Orphan stuck in Syria may be NZer

The Government doesn’t have enough information to confirm claims a 3-year-old orphan stuck in a Syrian refugee camp may be the child of a deceased New Zealander, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

The toddler, whose mother had been living in Australia before travelling to live under Islamic State, is one of more than 60 women and children from Australia being held at Al-Hawl refugee camp.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been contacted to ascertain its knowledge of the child’s situation, and whether either the Australian or New Zealand governments has a responsibility for the child’s welfare.

Ardern told reporters yesterday that with no New Zealand consular assistance on the ground, it was impossible to confirm where anyone was, the circumstances or even their citizenship.

“The situation in Syria is very, very complex and very difficult. We don’t have consular assistance on the ground, let alone in the camps where the vast majority of people and children are,” she said.

Ardern would not say when she was first briefed on the situation. She said New Zealand fulfilled its legal obligations, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“That’s obviously top of mind but equally some of the information is difficult to get.”

Kamalle Dabboussy, whose adult daughter, Mariam, is being held in the camp, leads a group of Australian families trying to bring their relatives home.

With the support of Save the Children Australia, he’s vowing to do everything he can to bring them home, including the abandoned toddler, whom he describes as “an undocumented New Zealand citizen”.

He said that the orphaned boy, called Abdullah, was born in Syria to a mother with a New Zealand citizenship, but the details around the father are still unclear at this stage.

After the death of Abdullah’s mother just before the fall of the township of Baghouz, the boy was passed from family to family, Dabboussy said. He believes that the boy is now with a Syrian family in the Syrian part of the camp.

He has only recently passed on the information he has on the boy to MFAT, because he had previously hoped the Australian Government would take account for him considering the mother and grandparents, who are also New Zealand citizens, had been residing in Australia for a long time.

“Only recently, the Australian Government advised us that in the event they should repatriate the Australians, they would only repatriate the Australians that were citizens or entitled to Australian citizenship, and unfortunately this child falls out of that definition.”

He said MFAT has indicated to him it was aware of the child and invited Dabboussy for further conversations.

“We’re waiting to find out even if this boy is found, then what would be his fate?”

Abdullah’s grandmother in Australia is actively campaigning for his return and is concerned for his welfare, Dabboussy says.

“She is prepared that if in fact the only outcome for this child is to go to New Zealand, she is ready to return back home to New Zealand to care for the child.”

Several steps would be involved to verify who the mother was and before he could be granted citizenship or documentation, he said. “The alternative for this young boy is really an unthinkable or very difficult set of circumstances in that part of the world . . . I can’t imagine how a child in that environment would survive.”