Convicts dumped in Tonga

Citation: ‘Convicts dumped in Tonga by New Zealand’ (2015) http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/289409/convicts-dumped-in-tonga-by-nz.

The Radio NZ website published an article entitled ‘Convicts dumped in Tonga by New Zealand’. The  article focused on discussing recent deportee Mr. Patrick ‘Unga’s manslaughter conviction in Nuku’alofa. Mr. ‘Unga was convicted in New Zealand in 2003 for murdering his fiance, after serving his time he was deported to Tonga in 2014, and within a few months he re-offended again.

The article discussed that New Zealand and other foreign countries are deporting serious Tongan offenders from their countries to Tonga, and as a result, these offenders re-offend and commit serious crimes like ‘Unga’s case. The Minister of Justice noted that these offenders are deported to Tonga with no notification to the Tongan immigration, Ministry of Justice or other relevant stakeholders. They are simply ‘dumped back without any notification’.

Deportation is defined by the International Organization for Migration as ‘the act of a State in removing a non-citizen from its territory after refusal of admission or termination of permission to remain.’ Foreign countries have different legislation stating the grounds for deportation, for instance in New Zealand, deportation orders can be made by the Minister of Immigration of Governor General under the Immigration Act 2009  on the grounds that a person is threat to national security or is convicted of a criminal offence.  Interestingly Mr. ‘Unga was sentenced in the High Court of New Zealand to life imprisonment, and the judge noted that he had no power to deport him, deportation will be based on the Minister responsible for Immigration’s discretion. Hence Mr. ‘Unga was later removed and deported to Tonga under the Immigration Act 2009  after 10 years of serving his term.

Majority of Tongan persons deported to Tonga are males in their 30’s.The most common offences committed by deportees are common and aggravated assault, robbery and theft and drugs.Most of the deportees have noted that they did not know their crimes will result in their deportation. Some of the deportees were permanent residence of the United States, New Zealand or Australia, but their residence was revoked upon the commission of the crimes. However, this is different if you were an intentioanl overstayer, you know that you will be deported. For instance, Mr. ‘Unga discussed in this article was an overstayer in New Zealand when he committed his first murder.

In addition, the deportation of individuals affects the Pacific Islands, as it leaves Pacific societies vulnerable to their crimes. For instance as stated in the article, there is no mandatory legislated process for dealing with deportees in Tonga. Deportees arrive in Tonga a free man, with no report to the police or immigration. It also puts Pacific Islands at risk of increased crime rates, because of the presence of more talented and prominent criminals in the country. There is insufficient evidence to support this statement, but it is evident in Tonga that Mr. ‘Unga is not the only deportee to re-offend. For instance Rex v Ngaue (Unreported, CR 98/11, Shuster J, 20 January 2012) the Defendant Ngaue, a deportee was charged and pleaded guilty to possession of an illicit drugs cannabis. The defendant informed the Court that he understands drugs are illegal, but he used it to ease pain from medical treatments.

However, it is important to note that deportations affects the life of the deportee. Deportees usually migrate overseas at a young age, between the ages of 5 to 10.Hence they cannot speak the Tongan language or they do not have any relatives in Tonga when they are deported.Some of the deportees were already married with children when they got deported, hence they are separated from their families and their families eventually break up or the wives would move back to live in Tonga with the deportee.

In addition, deportees are stigmatized when they return to their home countries, and they are labelled as “deportees”or “tipota” (this Tongan phrase is literally translated to “teapot”).Deportees are stigmatized  as being bad and continuing with the illegal activities.As a result deportees are the first to be blamed when a crime occurs in the village they live in. There is limited employment opportunities for deportees in Tonga and their stigmatization does not help.Moreover, deportees are watched consistently by the Tongan society and most of them are stigmatized because of their physical appearance for instance heavy tattoos could be viewed as unsafe.

It is important to note that these deportees can be leaving behind a wife and children.It will be very difficult for families that live apart to survive. As a result the child or children will grow up with one less parent. Children can also be stigmatized in school because they have a deported parent, and children can become rebellious and resistant to authority.

The lack of employment and financial support is usually the main cause of a deportee’s reoffending. For instance in the case of Rex v Kali (Unreported, CR57/07, 10 August 2007, Chief Justice Ford), the accused Kali was a deportee who was in charged taking part in the riots stealing from the shops in Tonga on 16 November 2006. During his sentencing, the Chief Justice noted that Kali was an overstayer in New Zealand who got deported to Tonga as a result of assaulting his girlfriend. He moved on to be convicted and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment for importing marijuana from Fiji on a fishing boat, then he escalated to riotious behaviours. This case reflects that deportees do not learn their lesson from being deported, some continue to offend and re-offend.

Due to the immense cultural shock, language changes and the introduction to an unfamilar environment, most deportess continue to result to drugs and alcohol abuse. This eventually leads them to re-offend and threaten the safety of individuals in society to unlawful acts of violence.

So what has the Tongan government done to combat this issue? Well the Tongan government has conducted a National Workshop on Deportees, to assist with the reintegration of deportees to Tongan society. The Tongan government has  Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) that provide programmes to assist deported persons, this is the Ironman Ministry Incorporated and the Foki ki Ápi  Deportation Reconnection Programme and the Tonga Lifeline Crisis, administered freely by the Free Weslyan Church.These two services offer deportees an opportunity to freely and openly talk about their situations and it provides deportees with counselling services.

How can Tonga support deportees? Tonga can support deportees by developing plans with relevant stakeholders to provide a program to address the employment and educational needs of deportees.Tonga should also consider developing closer networks and relationships with the foreign countries like New Zealand , Australia and United States, to ensure that it is aware of the number of deportees coming to its shores annually.

In conclusion foreign countries tend to believe that deporting deportees to their home countries solves the problems. However it does not, deportees create a new form of culture and more problems for their receiving home countries. The deportation of an individual does not affect only the life of the offending deportee but it also affects the lives of their immediate and close relatives. It also affects the lives of persons living in the receiving country as they are in fear that these deportees might re-offend. Hence there is a need for Tonga to strongly look at rehabilitation classes for deportees and social support for them to allow them to feel human, responsible and hopefully decrease rates of re-offending .

Disclaimer: This blog is the author’s personal opinions and is not to be used for research purposes.