Emirates act to repatriate children camel jockeys
United Arab Emirates, Culture, 8/22/2005

UNICEF announced this month that the United Arab Emirates is acting implement a new law that bans children camel jockeys for the traditional camel racing sport.

Earlier this month, August 11, the first group of Bangladeshi camel jockeys has been repatriated from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and arrived safely in Dhaka.

The thirty six former camel jockeys aged between 4 and 15 were greeted by the State Minister of Home Affairs, Md. Lutfozzaman Babar and UNICEF country representative Morten Giersing at Zia International airport after their flight from Abu Dhabi.

A further 15 children were also repatriated bringing the number of children who arrived today from the UAE to 51.

"The priority for these children now is that they be rehabilitated and reintegrated into the family, their local communities and Bangladesh society. Their safety and well-being is our focus now," said Mr Giersing.

In May of this year the government of the UAE Government banned camel racing with the use of underage jockeys Ð that is, children under the age of 16. Most of these children received little or no pay, had no access to education, were starved before races to keep their weight down and were separated from family and culture.

Some of these children were trafficked from Bangladesh, others were sent there to earn money for their families back home and others were used as underage jockeys to earn money for the family living in the UAE.

Under the new law, no child or adult who has been involved in camel racing is allowed to stay in the UAE. With UNICEF support, the Government of Bangladesh began the process of verifying which children were Bangladeshi and making the appropriate arrangements for their repatriation.

"It was extremely important that the preparedness activities and verification process be thorough and exhaustive to ensure the right children were identified and helped. UNICEF provided technical and advisory and financial support to the Government of Bangladesh throughout this process," said Mr Giersing.

A three member delegation comprising of a member of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a social worker from the NGO sector traveled to the UAE to begin the verification process. Through their efforts, the first group has arrived safely.

"Unification is our main goal, making sure these children are placed with their families and communities. We have helped the Government of Bangladesh establish a tracing system whereby the children are reunified with their parents or carer," said Mr Giersing.

UNICEF was instrumental in establishing The Committee on Children involved in Camel Racing which is comprised of members from Government, NGOs, UNICEF and IOM (The International Organization for Migration).

This Committee ensured that there was a systematic process, a good level of coordination between the governments of Bangladesh and the UAE and that there was a high level of commitment from the different government and NGO actors.

"As many as 7,000 Pakistani children being used as camel jockeys are stranded in the deserts of several Arab states of the Persian Gulf. Over 10,000 children were being used as camel kids and out of them 70 percent were Pakistanis and 30 percent Indians, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis, The News daily reported on Monday. It said that it would be one of the biggest challenges of Pakistani history of human smuggling that well over 7,000 children were flown out of the country on fake documents," IRNA had reported in July.

UNICEF said that reuniting the children with their families could turn out to be a very long and difficult process. "Some of the children left home many years ago," Zubair Ahmad, Assistant Director of Pakistan's Child Protection and Welfare Bureau had said. "They have forgotten who their parents are and where they lived. It may take DNA testing in some cases. He said "there are signs of psychological trauma, and some of the children are definitely malnourished."

"For those whose origins we can't trace, we will provide education and vocational training, to help them be better prepared to return to society one day."

UNICEF said it will continue its involvement with these children and the ones still remaining in the UAE for their safe repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration. More than 150 children remain in the UAE and UNICEF is working with officials both in Bangladesh and the UAE to repatriate them as soon as possible.

On May 8, UNICEF said that in a major step to provide protection and support to children involved in camel racing, the UAE Ministry of Interior and UNICEF today signed an agreement to provide some $2.7 million to help in return and re-integration of child camel jockeys in their home communities. The agreement will complement ongoing efforts from the UAE government to exclude all underage children in camel racing, and to strengthen measures to prevent the exploitation and abuse of children brought in from other countries, including from South Asia and Africa.A joint meeting held 7-8 May by the Ministry, UNICEF, and IOM with delegates from governments and non-governmental groups from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Mauritania reviewed steps needed to remove children from camel racing and assist their home countries in return and rehabilitation of the children.

Preliminary figures provided by the UAE's Ministry of Interior indicate that around 3,000 children are currently involved in camel racing, of whom around 2,800 are aged under 10 years old. With UNICEF's technical assistance, the UAE's Ministry of Interior plans to review these figures in a survey of camel jockeys. "We applaud these bold initiatives by the UAE, on the one hand cracking down on the import and employment of children as camel jockeys, and on the other hand working with the countries from which the children came to ensure a safe return to the children's families.

The BBC noted in July that "Using children has officially been banned in the UAE since 1980. Earlier this year it tightened the rules, banning under-16s and those lighter than 45kg (100lb) from racing."

The US in June cited that South Asian and East African boys were trafficked into the country and forced to work as camel jockeys. Some were sold by their parents to traffickers, and others were brought into the U.A.E. by their parents. The US Department of States reported that the United Arab Emirates is a serious offender of trafficking in persons, making it a country that needs to act on this report, else it would face US sanctions.

Previous Stories:
  United Arab Emirates's human traficking report   (6/22/2005)
  UAE abrogates partial embargo of importing Saudi meats   (12/21/2004)
  United Arab Emirates human rights record   (3/9/2001)
  Camels to race in Berlin   (8/15/1997)

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