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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.
Children
Trafficked as Camel Jockeys Despite UAE
Promise
Prosecutions of violators of the ban have yet
to occur, notes Anti-Slavery International.
Video footage shot by the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation in February 2003
showed that use of children for camel races
still continues. Human
Trafficking in the UAE
South Asia correspondent Geoff Thompson
travels to Dubai to report on the Sport of
Sheikhs It is a story the leaders of this
Gulf state didnt want told.
UAE Camel
Jockeys (Part-1)
The next morning a UAE government minder took
us to film a race but through a bungled
arrangement, we were taken to a race we were
not meant to see. There were young boys
everywhere, some barely beyond toddler age.
Human
Trafficking in the UAE (Part II)
As
a camel jockey in the United Arab Emirates'
glitzy port city, Ibrahim was just a tiny cog
in a vast, popular sports industry, and like
the other 20-odd boys in his dormitory, he was
a child slave. Protests were treated with a
sound whipping with the sticks used for the
camels, and then it was back to the races for
the tiny lads. ABC News -
Human Cargo
children sold into slavery as camel racers
The trade in boys for camel racing has long
been the subject of a campaign by both the UN
and Anti-Slavery International. Evidence,
however, suggests the practice is becoming
more prevalent. The Observer Report.
Hidden horror
behind the racetracks of the Emirs
The tradition of camel racing in the UAE is
hundreds of years old but the sadistic and
pre-meditated choice of innocent children as
jockeys is a recent practice dating back to
the early 70s.
Menace
of Child Smuggling
In an editorial protest, The Daily Star
newspaper declared: "What could be more of an
outrage than such willful cruelty towards a
minor?" The Dhaka daily urged both the
Bangladesh and Middle Eastern governments to
take drastic steps to halt the abuse and what
it called the "entertainment of the rich."
Breaking their
backs on a camel, for others' entertainment |
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.
Trafficking and forced labour of children in
the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
This
site was originally produced by a British
teacher in the UAE who, like you are doing
now, asked himself "what can I do about it?".
He took some photos at the local camel
exercising track and produced this web site.
Click the link at:
Camel Jockeys in the Middle East
UNICEF believes that the protection of
children is crucial to their survival, health,
and well-being. Unfortunately, millions of
children are exploited, millions are abused,
millions are victims of violence. Every day,
they are bought and sold, imported and
exported like consumable things.
What is Child Protection?
Every year, scores of kidnapped children are
smuggled from South Asia to the Middle East
where they are maimed and killed, all for the
amusement of the oil-rich rulers of kingdoms
on the camel racing circuit.
Death in Dubai
If you post your views to a forum or send an
email to a newspaper, it wont end the practice
tomorrow, but it certainly wont do any harm.
If you would like to help to end the
exploitation of children then check out
Some of the links
Young boys, some as young as 3 years old, are
kidnapped from Bangladesh and other poverty
stricken countries. They are sold to the UAE
to become jockeys in the dangerous sport of
camel racing.
Desperate-Measures.org
Many children die before the race is over,
either from fear, being tossed by the camel,
or by being dragged to death after being
dislodged from the rope that is meant to hold
the child in place.
Death in the desert for Pakistan's camel
children
Voices of three children joined the silent
cries of the little Bangladeshi children
working as camel jockeys in the Gulf
countries. Camel racing is one of the ...
Bangladesh
Environmental Lawyers Association |
