By Kwong Ka Yan
Camel jockeying is a traditional and popular sports in Middle East (especially United Arab Emirates), which is also a tourist attraction and betting event. It is very common, yet cruel, to see children under 10 years old to be the camel jockeys. Over thousands of children from countries around United Arab Emirates like Afghanistan and Pakistan are traded by their parents to work in camel farms.
Younger children are preferred as they are lighter, driving the camel to run faster. For the same reason, child jockeys are often deprived of food in order to keep their light weight. A frustrating fact is that even three- year-old children can be found in the race. The children work for the camel farms from day to night and from cleaning camels to riding camels, subject to abuses by the owners and trainers. There are also few protections for them when they are in the race. If they fall from the back of camel, they may easily be stepped by camels or even get killed. Worse still, they receive no medical attention after the accident. Such treatments are clearly contravening Article 32.1 of UN Convention on Child, which provides protection of children from economic exploitation of performing works which is hazardous or harmful to health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
For those who are lucky enough to return to their home are not doing well. Since they left their home countries when they were small, they can’t speak their home language and hence they can’t talk to their parents. Some of them don’t know how to live “normally”, to live a life outside the camel farms.
Camel jockeying can be treated as one kind of entertainment but child camel jockeying is not. Seeing the above merciless treats to the children, anyone with kind heart would ban this act for sure. For fear of pressure from children protection groups like UNICEF, in 2007, child camel jockey is banned in most countries in Middle East. Instead, robot jockeys are replacing child jockeys as they are lighter and require less cost.
One of the frontiers in executing this change is the UAE. Being aware of the cruelty, the Federal Law No. 15 of 2005 was passed to ban children who are below 18 and weigh less than 45 kg to be camel jockeys (UNICEF, 2010). Realizing the link between child jockeys and human trafficking, UAE has enacted the Federal Law No.51, 2006 to combat human trafficking crimes, setting up the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT). With the collaboration with UNICEF in according the UN Convention on Child Article 35, a multi-lateral project involving UAE and 4 other source countries of children (Pakistan, Sudan, Mauritania and Bangladesh) has taken place since then to repatriate them back to their home country and provide reintegration programmes (UNICEF, 2010). It was so successful that UAE has closed the rehabilitation centre for child jockeys in 2012, but various reports suggest that the use of child jockeys has not died down, while some children are still missing.
It is really saddening to see that, in the light of these efforts, children like Shakil and Imran in this news article remain in never-ending trauma. Yet the effort against child trafficking should never ease. The horrible experiences of the child jockeys shall serve as a perpetual reminder of why the international community should fight against child trafficking to protect the innocent children.
News:
Camel jockeys: Popular Arab sport costs Pakistani children their sanity (May 8, 2013)
Reference:
A) Law related
UAE Federal Law No. 51, 2006 Combating Human Trafficking Crimes
http://www.nccht.gov.ae/en/menu/index.aspx?mnu=cat&PriMenuID=14&CatID=10
Pakistan Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002
http://www.fmu.gov.pk/docs/laws/Prevention_and_Control_of_Human_Trafficking_Ordinance_2002.pdf
UN convention on child
http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
B) News
Child camel jockeys in the Middle East – Ansar Burney – Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G51lJ-0L2eA
Robots replace children as camel jockeys in UAE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0aEtNH1NyY
Child Camel Jockey in United Arab Emirates
http://asiantimez.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/camel-racing-in-dubai-child-slavery/
UAE defies ban on child camel jockeys
Despite the 2002 ‘ban’ on child camel jockeys, the UAE is still using them
Thank you for your post. It is heartbreaking to see young children’s lives are put at risk in order for some people to make profits. Personally, I think child trafficking involves both child labor and migration. In order to tackle the problem of trafficking, we need to put emphasis on both aspects. Possible legal instruments that might help control such behavior include: international human rights instruments, labor and migration treaties, regional instruments and national law. NGOs can also get involved. In some countries where children are often trafficked for street begging, NGOs should stand forward and educate people that giving money to children beggars, which seems like a kind deed, could indirectly encourage the children traffickers and boost the demand for trafficked children in such countries. In China, mass media is also utilized to help trafficked victims find their missing children. Although it is challenging to utterly eliminate children trafficking within a short time, we can see that through the efforts of international and national legislatures, NGOs and mass media, the situation has been improving.
Reference:
“Action to Prevent Child Trafficking Report.” UNICEF, 2006.
Pumin, Yin. “Saving Child Panhandlers.” Beijing Review 54.9 (2011). 18-19. EBSCOhost. 9 February 2012.
Thank you for bringing this issue to discussion. This article has reminded me of the improper treatment to children in the Middle East. Other than child trafficking, issues like improper law to children, child labor and child prostitution also need the concern by the international communities of human rights.
There are five countries in the world which allow death penalty on children. They are all in Middle East (Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Iran). These countries keep doing even under the pressure of human rights organization. This is improper in this modern and civilized world.
In Iraq, many children are in the prostitution network, Prostitution is not illegal in Iraq, and this has worsened the situation of child trafficking.
Moreover child marriage is very common. Many young girls are married under the age of 18. These are even forced marriages that they do not really know their husbands. Something sad even happens in Jordan. In rural areas, the raped girl is forced to be marrying to her rapist to keep the family honor and the life of the man responsible.
As a result, in Middle East, children are generally not treated properly. It is essential for law to be properly amended and other countries or international communities to give a hand to them.
References:
http://www.humanium.org/en/middle-east-north-africa/
Law Wai Ching
3035047887
Thank you for your blog post as the topic of child slavery is seldom discussed in prosperous cities like Hong Kong.
I am glad that some International ordinance has been passed to protect children from trafficking. WIthout doubt, it is a milestone for However, I read a UNICEF report indicating that most of the child trafficking in Saudi Arabia is actually done by agreements with children’s parents and children themselves. Those children came from low-income families who wished to get rid of small towns and earned a living in Saudi Arabia. However, they suffered from constant abuses from smugglers.
It is such an astonishing fact. To fully combat this type of child trafficking, cooperation between Middle East governments and international organisations like UNICEF is needed.
Reference:
Parents, children complicit in human trafficking—Report. Retreived from http://www.childtrafficking.org/cgi-bin/ct/main.sql?ID=1389&file=view_document.sql
Thanks for your sharing on this interesting issue. It is sad to hear that unfair affairs are happening all around the world. It is necessary to stop the practice of children camel jockeying as soon as possible to avoid further tragedy happen.
Though the Federal Laws had regulating and forbidding the children camel jockeying, I am doubt whether there is sufficient and possible to monitor this activities in an effective and efficient way. As in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, the law execution institutions are not well established. The rights of the children cannot be protected if some of the camel jockeying activities are carrying illegally, which can be hardly observed. Also, corruption in the regions may even makes the situation worse. Therefore, the effectiveness of the law is determined by the government authority. I do think that laws to punish traffickers should be imposed. The rights of the children can only be protected if the regulations can be strictly carried out.