UAE ORPHANAGE IN BANGLADESH NOT FOR REPATRIATED

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 002316 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARPI-THORNE, INL/CTR, G/TIP E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2015 TAGS: PHUM KWMN ELAB BG CRM TC SUBJECT: UAE ORPHANAGE IN BANGLADESH NOT FOR REPATRIATED CAMEL JOCKEYS REF: 05/03 THORNE-ENGELKEN E-MAIL Classified By: P/E Counselor D.C. McCullough, reasons para 1.4 b, d. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: There is no shelter or organization in Bangladesh run by the UAE based Zayed Foundation that cares for repatriated camel jockeys. END SUMMARY ¶2. (SBU) On May 18, poloff met with Sultan A. Al Romaithi, Advisor to the UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs, who was in Dhaka to appraise the state of the UAEG sponsored Al Nahyan Orphanage and evaluate how the UAEG can correct severe management problems at the orphanage. Romaithi said that the orphanage was founded in 1984 in an agreement between the UAEG and BDG at the behest of the late President Zayed. According to Romaithi, the orphanage was never intended to care for repatriated camel jockeys nor does the orphanage consider the needs of that specific demographic part of its mandate. There are no known repatriated camel jockeys living there now. ¶3. (SBU) When the UAEG built the orphanage, it also built a shopping center in Dhaka intended to finance the orphanage through its commercial profits. The UAEG set up a trust in Bangladesh to manage the orphanage and shopping center, and left most of the management to Bangladeshis affliated with the BDG Ministry of Social Welfare. ¶4. (C) During his trip to Bangladesh, Romaithi, discovered that the Bangladeshi management of the trust has been skimming the profits from the successful shopping center at the expense of the orphanage. The managers do not have detailed records of orhpanage operations. He described the current population as mostly young adults and adolescents who seem to have been there since the orphanage opened in 1984. ¶5. (SBU) The UAE Embassy in Dhaka, Romaithi, the NGO Affairs Bureau of the BDG, and local anti-trafficking organizations have all told us that the Zayed Foundation, does not operate in Bangladesh. Addtionally, the Zayed Foundation has no relationship with the Al Nahyan Orphanage. THOMAS