United Nations Economic and Social Council
Commission on Human Rights
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and protection of Minorities
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
23rd Session
Geneva, May 1998
Child Camel Jockeys in the Gulf States

During 1997 Anti-Slavery International received new information about the trafficking of children for use as camel jockeys in the Gulf Sates. Anti-Slavery made representations to the United Arab Emirates' Ambassador in London but received no response. In January 1998 Anti-Slavery launched a letter writing appeal urging the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to stop the exploitation of very young children working as jockeys in the popular camel races.

Children, some as young as four years old, are trafficked into the Gulf from Asian and African countries to supply the demand for jockeys. The sport is extremely dangerous and many children have been injured in falls and accidents. Some have been killed. The children are separated from their parents, and made to live in very poor conditions. Some of the children report beatings and abuse at the hands of their employers.

The UAE has ratified the International Labour Organisation's Convention No. 29 concerning Forced Labour and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Both of these international standards are violated in the case of child camel jockeys.

In 1993 the President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan ordered a ban on the use of children as camel riders. The decision was widely acclaimed at home and abroad. Following the announcement of the ban, the UAE's independent Camel Jockey Association created rules against the employment of any child under the age of 14 or weighing less than seven stone (45 kilograms). Anti-Slavery has presented clear evidence, including video footage taken by an undercover television crew for Channel 4 television, to show that this ban is not being properly enforced. Furthermore, while trafficking routes bringing children from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan to the Gulf are well known, Anti-Slavery has received further evidence of new routes opening from Mauritania, Eritrea and Sudan.

Following Anti-Slavery's intervention, the UAE Government has acknowledged that some children are still exploited in the sport. They have claimed that because of the large size of the country it is difficult to keep track of the situation. Passing new rules, however, serves no purpose unless those rules are adequately enforced and their effectiveness monitored. Anti-Slavery is urging the Government of the UAE to appoint an independent monitor to report to the police and the Government on steps taken by the racing industry, the frontier police and other immigration authorities to prevent trafficking in children and the exploitation of children under 14 in camel races in the UAE. We urge the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery to express its concern about this issue. Details of the evidence collected by Anti-Slavery are contained in a four page bulletin which we are also submitting to you.