Editor,

On July 19, 2008; you published an article about the deportees from foreign countries who currently are a "national concern" to the Kingdom of Tonga.

First, Tonga must admit and feel responsible for the concern addressed at the workshop in Nuku'alofa because it agreed and signed the Extradition Treaty with the United Kingdom and the United States of America to extradite criminals of Tongan descent to Tonga and vice versa.

Although Tonga agreed to the Extradition Treaty in good faith, it should have realized that a criminal would continue to be a criminal regardless of a change in his/her environment. I hereby am questioning necessity of signing such an agreement. Did Tonga had a choice not to sign this Extradition Treaty? If Tonga did not agree to such a treaty, would it suffer in any way? Did the representatives of Tonga forsee the consequences of signing an agreement? I really think that Tonga should get out of this agreement if that's the cause of the problems of the deportees in Tonga. I suspect that there are other issues resulting from a dissolution of such treaties by Tonga. But simply, if Tonga cannot seperate itself from the problem, I would think that the most logical way is to take the problem away from Tonga; that is, don't bring any more deportees to Tonga.

My proposals for possible solutions to the deportees' problems are as follows :-

(1) Tonga should, though it may not be easy, dissolve all its extradition treaties which legalize the deportation of criminals of Tongan descent from all foreign countries to the Kingdom of Tonga.

(2) Tonga should institute a half-way house program in Tonga to rehabilitate all the deportees extradited from foreign countries before releasing them to the general public.

The first possible solution could be done but it is not going to be easy because of many other issues. I think the second possible solution is the most viable one. To implement and operate the second one, Tonga needs money. I think it would be just fair for the deporting countries to share the responsibilities of rehabilitation. To share such responsibilities, all the countries which deport criminals to Tonga should be requested by Tonga to contribute money, equipments, and professional assistance to operate the rehabilitation programs for the deportees. After all, the deporting countries played a significant role in raising, and shaping most of the troubled deportees' lives.

This problem of the deportees is a huge one. It needs the participation and cooperation of Tonga and all the deporting countries. They should work as a team to solve it. Tonga should start working with the deporting countries to structure efficient programs of rehabilitation. I don't think that meetings with the church leaders would bring a quick fix to this serious problem in question. Something realistic programs should be done because while the workshops are progress, the criminals are busy at work. Worst, there are people killed in the process.

Education and incarceration to habilitate are, in my opinion, beneficial for both the deportees and the community. A part of the time served overseas should be reserved for the rehabilitation programs in Tonga. This may take care of any double jeopardy issues that may be raised.

Good luck!

Yours sincerely,

Siosaia Fatani.

sstuakoi [at] yahoo [dot] com