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