US embassy cable - 04ABUDHABI4418

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 004418 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL, NEA/RA, NEA/ARPI, AND SA/PB 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2014 
TAGS: BG, PHUM, PK, PREL, TC 
SUBJECT: UAE OPENS FIRST CAMEL JOCKEY SHELTER AND 
REHABILITATION CENTER 
 
REF: (A) ABU DHABI 4261 (B) ABU DHABI 4237 (C) DUBAI 
     5097 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  The UAEG, in cooperation with the Ansar 
Burney Welfare Trust Association (a Pakistani NGO), opened 
the region,s first shelter and rehabilitation center for 
rescued child camel jockeys on December 2 near Abu Dhabi. 
Sixteen boys are already housed in the shelter, which can 
hold up to 400 boys.  Poloff toured the facility, and was 
impressed with the high quality of services available.  While 
the center represents a welcome step toward addressing the 
trafficking problem, the UAEG will need sustained enforcement 
efforts across all seven emirates to eliminate trafficking in 
young boys.  These efforts are also getting help from an 
Amcit and long-time UAE resident, who hopes to get official 
recognition for her private women,s shelter in Dubai, and 
expand it to help abused and abandoned children, including 
former camel jockeys.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) The UAEG opened a shelter and rehabilitation center 
for child camel jockeys on December 2.  The opening was 
reported by a number of media sources, including CNN, BBC, 
AP, UPI, and local English (but not Arabic language) 
newspapers.  The first of its kind in the region, the 
still-unnamed center, located in the Sheikh Zayed Military 
City outside of Abu Dhabi, will provide medical care, 
psychological counseling, and basic education for up to 400 
trafficking victims.  Most importantly, staff will help 
prepare the boys for repatriation to their home countries, 
although many of the boys are too young to remember where 
they come from, who their parents are, or how to speak their 
native languages.  Shelter administrators, including Ansar 
Burney, founder of the Pakistani human rights organization 
Ansar Burney Welfare Trust Association, intend to keep the 
boys in the center from eight to 12 weeks before repatriating 
them, with the assistance of source country embassies, 
consulates, and NGOs. 
 
3. (C) Poloff toured the center on its opening day.  Sixteen 
boys from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sudan had already been 
living in the center for two days. (Note: The Ministry of 
Interior reported that these boys were included in the 18 who 
were rescued by police several days earlier. (ref. A) Shelter 
administrators were unable to tell Poloff and Burney where 
the other two boys were located.  End note.)  Since the 
center is located in the first medical regiment wing of an 
active UAE Army unit, the medical facilities were 
state-of-the-art.  The rooms were clean and well equipped, 
and the meal served to the boys was large and well balanced. 
It should be noted, however, that although it was 2:30 PM, 
the boys claimed it was their first meal of the day. 
 
4. (C) The boys, ages ranged from approximately three to ten 
years, although many claimed to be much older.  They were all 
very thin, and several showed signs of new and old injuries, 
including a recent head injury suffered by a boy, 
approximately six years old, who fell from a camel days 
earlier.  The boys originated from camps throughout the UAE, 
and seemed happy with their new surroundings, despite a lack 
of toys, books, or a playground. The boys will share dining 
facilities with military troops.  The rooms and furniture are 
standard military issue.  The only forms of entertainment 
were a TV with a few cartoons on DVD, and a soccer net 
located next to a parking lot. 
 
5. (C) In press interviews, Burney thanked Sheikh Mohammed 
bin Zayed (MbZ), Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Armed Forces 
Chief of Staff, and Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, UAE Minister of 
Interior, for opening the center and working with his 
organization to ensure the boys were properly treated while 
in the UAE, and humanely repatriated when appropriate.  MbZ 
had invited Burney to the UAE to meet with him and Sheikh 
Saif shortly after HBO, working with footage and information 
provided by Burney, aired a documentary on October 19 
highlighting the ongoing camel jockey problem (ref. B). 
Burney said he estimated there are approximately 5,000 camel 
jockeys remaining in the UAE, and approximately 40,000 boys 
working in the sport regionally.  (Note: The UAEG has not 
estimated the number of camel jockeys it believes are 
currently living in the UAE.  Embassy cannot confirm the 
accuracy of Burney,s estimates.  End note.)  Burney claimed 
to have repatriated approximately 380 camel jockeys from the 
UAE, primarily from Pakistan and Bangladesh, in 2004.  He 
said that the UAE facility, under his guidance, will attempt 
to reunite the children with their parents.  However, if the 
parents were involved in putting the children to work as 
camel jockeys in the first place, he said the center will 
instead transfer them to similar centers in their home 
countries, where they will continue to get medical treatment, 
education, and job training until age 18. 
 
6. (C) Burney told Poloff he specifically asked MbZ and 
Sheikh Saif to save one five-year-old boy featured in the HBO 
program who, despite serious injuries requiring 
hospitalization and 22 stitches in August, has been forced 
back into camel racing.  Burney said that, during their 
meetings, both sheikhs stated that the boy would be rescued 
&that night.8  Burney intends to renew his concerns with 
MbZ and Sheikh Saif. 
 
7. (U) Another human rights NGO has applied to the Dubai 
Emirate authorities to open a shelter for abused and 
abandoned children, including former camel jockeys, in Dubai. 
 Sharla Musabih, an American woman who has been living in the 
UAE for more than 25 years, is one of the women behind the 
project.  She has been running a shelter for abused women 
privately out of her home for the past two decades (ref. C). 
However, she hopes to receive official recognition for the 
shelter, first from Dubai Emirate in January, and later from 
federal authorities, then expand the facility to provide 
rehabilitation for abused and abandoned children.  Musabih 
told Poloff that, once the Dubai facility is established, she 
hopes to open similar shelters in each emirate.  Musabih has 
worked with Burney to assist rescued camel jockeys in the 
past, and she is currently providing shelter to one former 
camel jockey, a four-year-old Pakistani boy who has worked in 
the industry for about two years. 
 
8. (C)  Comment:  Although the UAEG,s move to open the 
shelter and rehabilitation center in Abu Dhabi is an 
encouraging start, more must be done to adequately address 
the ongoing trafficking problem UAE-wide.  Since the UAE 
functions on a loose federal structure, it will be necessary 
to work this issue equally across all 7 emirates.  Embassy 
and ConGen Dubai will continue to urge the leadership of each 
emirate to pursue actions on the camel jockey issue. 
 
SISON