Tonga’s meth crisis: Impact on children and families emerges | Regional / World

NUKU’ALOFA (TVNZ/ABC Pacific/Pacnews) — As Tonga grapples with the methamphetamine crisis, the true impact on children and families is becoming clear.

The case comes as police continue to investigate drug gangs on the island, with 17 arrests made this week, including members of the Comanchero gang.

Twice a year, groups of teenagers from across the kingdom come for aspirational conversations and harm reduction education. They are the forgotten, the troubled, the lost, as the Speaker of Parliament, Lord Fatafehi ​​Fakafanua, put it.

“Parents have given up on them, communities have given up on them, and when they break the law, there is no one to protect them.

“The big gang members and the young people go to jail and they are all put in the same place. There is no juvenile facility and there is less hope for them because once they become hardened criminals, it is difficult to change them.”

The youngest participant in the interviews was eight years old. He dealt drugs at school, tried to recruit adults, and earned less than a dollar a day.

Fakafanua said he was paid with “money and pornography.”

Katherine Mafi works with Ma’a Fafine Moe Famili, a group in Tonga that works with children and families. She said there is not much access to government help for the problem.

“They keep saying they have a task force, they have a committee here, all sorts of things, but I’ve never seen it at the local level.”

Mafi added that the drug problem in Tonga is a “crisis” and affects most families.

“It’s really sad when families fall apart…”

Mafi was not alone in his frustration at the lack of government intervention.

Her colleague Betty Blake said: “Where is this national drug policy, you know? I haven’t seen it or heard about it with all the work we do for communities.”

At the legislative level, steps have been taken to toughen penalties for drug-related offenses.

In May, a public debate took place in parliament on imposing the death penalty for drug crimes, although most people rejected the idea.

A new bill is also being drafted that would allow the assets of those who profit from drug money to be seized.

Some experts say Australia’s policy of deporting criminals with few ties to their country of birth is contributing to the Pacific’s drug crime problem.

According to Jose Sousa-Santos, an expert in transnational crime, the raids in Tonga are a clear example of the proliferation of new criminal players in the region.

“We have seen smaller scale criminal motorcycle gangs in the region, in Fiji and the Cook Islands, but the Comancheros are definitely new players in the region and they come with much bigger intentions and bigger plans.”

But he said Australia, as well as New Zealand and the US, are responsible for such cases because of their policies of deporting non-citizens convicted of criminal offences.

“This ties in directly with the deportation policies of Australia, New Zealand and the US,” he said.

“This is because the deportation policy has seen deportees with ties to the Comancheros and other motorcycle gangs sent to the Pacific, to Tonga.

“And once they arrive in countries where they have no connections, ties or job prospects, they contact their criminal accomplices. This creates a completely new player in the criminal network.

“This is where Australia, New Zealand and the US really need to take a serious look at their policies if they are serious about being positive partners and having a real impact in the region,” he said.