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Hundreds of children as young as four years old are being trafficked
each year to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for use as camel jockeys,
despite assurances that the practice would be banned from 1 September
2002.
The UAE Government's July 2002 announcement that using children
under-16 and lighter than 45 kilograms to race camels would be banned
from 1 September 2002, is not being implemented according to documentary
evidence and reports from source countries.
Children are trafficked from Bangladesh, Pakistan and countries
in Africa. They are
abducted or sold by their parents, and forced to ride racing camels.
Kept in brutal conditions, they are frequently deprived of food
and water before races to keep them light. Children
have been seriously injured and some have died both as a result
of their treatment and from
falls during races.
Because it is so dangerous, the International Labour Organization
(ILO) has repeatedly called for the minimum age for camel jockeys
to be 18 years.
Even though using children as camel jockeys has been illegal in
the UAE since 1980 under various domestic and international legislation,
to the best of our knowledge no UAE citizen has faced judicial proceedings
for this offence and child trafficking continues unhindered. Despite
repeated promises, the UAE Government has consistently failed to
implement any of the measures that would protect children from this
abuse.
Disappointingly, in June 2003, the US Government commended the
UAE for its efforts against trafficking, including children as camel
jockeys, in its Trafficking in Persons Report. It raised
the UAE from Tier 3, reserved for the greatest offenders, to Tier
1 comprising countries whose governments are prohibiting trafficking
and punishing acts of trafficking.
Recently some progress was made after Anti-Slavery International
provided the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
with filmed evidence of young children racing camels in the UAE.
The ICFTU submitted a documentary* at the International Labour Conference
held in June 2003 in Geneva. The evidence played a key role in proving
the UAE's assurances that the practice was a thing of the past were
false. As a result, the UAE has agreed to an ILO visit later this
year to discuss the problem.
It is vital the Government of the UAE introduce regular unannounced
inspections to identify, release and rehabilitate any child currently
being used as a camel jockey; that anyone responsible for trafficking
or employing underage jockeys is prosecuted under existing laws;
and that laws are introduced, and enforced, that prohibit employing
children under 18 as camel jockeys. And that the UAE implement the
United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000).
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