Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan has expressed confidence that the twenty one individuals returned to the Maldives from Syria's warzone can be rehabilitated.
The government facilitated the return of fifteen children, five women and one man via a chartered flight yesterday. These twenty one individuals belong to five families who travelled to Syria to fight in the ongoing war there.
At yesterday's press conference, the Minister revealed that a family had been previously successfully reintegrated into the community after being returned from Syria. He said that the family had received rehabilitation aid at the National Reintegration Center, and subsequently allowed to move back into society.
The Minister said that as of date, the family, who were released after a year's rehabilitation, has not conducted any activities that may be posed as a danger to society. He explained that the family's activities will be monitored for a period of five years after their release.
"What we ask of the Maldivian community is to ensure that these children [returned from warzones] are also granted all the rights that any Maldivian child is guaranteed. To have trust in what the government is doing and offer cooperation. I assure you that we will ensure no danger is faced by the community through the actions of those we are returning to Maldives from warzones," Ihusan assured the public.
The Minister said that such reintegration programmes are being run in several countries, with a significant rate of success, seeing the return to society of many persons in similar situations.
He said that through a medical assessment, it has been confirmed that none of the 21 individuals have any major health issues. The minister said that the next step would be to conduct a more in-depth assessment to ascertain their condition.
After this assessment, a personalized rehabilitation programme most suited to the individual will be mapped out, and treatment will commence accordingly.
The minister asserted that all returned persons will be provided with rehabilitation treatments as per the needs.
"Every person who has gone in to this [into a warzone] has been exposed to different kinds of trauma, there are varying results. It has to be assessed what level of impact has been made on the individual psychologically. With all these aspects in mind, we conduct this assessment and based on that decide on a programme of treatment," Ihusan explained.
He said that the response to the treatment from different persons varied, and as such he is unable to pin down an exact duration in which they will be rehabilitated. However, he said that before authorizing return to society, it would be established that the person would not revert to their earlier mindset and ideology.
The Minister further appealed to the media and public to refrain from revealing or sharing personal details of the children involved.
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