UAE AND UNICEF CONTINUE TO ASSIST REPATRIATED

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000513

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP, DRL, AND IO/UNP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM KTIP EAID MR SU BG PK UN AE
SUBJECT: UAE AND UNICEF CONTINUE TO ASSIST REPATRIATED
CAMEL JOCKEYS

Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly.


1. (U) Summary: The effort to repatriate young foreign camel
jockeys was the headline focus of the UAE's anti-TIP efforts just a
few years ago; the follow-up continues unabated, with significant
UAE effort and resource applied to the rehabilitation of prior
jockeys. End summary.


2. (SBU) UAE camel races in the spring of 2009 had all of the
energy of prior years, but with no small children as jockeys. Small
robots have replaced the riders and have become somewhat of an art
form of their own. Transmitters on the robots urge the camel
forward, as does a rotating whip controlled remotely. Pol officers
spent some time at the formal races, on the training tracks, and
among the holding pens and found no sign of the young boys who had
been a key feature in the sport some years earlier.


3. (SBU) The UAEG effort to repatriate youngsters brought from
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Mauritania to assist in camel
racing (and camel-related farm work) got much attention in 2005 and
2006, since which time the UAEG and UNICEF have been working not
only to return the former jockeys to their homelands but also to
reinvigorate their communities and support their education. The
repatriation of a reported 1,077 former jockeys by 2006 was only
part of the program. Others have been assisted -- including some
who had already returned home but were identified as former jockeys
in need of assistance.


4. (SBU) UNICEF Gulf Area Representative Dr. Ayman Abu Laban told
PolOff May 13 that he is satisfied with the ongoing program.
UNICEF's primary role is to support communities, he said, using the
UAEG's $9 million donation to improve conditions in communities to
which the boys have returned. That 3-year project should be
completed this year. UAEG payments to individual boys are a
separate matter coordinated directly by the UAE Ministry of Interior
(MoI) and its partners in source countries. Dr. Ayman said UNICEF
steps aside when compensation is administered. The price tag to the
UAE therefore exceeds the $9 million UNICEF program; while total
costs are unclear, a recent press report of a $221,000 donation to
assist 91 young boys in Mauritania is characteristic. The UAE press
notes the periodic travel of UAE officials making similar payments
and following up on rehabilitation programs.


5. (SBU) Press anecdotes suggest that hundreds of former jockeys
(well over the 1,077) have been assisted in four primary source
countries, benefiting from medical, education, and social
assistance. The UAEG notes "26 social and economic projects related
to rehabilitating and reintegrating the former camel jockeys into
their home societies." Post cannot confirm specific expenditures,
but will continue to seek data from Brigadier Nasser al-Awadhi
al-Minhali, Chairman of the UAE Special Committee for Rehabilitation
of Camel Jockeys. The complex repatriation effort faces some
resistance, according to anecdotal reports, from families and
communities who lost extra income when the boys came home. Some of
the boys reportedly seek to return to the UAE for employment when
they reach adulthood.


6. (SBU) Comment: The plight of young jockeys evolved with the
sport of camel racing and, when exploitation resulted, gave the UAE
opportunity to show its humanity without losing enthusiasm for local
tradition. The apparent success of the repatriation effort, and
ongoing UAEG attention to rehabilitating former jockeys and
assisting their communities, seems to indicate ongoing UAEG
sincerity in turning a new page. End comment.
OLSON