RESPONDING TO CROWN PRINCE'S LETTER ON CAMEL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ABU DHABI 002143

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G/TIP, NEA/RA, AND NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2010
TAGS: PHUM ELAB TC
SUBJECT: RESPONDING TO CROWN PRINCE'S LETTER ON CAMEL
JOCKEYS

REF: 4/28/05 LETTER FROM ABU DHABI CROWN PRINCE

SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN ZAYED TO THE SECRETARY

Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: The UAE has taken several positive actions
since March 31 to address Trafficking in Persons related to
child camel jockeys. These achievements generally track with
those noted in Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin
Zayed's (MbZ) April 28 letter to the Secretary, Deputy
Secretary, and NEA PDAS Cheney, though the letter was

SIPDIS
incomplete on some points and overstates others. The
achievements include:

-- passage of three ministerial decrees imposing age and
weight limits, requiring camel owners to turn in children in
their custody before May 31, and requiring individual
passports for all children working on farms;

-- repatriation of about 100 children;

-- prosecution of two TIP cases involving four children;

-- an agreement with UNICEF for screening, caring for, and
repatriating, 3,000 children and allocation of funding to
implement UNICEF's action plan;

-- opening of a new Social Support Center office building for
UNICEF and Interior Ministry social workers who would care
for camel jockeys;

-- creation of a Special Committee on Camel Racing within the
Ministry of Interior to oversee UAEG efforts to combat
trafficking of young boys as camel jockeys;

-- formation of an anti-TIP unit within the Ministry of
Interior to enforce the decrees; and

-- designation of a new, improved shelter facility that will
offer better access to social workers and UNICEF project
employees.


2. (C) Summary continued: The UAEG's political commitment to
ending this form of trafficking has never been so apparent,
and it is now time for implementation. We have included
several recommended follow-up actions for the UAEG in para 4
that the Department could include in replying to Sheikh
Mohammed. End Summary.


3. (C) Sheikh Mohammed's letter provides a broad overview of
the measures the UAE Government has begun to implement, or
intends to implement, to address the Trafficking in Persons
problem related to camel jockeys. To assist the Department
in responding to Sheikh Mohammed, Ambassador followed up by
requesting more detailed information from MbZ staffer Yousef
Al Otaiba to back up some of the statements made in the
letter (responses faxed to NEA/ARPI). During a May 7
meeting, Ambassador also was able to secure Interior Minister
Sheikh Saif's consent to allow visiting G/TIP Reports Officer
Feleke Assefa full access to appropriate officials
responsible for TIP issues, and to facilities related to the
camel jockey rescue effort, so that we could obtain essential
information.

Recommended Points for Response to MbZ:
--------------


4. (C) The UAEG has taken several positive steps to combat
this particular trafficking issue. Based on private and
public statements, and the actions described in this cable,
the country's leadership appears determined to eliminate the
problem. In responding to Sheikh Mohammed, the Department
could:

-- Acknowledge the excellent progress that the UAEG is making
to prevent further trafficking of camel jockeys;

-- Commend the UAEG for working with UNICEF and the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) to protect and
repatriate the boys and urge the UAE to step up the
protection of child trafficking victims by rescuing
significantly more children than those who have been rescued
to date;

-- Encourage the UAEG to increase the number of prosecutions
related to the trafficking of children as camel jockeys;

-- Encourage the UAEG to document and publicize its action.

Prosecutions
--------------


5. (C) The statement in Sheikh Mohammed's letter that
prosecution under the law has been assigned the highest
priority by the internal police is borne out by public and
private statements by Interior Ministry officials. Moreover,
the Ministry of Interior has formed a Special Committee on
Camel Racing (with representatives from Interior in Abu Dhabi
and the Dubai Police Human Rights Care Department) to oversee
UAEG efforts to combat trafficking of young boys as camel
jockeys.


6. (C) A subsequent assertion in the letter that the UAE has
identified, arrested and prosecuted numerous traffickers in
human immigrants, including racetrack managers, trainers, and
other so-called "middlemen", and that enforcement is strict
and prosecution is vigorous, appears to be an overstatement.
The Ministry of Interior informed us May 8 that the
Government is prosecuting two cases involving four children.
These cases have emerged since March 31, and we have
requested more details about them, but it is difficult to see
how they could involve prosecution of racetrack managers or
trainers, given that the 60-day "grace period" for the new
decree is still in effect. The UAE has formed a 70-person
anti-TIP unit within the Ministry of Interior to enforce the
decrees to rescue children after the May 31 deadline. In our
discussions with the Ministry of Interior spokesman and
UNICEF, everyone agreed that the number of arrests and
prosecutions would most likely increase appreciably after the
May 31 deadline for camel owners to turn in children in their
custody. The 70-person unit will also monitor camel races
and farms, investigate age and weight limits, beginning with
the racing season in October. The UAE Camel Racing
Federation will reform racing rules, including using older
camels and shortening race distances.

Rescues
--------------


7. (C) Sheikh Mohammed is correct in asserting that the UAE
has rescued "scores of child camel jockeys." UAEG
statistics indicate that 203 boys have been rescued and are
now in various stages of the repatriation pipeline: living in
the temporary camel jockey rehabilitation center at the Zayed
Military City army base (65-70 on any given day); awaiting
deportation after their relatives or sponsors with whom they
live on the farms pledged to repatriate them (approximately
30); or back in their home countries after being repatriated
(approximately 100). The majority of the children in each of
these categories are Pakistanis. The remainder are from
Sudan, Bangladesh, Mauritania, Eritrea, India, Afghanistan,
and Somalia, according to various Ministry of Interior
figures provided to us and to the press. (Note: The Indian
Embassy issued a statement May 10 denying that any of the
underage camel jockeys were from India, and noting that the
last case that came to its attention was in May 1997.) Those
who have been repatriated traveled with their parents or
their caretakers. According to the Interior Ministry, 45
percent of child camel jockeys were brought to the UAE by
people claiming to be uncles, 30 percent by maternal cousins,
and 9 percent by their parents' friends. Thus, the large
majority of these camel jockeys live with their families in
the UAE, and most of them live on camel farms. (Note: The
UAEG believes that its decision in 2002 to use DNA tests to
determine the parenthood of camel jockeys has helped reduce
the number of children brought in the country without their
parents.)


8. (C) Estimates of the total number of underage camel
jockeys vary widely. Sheikh Saif told Ambassador May 7 that
the UAEG's latest estimate is between 1,500 and 3,000.
Pakistani TIP activist Ansar Burney has claimed that there
are as many as 6,000 to 8,000 foreign boys working on camel
farms in the UAE. With UNICEF's assistance, the Ministry of
Interior will conduct a comprehensive screening of children
in camel farms to clarify the discrepancies in the estimates,
and help locate the extended families of these children, or
the tribes to which they belong. By the end of May, the
Ministry of Interior says it will have an accurate register
of the number of children from every country and the status
of each of them.

International Cooperation
--------------


9. (C) The May 8 signing of a joint Ministry of
Interior-UNICEF project agreement for repatriating 3,000
children, and the UAE's allocation of funding for an action
plan to be drafted by UNICEF, are significant recent
developments. The agreement was the result of May 7-8
Interior Ministry consultations with UNICEF representatives
from the source countries, representatives from credible NGOs
in those countries, and representatives from local
governments in source provinces. At a press conference May
9, UNICEF Representative for the Gulf, June Kunugi,
congratulated the UAEG for the "very positive initiative" and
pledged to work together to rescue, rehabilitate, and return
the children to their home countries. While Sheikh
Mohammed's letter was written 10 days before this agreement
was signed, the UAE had been developing a working
relationship with UNICEF and IOM for several weeks to address
the identification, care, and humane repatriation of the
boys. Under the new agreement, UNICEF will have an action
plan by the week of May 21 that will contain:

-- a screening procedure to identify child victims;

-- a registration and record-keeping procedures for
establishing identities (age, nationality, family contacts,
employment, etc);

-- a reunification procedure for locating parents (or family
members) and reuniting child victims in source countries;

-- a means to identify alternative homes (shelters) for those
whose parents or relatives can't be identified;

-- rehabilitation programs in source countries.


10. (C) The approximately 70 children currently in UAEG
shelters would be repatriated first, as a pilot project using
procedures above. IOM would assist UNICEF in victim
identification, repatriation and reintegration efforts.
Local NGOs are being identified to serve as implementation
partners. The program will assist children in providing
reintegration assistance for up to 2 years. At UAEG expense,
the children will be repatriated and sheltered in centers
identified and accepted by UNICEF, in cities or towns of
origin, which will facilitate their integration with their
local communities. The UNICEF agreement includes education
and training in home countries.

Care and Repatriation of Victims
--------------


11. (C) Sheikh Mohammed's letter accurately notes that some
rehabilitation programs have already commenced. The Ministry
of Interior has opened a new Social Support Center in Abu
Dhabi that provides counseling and other services to the
young boys. The Ministry of Interior has also designated a
new shelter (with a capacity of 100) adjacent to the juvenile
detention center in Abu Dhabi's Al Mafraq suburb. Like the
shelter on the army base that it will replace, the new
shelter is primarily for those children without adult
relatives living in the UAE. Interior Minister Sheikh Saif
told the Ambassador May 7 that the boys who live with their
families on the camel farms, who constitute a large majority
of camel jockeys, are not going to be separated from their
relatives. Consequently, the numbers of children at the
shelter are not going to rise significantly. However, their
families are being asked to sign documents promising to take
the children out of the UAE by the end of May, or risk legal
action.


12. (C) In a matter of days, the Ministry of Interior will
transfer the children living at the shelter on the army base
to the new shelter. This new shelter is outside the
incarceration/detention area, has better facilities than the
current shelter at the Zayed Military City (army base),and
will offer better access to social workers and UNICEF project
employees. The shelter on the army base was co-located with
a medical clinic and hospital with operating rooms and
intensive care units. Children at the new shelter will have
access to the medical clinic and recreation facilities,
including swimming pool and soccer field, at the juvenile
detention center, but every effort will be made to keep the
two populations segregated. The new shelter also has
classrooms where the children can receive a basic education.
The shelter on the army base would still be available to
accommodate any surge of rescued children after the May 31
deadline.

Camel Jockey Law
--------------


13. (C) Sheikh Mohammed's assertion that the UAE Government
has "passed" a federal law on April 1 banning underage racing
jockeys is not entirely accurate. On March 31, the UAEG
began implementing three new decrees enforcing the principal
features of the law (imposing age and weight limits,
requiring camel owners to turn in children in their custody
before May 31, and requiring individual passports for all
children working in farms). The law itself has not yet been
officially gazetted and Interior Ministry sources say that
this may not occur for several months. Nonetheless, everyone
we have asked, including source country embassies, UNICEF and
International Organization for Migration representatives, and
officials at the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs
believe that the UAE leadership is fully engaged and
committed to combating this form of trafficking, as Sheikh
Mohammed stated in his letter.
SISON