Child camel jockey

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Child Slavery: Trafficked children as young as 4 years old are worked up to 18 hours a day as camel jockeys Near Dubai - Pic by Ansar Burney Trust

Each year, children as young as four^[1] are trafficked from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sudan for use as jockeys in the Persian Gulf States' camel racing industry. While official policies are in place requiring a minimum weight of 45 kg (100 lb) of the jockey, these restrictions are ignored by most in the racing industry because those who own the camels are also the heads of states.^{[citation needed]}

Child camel jockeys are often sexually and physically abused; most are physically and mentally stunted, as they are deliberately starved to prevent weight gain.^{[citation needed]} According to a documentary by the American television channel HBO and the Ansar Burney Trust , some of the children are only fed two biscuits a day with water, and forced to work up to 18 hours per day.^[2]

Each year, many are seriously injured by camels and those who die are buried in the desert in unmarked graves. They are not allowed to leave their lives of misery and those who try to escape are killed.^{[citation needed]}

The child jockeys live in camps (called "ousbah") encircled with barbed wire near the racetracks. Because the children were sold by their families and find themselves in an unfamiliar culture, they are dependent upon their captors for survival.^{[citation needed]}

Many are unable to identify their parents or home communities in South Asia or Sudan. Unlike other forms of trafficking that usually involve adults or older children, child camel jockey trafficking presents enormous challenges to source country governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) seeking to return rescued children to their parents and original communities.

Hundreds of children have been rescued from camel farms in Oman, Qatar and UAE and taken back to their original homes or kept in shelter homes.

However, they report that in many instances the children rescued were those who had been sold away by their own parents in exchange for money or a job abroad. If they were returned, the children would again be sold for the same purposes. Other children did not speak their native languages, or did not know how to live outside the camel farms.

After sustained pressure by human rights groups, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates finally agreed in early 2005 to abandon child jockeys — robot jockeys were used instead. At a cost of about $5,500 and a weight of about 26 kg, the robots are remote-controlled by camel trainers who follow the camels in cars. The robots can use whips and can also shout to the camels. The robots must be sprayed with a special "perfume" to allow the camel to accept them as real. Oman followed suit in May 2005.

A shelter home was established by the UAE in Abu Dhabi where the rescued children were to receive an education, good food, medical facilities and were to be taught how to live outside a camel farm. As of the end of 2005, it is estimated that as many as 800 children have been sent back to their home countries.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2006, ruler of Dubai and UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his brother Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum were served with a lawsuit in US district court in Miami, Florida for the enslavement of 30,000 boys in the past three decades for use as camel jockeys, of which only 100 could be accounted for. The suit was filed on behalf of only parents of six victims on the basis of international laws banning slavery and the use of child labor. The case was filed in Miami because the plaintiff lives there.^{[citation needed]}