a coordinated approach,” Ramnarine said.
She revealed there were over 500 children registered at a few child-friendly spaces in T&T. However, because of the conditions faced in Venezuela, many migrants prefer to send their entire salaries back home and then struggle to find other means to survive in Trinidad; begging is one of them.
Venezuelans face starvation
In its 2023/2024 Report, the Amnesty International Centre for Documentation and Social Analysis noted that by October 2023, the cost of a monthly basic basket of food for a household of five in Venezuela was equivalent to about US$494, while the monthly minimum wage was US$3.67.
With Venezuelans facing severe food insecurity, Venezuelan migrant Indra Ramgoolam said it was not unusual for migrants to send 90 per cent of their salaries back home once their rents were paid. Some migrants survive on one meal per day.
Despite their trauma and living conditions, Ramgoolam urged her fellow migrants to stop using their children to beg as it is against the law. Another Venezuelan migrant Yoseine Medina, who has three children, said she was disappointed that some of her fellow migrants were taking the easy way out to beg rather than work. She said keeping their children on the street should never be an option as it affects the children physically and mentally.
Another migrant, Ana Eles Perez, said jobs are hard to come by and there continues to be blatant discrimination against Venezuelans. She said sometimes they will respond to advertisements on Facebook for work but when they inquire the jobs are prostitution.
But Perez also said child exploitation should never be an option. She said no matter how hard it is, migrants should take care of their children.
“If you love your children, keep them out of the streets,” she said. Perez said for all documented migrants, a job agency should be set up to help them find work. She noted that the Venezuelan migrants were skilled and could contribute positively to the economy.
Children’s Authority and
TTPS call for public help
Meanwhile, the Children’s Authority has sought to quell the exploitation of children. In December last year, the Authority issued a bulletin warning that it is against the law to exploit children to solicit funds. Deemed as a form of child endangerment, the Authority revealed in March that it was investigating nearly 60 cases of children begging between 2022- 2024.
The public is encouraged to report sightings of minors begging or accompanying adults in such activities to the TTPS at 996 and the police at 999.