UAEG OFFICIALS: "WE WILL SOLVE THE CAMEL JOCKEY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ABU DHABI 001274

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2015
TAGS: PREL ETRD ELAB PHUM PGOV SOCI TC
SUBJECT: UAEG OFFICIALS: "WE WILL SOLVE THE CAMEL JOCKEY
PROBLEM QUICKLY."

REF: STATE 49809

Classified By: Richard A. Albright, Charge d,Affaires, a.i.,
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).



1. (C) Summary: Senior UAEG officials have publicly and
privately committed to ending the problem of underage camel
jockeys. In response to reftel demarche, they have told
Charge that their priority is to identify, rescue and
repatriate the children, and not drive the problem
underground. To this end, Arabic and English public
announcements have publicized the enforcement of a new law
effective March 31 and announced an amnesty period of two
months for any camel owner who surrenders underage children
to the government. UAE Immigration has begun enforcing
requirements that each individual enter the UAE on a separate
passport, instead of the family passports, including multiple
children, that have often been used in trafficking these
children.


2. (C) Summary continued: Senior UAEG officials told
Charge that they expect the problem to be eliminated within
the next eight to ten weeks. The MFA U/S expressed
confidence that there will be substantial progress before the
TIP report is submitted to Congress June 1. The Minister of
Information acknowledged that this problem is "embarrassing"
to the government, and the Minister of Labor noted that all
understood that a lack of action on the part of the UAEG
would mean they could "kiss an FTA goodbye." End summary.


3. (C) Charge and visiting Deputy Undersecretary of Labor
for International Labor Affairs Arnold Levine delivered
reftel points seeking immediate action by the UAEG to end the
practice of using children as camel jockeys to Minister of
Labor Ali Al-Ka'abi on March 19 and on March 20, to Minister
of Interior Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, MFA U/S Abdullah Rashid
Al-Noaimi and MinFin A/US for Revenue and Budget Khalid
Al-Bustani. Charge raised reftel points separately with
Minster of Information Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed on March 19.

Minister of Labor - If Tier 3 "Kiss FTA Goodbye"
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4. (C) Minister of Labor Ali Al-Kaabi told Charge and
Deputy Undersecretary Levine that the UAEG was morally
obliged to end the use of underaged camel jockeys, because it
was the right thing to do. That said, he also understood the
negative impact that this problem was having on key bilateral
issues, noting that a fall to Tier 3 would mean the UAEG
could "kiss an FTA goodbye." Al-Kaabi emphasized that
putting children at risk violated both UAE traditions and
Islam. Unfortunately, he noted, camel racing with underaged
jockeys was a long-standing practice in the UAE and, for that
reason, the UAEG needed to pursue a process of education and
consensus building to end it. Al-Kaabi explained that some
in the camel racing community had attempted to resist the ban
with the argument that they were employing children who might
otherwise not have any economic opportunities. He said that
his response was to tell people to "use their own kids,"
which he said no Emirati wanted to do. According to
Al-Kaabi, his eventual goal was to raise the minimum age for
camel jockeys to 18. He viewed the 16 year age limit in the
new law as an interim step. The Minister said that he had
seen a number of estimates of the number of underage camel
jockeys in the UAE, but had no firm numbers. He questioned
the data underlying Pakistani human rights activist Ansar
Burney's estimate of 5,000 camel jockeys. When Ministry of
Interior Col. Fadel Al-Harmoodi (present for meetings between
the UAE labor team and Levine's delegation) estimated that
there were between 2,000 and 2,700 camel jockeys in the UAE,
most from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sudan, Al-Kaabi pressed
him on the source of his estimates. According to Al-Kaabi
and MoI Col. Fadel, the UAE has taken steps to curb the
influx of child camel jockeys by requiring that all visitors
to the UAE have their own passports and not/not be included
on a parent's passport.


5. (C) In response to reftel demarche, Al-Kaabi stressed
that the UAEG was taking action against the use of underaged
camel jockeys and would take even more actions in the near
future. As examples, he noted that the UAEG would set up
police stations at every camel race track to enforce the law.
Traffickers (including parents (many of them are brought in
by their biological parents) who brought their children into
the UAE for use as camel jockeys) would be banned from
reentering the country. He stressed that the Minister of
Interior would be rescuing the children after the racing
season ended at the end of March and acknowledged that the
UAEG had an obligation to rehabilitate the children. (Note:
MinFin A/US Al-Bustani told Deputy Undersecretary Levine that
the UAE would fund rehabilitation efforts.) In response to
Charge's suggestion that the UAEG work with the IOM, Al-Kaabi
said that the UAE did not have an agreement with the IOM. He
stated, however, that the UAEG did have an agreement with the
ILO and might be able to have the human rights office of the
ILO inspect camel race facilities. Al-Kaabi said that the
UAEG had arrested traffickers of underage jockeys. However,
he stressed that the UAEG did not/not want to publicize the
arrests until after the end of the racing season. He
explained that the UAEG's priority was to identify and
protect the children and did not want to scare the camel
owners into hiding the children, or worse, to try and evade
prosecution. "If they bury the kids, we'll never find them."
Al-Kaabi also said that he planned to visit the camel jockey
rehabilitation shelter (for a second time) later that day
with Minster of Interior Sheikh Saif to publicize the UAEG's
commitment.

Minister of Information - The Problem is "frankly
embarrassing"
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6. (C) Charge met with Minister of Information and Culture
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed (AbZ) the evening of March 19 to
discuss reftel points, which he left as a non-paper. (Note:
AbZ, a key bilateral interlocutor who chairs the strategic
dialogue, is a regular visitor to Washington and a full
brother to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.)
Saying he had been expecting this demarche, Sheikh Abdullah
commented that the camel jockey issue had become "frankly
embarrassing for the country" and could no longer be
tolerated. He stated that overcoming the opposition of Dubai
Deputy Ruler Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid had been a big
challenge, but said that Dubai,s Al-Maktoum family had now
turned the corner and both Dubai Ruler Sheikh Maktoum bin
Rashid and Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid supported
a country-wide effort to eliminate trafficking in underage
jockeys. The UAEG, he said was fully committed to addressing
the camel jockey problem with the new law that would take
effect March 31 and was developing a plan for rescues,
repatriations and tighter immigration controls. Echoing the
Minister of Labor, he said that the UAEG wanted to avoid
driving the problem underground with immediate harsh
penalties. He argued that a more effective approach was to
offer the camel farm owners and managers a grace period under
which they could relinquish the underage boys without
penalty. After this time, there would be penalties for those
continuing to hold the underage jockeys.


7. (C) Abdullah noted carefully the points on the TIP
report timeline, commenting that this did not give them much
time to work with. Charge urged the UAEG to rescue as many
of these children as possible as rapidly as possible. As
positive as the UAEG commitment and recent statements have
been, in the end, only substantial, concrete action to rescue
and repatriate these boys would avoid a tier three rating.
Noting that clear and frank communication was one of the
strengths of our bilateral relationship, Charge stated that
the UAE had lost credibility because it had not implemented
its earlier commitments to eliminate this problem. Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid had added fuel to the fire by proceeding
from a meeting with AUSTR Novelli, at which he had committed
to stop this abuse, directly to a major camel race at which
all the jockeys were underage. Charge said that the Abu
Dhabi end of season race with underage jockeys on the eve of
the new law would create more bad publicity. Abdullah
responded that the government could not prevent a race taking
place before the law was enacted. Charge suggested that the
UAE take some dramatic action like rescuing all the jockeys
at the end of that race and to engage with the IOM, which
could enhance UAEG credibility with independent assessment of
the problem and rescue/repatriation. AbZ took this
suggestion on board. He said he appreciated the frank
exchange and would bring reftel points to the attention of
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and deputy
Prime Minster/Minster of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh
Hamdan bin Zayed. Sheikh Abdullah closed by reiterating the
UAE,s commitment to end the problem.

Minister of Interior - "Message clear to all in UAE"
-------------- --------------


8. (C) On March 20, Minister of Interior Sheikh Saif bin
Zayed told Charge and Deputy Under Secretary Levine that the
issue of camel jockeys was a "very bad point" for the UAE.
He emphasized that this was the only area where there is a
record of child abuse in the UAE and that the issue required
government action. In reference to Charge,s points about
the need for immediate action to avoid a Tier 3 ranking, Saif
stated that the UAEG would resolve the problem "within 8 to
10 weeks" and said that "from now, there will be big action"
on the part of the UAEG to eliminate the practice. Saif told
Charge that everyone would now accept the laws banning
underage jockeys, even those who race camels.


9. (C) Sheikh Saif said that in the past, the government
lacked a legal enforcement mechanism to stop the practice of
using underage camel jockeys. He stated that the UAE needed
a law so that all parties could fully understand the
complexity of the problem, and that the law that will go into
effect on March 31 was based on the experiences and mistakes
of the past. Saif said this law would enable the Ministry of
Interior to act quickly now that the "message is clear to all
in the UAE" that employing underage camel jockeys is
unacceptable.

Undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs - "We are
serious"
-------------- --------------


10. (C) In response to Charge,s points about the need for
immediate significant steps to combat the problem of underage
camel jockeys, MFA U/S Abdullah Rashid Al-Noaimi said that he
has seen the new law, which will go into effect on March 31.
He noted that Minister of Interior Sheikh Saif was very
serious about cleaning up the problem, and that Dubai Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Rashid and the Dubai government were now
also committed to redressing the problem (noting that there
had been a problem with Dubai in the past). He said that the
senior leadership of Abu Dhabi and Dubai viewed the problem
as a major embarrassment to the UAE and had no further
tolerance for delay. Abdullah Rashid noted that the
government was "serious" about ending the problem, not just
because the UAE wants an FTA with the US, but because such
practices were unacceptable to a mature society. Abdullah
Rashid listened carefully to the TIP report timeline, and
expressed confidence that UAEG actions over the next eight
weeks would obviate the need for a Tier 3 ranking. He said
that we would see lots of surveillance, apprehension, and
penalties for those who do not abide by the new laws in
April.


11. (C) In response to the Charge,s question about the UAEG
plans to assist these children, Abdullah Rashid said they
planned to "let them go home." He noted that local charities
such as the Sheikh Zayed Foundation and the Red Crescent
could serve as the arms of the government in assisting the
children with physical and psychological care, schooling, and
other programs to assist their reentry into their home
countries. In response to the Charge,s suggestion of the
IOM as a possible international entity that could serve as an
independent observer, Abdullah Rashid noted that the UAEG
problem with the IOM was the name. He stated that the UAEG
was very sensitive to the word "migration" since the lopsided
demographics of the UAE cause concern with phrases such as
migration or immigration. Abdullah Rashid said, however,
that the UAEG welcomed observation by independent entities
such as the Red Crescent. Abdullah Rashid reiterated UAEG
seriousness and commitment at the highest levels to eliminate
the problem once the season is over.

UAE Public Actions and Statements
--------------


12. (U) Following Deputy Prime Minister and de facto
Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed,s March 14
statement announcing that a law banning jockeys under age 16
from participating in camel races would be on the books by
March 31, 2005, the UAEG took several steps to underscore the
importance of the new law. On March 19, the Interior and
Labor Ministers visited the UAE,s first rehabilitation
center for underage camel jockeys in Sheikh Zayed Military
City (in Abu Dhabi emirate),an event that received wide
media coverage. Minister of Interior Sheikh Saif bin Zayed
said the UAE would consult with Australia, Qatar and Kuwait
about how to race camels using older and heavier jockeys. In
addition, the Ministry of Interior has:

-- instructed ports of entry to ensure that no child under
age 16 enters the UAE for the purpose of being used as a
camel jockey;

-- publicized the requirement for all travelers to the UAE to
have individual passports (and stopped issuing entry visas to
children traveling on their parents passports). The English
language "Gulf News" has already carried an article about
travelers being caught by the new regulation;
-- created a special committee to study camel racing
conditions and to oversee the law,s implementation;
-- placed announcements in the Arabic and English press
announcing that the law would be enforced after the
season-ending camel race in Al Wathba (in the Emirate of Abu
Dhabi);

-- granted camel farm owners who employ children under the
age of 16 a period of two months to finalize repatriation
procedures for the children, and urged camel farm owners to
call the Ministry of Interior's Anti-Infiltration Unit,s
24-hour hotline for assistance; and

-- warned that legal action would be taken against those
found violating the law.

Comment
--------------


13. (C) Senior UAEG officials have gotten our message and
stressed to us that they understand the need to fix this
problem quickly and that we should expect to see concrete
actions starting in April. The public announcements in both
the Arabic and English press, and the enforcement of new
requirements for individual passports, are encouraging first
steps, but proof will be in the implementation. The
reluctance of the MFA to work with IOM is unfortunate and we
will keep working on this. Despite our strong urging, senior
officials noted that they cannot prevent underage boys from
working as camel jockeys at the major end of season race at
the Al Wathba racetrack in Abu Dhabi Emirate, which occurs
before the law takes effect March 31. We will actively
monitor implementation and continue to press the UAEG to
enforce its new law and to rescue and rehabilitate the
children affected. End Comment.
ALBRIGHT