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Children continue to be trafficked from countries like Bangladesh,
Pakistan and India to be used as camel jockeys in the UAE. The use
of children as jockeys in camel racing is itself extremely dangerous
and can result in serious injury and even death. Some children are
also abused by traffickers and their employers, this includes depriving
them of food and beating them. The children's separation from their
families and their transportation to a country where the people,
culture and usually the language are completely unknown leaves the
children dependent on their employers and de facto forced
labourers.
The trafficking of children for use as camel jockeys is prohibited
by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
and by ILO Conventions 29, 138 and 182 - all of which have been
ratified by the UAE.
The Government response
On 29 July 2002, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is also the
Chairman of the Emirates Camel Racing Federation, prohibited the
employment of children under 15 or weighing less than 45 kilograms
as camel jockeys. The Minister announced that the ban would come
into effect on 1 September 2002. A fine of 20,000 dirhams (US$5,500)
will be imposed for a first offence. A second offence will lead
to a ban from camel racing for one year and prison sentences will
be imposed for subsequent offences.
This is a positive move by the Government which should be welcomed.
However, it must be noted that this is little more than a restatement
of existing policy. The Government itself reported to the ILO Committee
on the Application of Standards in 2002 that the employment of any
child under the age of 15 had been prohibited since 1980 under Section
20 of the Federal Labour Code No.8.
If this new ban is to be effective then it must be rigorously implemented.
However, the following information shows that the trafficking and
use of camel jockeys has continued throughout 2002, including after
the entry into force of the new ban in September 2002.
The Karachi-based NGO, Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA),
made a study of all the trafficking cases reported in Pakistan's
newspapers during 2002. The report documented 29 cases of child
trafficking for camel racing in the UAE. This represents an increase
from the 20 cases reported in newspapers during 2001.
The Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International, reported that it
rescued two brothers, aged eight and 10, who were being used as
camel jockeys in Abu Dhabi. The children were flown back to Pakistan
on 21 November 2002.
The use of children from Bangladesh as camel jockeys in the UAE
also continued during 2002. The Bangladesh Consulate in Dubai stated
on 2 June 2002 that the mission had rescued and repatriated approximately
20 Bangladeshi children in the past few months who had been working
in the UAE as camel jockeys and domestics. The consulate again intervened
in November 2002 to rescue Zakir Mia (aged 10) who had been working
as a camel jockey for some six years in the UAE. He was returned
to Bangladesh and sent to the Bangladesh National Women's Lawyers
Association for rehabilitation.
Further evidence that the new ban is not being implemented was
clearly seen in a documentary broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation on 25 February 2003.1 The filmmakers
were formally invited to attend a camel race, but officials at the
track seemed surprised at their appearance. Police are shown escorting
a group of very young camel jockeys onto a bus while other officials
attempt to stop the filming.
The film also includes other footage of two camel jockeys from
Pakistan, aged five and seven, who have been in the UAE for two
years and who race four times a week. Another young child from Bangladesh
who has been a camel jockey in the UAE for approximately six years
is also interviewed and describes it as "the worst job in the
world".
Reports of very young children being used as camel jockeys have
been made to the Working Group every year for the last six years
and the evidence cited above shows that this is continuing despite
the new ban announced by the Government. If this practice is to
be ended then the Government must end the impunity which exists
for those who employ children under the age of 15 as camel jockeys.
As the 2002 US State Department report on the UAE pointed out:
"Relevant laws in some cases are enforced against criminal
trafficking rings, but not against those who own racing camels and
employ the children, because such owners come from powerful families
that are in effect above the law.
The camel owners are not prosecuted for violations of the labor
laws; consequently the demand for child jockeys continues unrestricted."
In 2003, the ILO Committee of Experts urged the Government to take
immediate measures to
"eradicate the trafficking of children for use as camel jockeys
and to punish those responsible through the strict enforcement of
adequate penal sanctions".
In addition, the ILO Committee of Experts (2001), the ILO Conference
Committee on the Application of Standards (2002) and the UN Committee
on the Rights of the Child (2002) have all concluded that the employment
of children as camel jockeys constitutes dangerous work which is
likely to jeopardise the health and safety of the young person and
have called on the Government to prohibit anyone under the age of
18 from working as a camel jockey. As far as we are aware the Government
still has not taken action to do so.
Recommendations
In light of the above, Anti-Slavery International urges the Government
of the UAE to:
- Carry out regular unannounced inspections to identify, release
and rehabilitate any child who is being used as a camel jockey.
The Government must ensure that all those responsible for trafficking
and employing underage jockeys are prosecuted under the existing
laws.
- Provide details of the number of prosecutions brought and the
number of successful convictions obtained with details of the
sentences passed against those trafficking and employing camel
jockeys since 1 September 2002.
- Introduce, as a matter of priority, legislation that prohibits
and punishes the employment of children under the age of 18 in
hazardous work or work that could jeopardise their health or safety,
including as camel jockeys.
- Ratify and implement the United Nations Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children (2000), supplementing the Convention on Transnational
Organized Crime.
1 Thompson, G. & Grey,
K., Foreign Correspondent, Australian Broadcasting Corporation,
25 February 2003. Footage was shot between 13 - 25 October 2002.
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