06/29/2005
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The little jockey slaves go home, free. But nobody is waiting for them
Nadeem, Sohail, Arshad, Tanveer, Nasir, Shahzada, Hussain, Ghulam, Mohammed,
Mohammed Jameel, Shaukat, Akram, Mohammed Aslam, Mohammed Asif, Mohammed Irfan,
Khadija, Mohammed Saeed, Mohammed Usman, Mehmooda, Saeeda, Tasleema, Siraj.
Names like so many others. But they could be from a new chapter in a terrible story. These are the names of the children from the first group of Pakistani child slaves, used in the United Arab Emirates as camel racing jockeys, that have gone home. The flight left Dubai for Lahore on the 23rd of June, but, when this group of freed children arrived in Pakistan, their disappointment was even greater: nobody was there to take them home.
A Cold shower. The flight was the first following an agreement drawn up between the Qatar,
and United Arab Emirates governments and UNICEF, (the United Nations agency that
is concerned with the rights of children). Over the past months, these two countries
have put this law into action, a law that prohibits the use, in camel racing,
of jockeys that are under 16 years old or that are less than 45kg, (it's a pastime
that is passionately followed by many people in the Gulf States). UNICEF then
asked the Dubai and Qatar governments to take on the burden of reintegrating these
child slaves into society and to facilitate reuniting them with their families.
Almost all the children that are used as jockeys are bought by unscrupulous traffickers
in Far Eastern countries who then resell them to the owners of camel stables;
they then live in conditions of slavery. The aim of the UNICEF campaign was clear:
to heal the wounds, if possible, of these children, and return them to their parents.
An Inhumane trade. However, it didn't go as planned. The first flight to Pakistan, made up of a
group of 22 children between 6 and 17 years old, was a huge disappointment. Not
one of the parents of these children was at the airport to greet their children.
Child protection officers in Lahore, therefore, had to put the children under
the care of local orphanages. It's not so difficult to understand what happened,
once you overcome the initial shock of this news. In Pakistan and those other
countries, which are the stock houses for the market of trafficking human beings,
it's against the law to sell humans. Therefore, the families may not have shown
up at the airport because, by being there, they could be seen to be admitting
to having accepted money in exchange for their children. In addition to this there
is no system of birth registration in Pakistan, or in neighbouring countries,
and, therefore, impossible to confirm who the natural parents of a child are.
Children are not always sold, often they are kidnapped. Also for this reason parents
can't go to get their children because reprisals from the kidnappers could be
immediate.
Slaves in a game. The trafficking of children whose destiny is to become camel jockeys in the
Gulf States is part of a million-dollar business. The owners of camel stables
are able to pay mind-blowingly high prices for lightweight child jockeys. The
traffickers get the children from India, Pakistan and other poor Far Eastern countries
and the stable owners give them a basic training. Apart from that, and for reasons
of keeping the costs down, the children are kept in inhumane conditions and are
malnourished. In fact, the advantage of having a lightweight jockey is immeasurable
in camel racing, and the little slaves are fed bread and water to keep their weight
down. The children are locked inside corrugated iron huts and tied up so they
don't escape. The camels race at impressive speeds and the jockeys, when they
haven't died of exhaustion or malnutrition, often fall off the camels with fatal
consequences. Recently, with thanks to international protests there are thoughts
of substituting child jockeys with small robots. But so far, nothing has happened.
The law passed in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates hasn't resolved the problem
in the other Gulf States where camel racing is a passion, yet on the other hand,
it appears that this is a first step forward in the liberation of these child
slaves. Yet for those 22 children, along with freedom came another disappointment.
Names like so many others. But they could be from a new chapter in a terrible story. These are the names of the children from the first group of Pakistani child slaves, used in the United Arab Emirates as camel racing jockeys, that have gone home. The flight left Dubai for Lahore on the 23rd of June, but, when this group of freed children arrived in Pakistan, their disappointment was even greater: nobody was there to take them home.
A Cold shower. The flight was the first following an agreement drawn up between the Qatar,
and United Arab Emirates governments and UNICEF, (the United Nations agency that
is concerned with the rights of children). Over the past months, these two countries
have put this law into action, a law that prohibits the use, in camel racing,
of jockeys that are under 16 years old or that are less than 45kg, (it's a pastime
that is passionately followed by many people in the Gulf States). UNICEF then
asked the Dubai and Qatar governments to take on the burden of reintegrating these
child slaves into society and to facilitate reuniting them with their families.
Almost all the children that are used as jockeys are bought by unscrupulous traffickers
in Far Eastern countries who then resell them to the owners of camel stables;
they then live in conditions of slavery. The aim of the UNICEF campaign was clear:
to heal the wounds, if possible, of these children, and return them to their parents.
An Inhumane trade. However, it didn't go as planned. The first flight to Pakistan, made up of a
group of 22 children between 6 and 17 years old, was a huge disappointment. Not
one of the parents of these children was at the airport to greet their children.
Child protection officers in Lahore, therefore, had to put the children under
the care of local orphanages. It's not so difficult to understand what happened,
once you overcome the initial shock of this news. In Pakistan and those other
countries, which are the stock houses for the market of trafficking human beings,
it's against the law to sell humans. Therefore, the families may not have shown
up at the airport because, by being there, they could be seen to be admitting
to having accepted money in exchange for their children. In addition to this there
is no system of birth registration in Pakistan, or in neighbouring countries,
and, therefore, impossible to confirm who the natural parents of a child are.
Children are not always sold, often they are kidnapped. Also for this reason parents
can't go to get their children because reprisals from the kidnappers could be
immediate.
Slaves in a game. The trafficking of children whose destiny is to become camel jockeys in the
Gulf States is part of a million-dollar business. The owners of camel stables
are able to pay mind-blowingly high prices for lightweight child jockeys. The
traffickers get the children from India, Pakistan and other poor Far Eastern countries
and the stable owners give them a basic training. Apart from that, and for reasons
of keeping the costs down, the children are kept in inhumane conditions and are
malnourished. In fact, the advantage of having a lightweight jockey is immeasurable
in camel racing, and the little slaves are fed bread and water to keep their weight
down. The children are locked inside corrugated iron huts and tied up so they
don't escape. The camels race at impressive speeds and the jockeys, when they
haven't died of exhaustion or malnutrition, often fall off the camels with fatal
consequences. Recently, with thanks to international protests there are thoughts
of substituting child jockeys with small robots. But so far, nothing has happened.
The law passed in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates hasn't resolved the problem
in the other Gulf States where camel racing is a passion, yet on the other hand,
it appears that this is a first step forward in the liberation of these child
slaves. Yet for those 22 children, along with freedom came another disappointment. Christian Elia
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