REPATRIATION OF SIMON TARALALA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000603 SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO/UNP, EAP/ANP, L/DL, CA/VO.CI, DS/PL AND DS/FLD/LAFO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OFDP PREL PP UN SUBJECT: REPATRIATION OF SIMON TARALALA REF: 08 STATE 04569 ¶1. This message is sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly. ¶2. (U) SUMMARY: Simon Taralala, the 16 year-old adopted son of Papua New Guinea Deputy PermRep Mathilda Takaku, has been in foster care under the control of New York City's Administration of Children's Services (NYC-ACS) since January 2007 when he was the victim of child abuse. As his adoptive mother is not able to care for him, NYC-ACS has asked Papua New Guinea PermRep Robert Aisi to repatriate Simon. If Aisi or his Mission/Government do not provide NYC-ACS with a plane ticket by Friday, June 19, NYC-ACS will fund Simon's repatriation themselves and seek Department assistance in ensuring that Simon is returned to his birth mother on his arrival in Port Moresby, perhaps as early as the week of June ¶22. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (SBU) Background: Simon Taralala (born 27MAR1993 in Port Moresby) arrived with his adoptive mother (his biological great aunt) Mathilda Takaku on 220/05. Mathilda Takaku was (and still is) registered with USUN as Minister-Counselor (in fact Deputy PermRep) at the Papua New Guinea Mission to the UN. On 1/5/07, USUN received a complaint from the NYPD that Mathilda had assaulted Simon by beating him with a belt because his school had called to report that he was a discipline problem. Simon was taken to the hospital, and from there placed in the emergency custody of NYC's Administration of Children's Services (NYC-ACS) when it was determined that he would neither feel safe returning home or going to the residence of Papua New Guinea's Ambassador to the UN, Robert Aisi. On 1/9/09 at a meeting between USUN, NYC and the Papua New Guinea Mission, Ms. Takaku signed a voluntary consent order giving ACS temporary custody of Simon until he and Mathilda could be given counseling and Simon could be safely returned to the home. Since it was always assumed that Simon would return home, USUN took no action to terminate his G-1 status or to otherwise strip him of diplomatic privileges and immunities. USUN has not contacted USCIS on this case, and does not believe that NYC-ACS has done so either. ¶3. (SBU) Background, continued: As Simon repeatedly said that he would not be safe in his adoptive mother's home even following successful NYC-ACS counseling of mother and child, Simon was placed with foster parents in a Harlem home, where he appears - at lest for the first year or more - to have been happy. Throughout 2007 and 2008, he refused to return to his mother's care, saying he feared her. Ambassador Aisi was concerned about the environment at the home and reported that Simon was losing his cultural bearings. In the summer of 2008, Aisi began to pressure NYC to release Simon to Mathilda, but ACS decide against it. Since that time, Mathilda has become seriously ill (we understand that she is suffering from terminal cancer),and although she returned briefly to work in the beginning of 2009, she no longer is working and there appear to be no plans to send her home. Faced with this situation, NYC has decided that it was no longer in its interests or those of Simon to keep him in foster care until his 18th birthday, and in any event, Simon now states that he would like to return to PNG. ¶4. (SBU) Next steps The General Counsel of the NYC Commission for the UN and Consular Corps wrote to Ambassador Aisi on June 5 requesting that he contact NYC no later than Friday, June 19 to finalize arrangements for Simon's repatriation. Neither USUN nor NYC expects Aisi to be cooperative, especially as he has refused to call any of USUN's or the City's calls on this issue for almost a year. If the PNG Mission does not arrange for Simon's repatriation, NYC will purchase Simon's plane ticket home as early as the week of June 22, and plans to ask USUN/Department to (1) seek reimbursement from the PNG Government and (2 request assistance with the repatriation itself. In the likely case that Simon will have to change planes in Los Angeles, NYC will request that a Department office go to LAX to ensure that Simon makes his onward connection. NYC is also likely to request that the Department ask AmEmbassy Port Moresby to assist the PNG Government with Simon's arrival (both the Foreign Affairs Department and the Department for Community Development are aware of the case). USUN presumes this will involve AmEmbassy Port Moresby informing the appropriate PNG officials that Simon will be arriving on X flight on Y day, and ensuring that the Government has someone there to meet the plane and take Simon to his natural mother, reportedly named Joyce Maia Kungkei living in Tarara village on Bougainville. USUN also expects that NYC will request that the PNGG terminate Mathilda's adoption rights over Simon, as ACS provided USUN and the Department with Simon's child abuse USUN NEW Y 00000603 002 OF 002 file. ¶5. (SBU) USUN will report further when NYC informs us of the exact repatriation plans and any specific requests for assistance in addition to those outlined above. RICE