The United Arab Emirates said on Monday it would crack down on the trafficking of Asian child camel jockeys, a practice internationally condemned as a form of slavery. Rights groups say several thousand boys, some as young as four, work as jockeys in the lucrative sport in the oil-rich Gulf Arab state. They say the boys are kept in prison-like conditions where they are deliberately underfed to keep them light so the camels run faster. The children race at speeds of up to 50 km per hour (30 mph) in the sport popular among Arabs of Bedouin origin.
A new law will tighten an existing ban on using boys under 16 or those weighing less than 45 kg (99 lb), the state news agency WAM reported. The weight limit is aimed at preventing boys being brought in on false passports with the wrong age.
The children are often abducted or sold by their families. Most are from the Indian subcontinent.
"The desire at a high level to combat this is obvious, especially since it became clear that it was a bigger problem than we thought," a government official told Reuters.
The new law will address "loopholes" in past legislation, he said, but did not elaborate.
Anyone violating the new regulations will face "stiff legal measures", WAM quoted UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed as saying. He did not explain what these would be.
Air and sea ports will have strict instructions to prevent young boys entering the country for the sport, he said.
Comments
Comments are closed.