Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ABUDHABI4418
2004-12-06 13:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

UAE OPENS FIRST CAMEL JOCKEY SHELTER AND REHABILITATION CENTER

Tags:  BG PHUM PK PREL TC 
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Diana T Fritz 12/19/2006 04:47:29 PM From DB/Inbox: Search Results

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 04418

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: POL
 INFO: RSO AMB DCM P/M ECON MEPI

DISSEMINATION: POL
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:MJSISON
DRAFTED: POL:SKRADDANT
CLEARED: DCM:RALBRIGHT POL:JMAYBURY CG:JDAVIS

VZCZCADI113
RR RUEHC RUEHZM RUEHKA RUEHIL RUEHDE
DE RUEHAD #4418/01 3411321
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 061321Z DEC 04
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7089
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0197
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1305
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 4570
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 004418 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL, NEA/RA, NEA/ARPI, AND SA/PB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2014
TAGS: BG PHUM PK PREL TC

SUBJECT: UAE OPENS FIRST CAMEL JOCKEY SHELTER AND REHABILITATION CENTER
REF: (A) ABU DHABI 4261 (B) ABU DHABI 4237 (C) DUBAI
5097

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 004418

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL, NEA/RA, NEA/ARPI, AND SA/PB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2014
TAGS: BG PHUM PK PREL TC

SUBJECT: UAE OPENS FIRST CAMEL JOCKEY SHELTER AND REHABILITATION CENTER
REF: (A) ABU DHABI 4261 (B) ABU DHABI 4237 (C) DUBAI
5097


1. (C) SUMMARY: The UAEG, in cooperation with the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust Association (a Pakistani NGO),opened the region,s first shelter and rehabilitation center for rescued child camel jockeys on December 2 near Abu Dhabi.
Sixteen boys are already housed in the shelter, which can hold up to 400 boys. Poloff toured the facility, and was impressed with the high quality of services available. While the center represents a welcome step toward addressing the trafficking problem, the UAEG will need sustained enforcement efforts across all seven emirates to eliminate trafficking in young boys. These efforts are also getting help from an Amcit and long-time UAE resident, who hopes to get official recognition for her private women,s shelter in Dubai, and expand it to help abused and abandoned children, including former camel jockeys. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) The UAEG opened a shelter and rehabilitation center for child camel jockeys on December 2. The opening was reported by a number of media sources, including CNN, BBC, AP, UPI, and local English (but not Arabic language)
newspapers. The first of its kind in the region, the still-unnamed center, located in the Sheikh Zayed Military City outside of Abu Dhabi, will provide medical care, psychological counseling, and basic education for up to 400 trafficking victims. Most importantly, staff will help prepare the boys for repatriation to their home countries, although many of the boys are too young to remember where they come from, who their parents are, or how to speak their native languages. Shelter administrators, including Ansar Burney, founder of the Pakistani human rights organization Ansar Burney Welfare Trust Association, intend to keep the boys in the center from eight to 12 weeks before repatriating them, with the assistance of source country embassies, consulates, and NGOs.


3. (C) Poloff toured the center on its opening day. Sixteen boys from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sudan had already been living in the center for two days. (Note: The Ministry of Interior reported that these boys were included in the 18 who were rescued by police several days earlier. (ref. A) Shelter administrators were unable to tell Poloff and Burney where the other two boys were located. End note.) Since the center is located in the first medical regiment wing of an active UAE Army unit, the medical facilities were state-of-the-art. The rooms were clean and well equipped, and the meal served to the boys was large and well balanced.

It should be noted, however, that although it was 2:30 PM, the boys claimed it was their first meal of the day.


4. (C) The boys, ages ranged from approximately three to ten years, although many claimed to be much older. They were all very thin, and several showed signs of new and old injuries, including a recent head injury suffered by a boy, approximately six years old, who fell from a camel days earlier. The boys originated from camps throughout the UAE, and seemed happy with their new surroundings, despite a lack of toys, books, or a playground. The boys will share dining facilities with military troops. The rooms and furniture are standard military issue. The only forms of entertainment were a TV with a few cartoons on DVD, and a soccer net located next to a parking lot.


5. (C) In press interviews, Burney thanked Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ),Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Armed Forces Chief of Staff, and Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Interior, for opening the center and working with his organization to ensure the boys were properly treated while in the UAE, and humanely repatriated when appropriate. MbZ had invited Burney to the UAE to meet with him and Sheikh Saif shortly after HBO, working with footage and information provided by Burney, aired a documentary on October 19 highlighting the ongoing camel jockey problem (ref. B). Burney said he estimated there are approximately 5,000 camel jockeys remaining in the UAE, and approximately 40,000 boys working in the sport regionally. (Note: The UAEG has not estimated the number of camel jockeys it believes are currently living in the UAE. Embassy cannot confirm the accuracy of Burney,s estimates. End note.) Burney claimed to have repatriated approximately 380 camel jockeys from the UAE, primarily from Pakistan and Bangladesh, in 2004. He said that the UAE facility, under his guidance, will attempt to reunite the children with their parents. However, if the parents were involved in putting the children to work as camel jockeys in the first place, he said the center will instead transfer them to similar centers in their home countries, where they will continue to get medical treatment, education, and job training until age 18.


6. (C) Burney told Poloff he specifically asked MbZ and Sheikh Saif to save one five-year-old boy featured in the HBO program who, despite serious injuries requiring hospitalization and 22 stitches in August, has been forced back into camel racing. Burney said that, during their meetings, both sheikhs stated that the boy would be rescued
&that night.8 Burney intends to renew his concerns with MbZ and Sheikh Saif.


7. (U) Another human rights NGO has applied to the Dubai Emirate authorities to open a shelter for abused and abandoned children, including former camel jockeys, in Dubai.
Sharla Musabih, an American woman who has been living in the UAE for more than 25 years, is one of the women behind the project. She has been running a shelter for abused women privately out of her home for the past two decades (ref. C). However, she hopes to receive official recognition for the shelter, first from Dubai Emirate in January, and later from federal authorities, then expand the facility to provide rehabilitation for abused and abandoned children. Musabih told Poloff that, once the Dubai facility is established, she hopes to open similar shelters in each emirate. Musabih has worked with Burney to assist rescued camel jockeys in the past, and she is currently providing shelter to one former camel jockey, a four-year-old Pakistani boy who has worked in the industry for about two years.


8. (C) Comment: Although the UAEG,s move to open the shelter and rehabilitation center in Abu Dhabi is an encouraging start, more must be done to adequately address the ongoing trafficking problem UAE-wide. Since the UAE functions on a loose federal structure, it will be necessary to work this issue equally across all 7 emirates. Embassy and ConGen Dubai will continue to urge the leadership of each emirate to pursue actions on the camel jockey issue.
SISON