US embassy cable - 05ABUDHABI4979

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 004979 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL, NEA/RA AND NEAR/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, ELAB, PREL, PK, AE 
SUBJECT: RIGHTS ACTIVIST ALLEGES CAMEL JOCKEYS TRAIN AT 
NIGHT 
 
REF: ABU DHABI 4903 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR MICHELE J. SISON, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
 1. (C) Summary: Pakistani human rights activist Ansar Burney 
alleges that underage camel jockeys continue to train after 
dark in several camel racetracks in at least three of the 
country's seven emirates.  Burney, who plans to be in 
Washington to meet with G/TIP later this month, told us that 
he has notified the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs in writing of his sightings of underage camel 
jockeys and that the authorities have not replied.  Burney 
also claims that underage camel jockeys have either been 
smuggled across the border to Oman and Saudi Arabia or they 
are being hidden in remote areas.  Embassy has asked Burney 
for additional details and Embassy and CG Dubai have queried 
the Interior Ministry, Dubai Police, and the Pakistan 
Embassy.  The Interior Ministry replied that the reports were 
not credible and that police visits to camel farms, which 
will continue after the racing season begins, have turned up 
nothing.  The Dubai Police assured CG that they would 
immediately investigate any information regarding the use of 
children on camel farms.  The Embassy of Pakistan indicated 
it had knowledge that children were still working on the 
smaller camel farms in the northern Emirates, but almost 
certainly not in Abu Dhabi.  End Summary. 
 
Night Practice Sessions 
----------------------- 
 
2. (C) On December 2, Pol Chief met with Pakistani human 
rights activist Ansar Burney and his wife, Shaheen, in the 
lobby of the Abu Dhabi Hilton.  The purpose of the meeting 
was to follow up a series of text messages that Burney had 
sent to Pol Chief regarding nighttime sightings of underage 
camel jockeys at camel racetracks in various parts of the UAE 
the previous week.  Burney claimed to have captured one of 
the practice races on video, but because the quality was poor 
he said he did not want to show it to Pol Chief. 
 
3. (C) Burney's son, Fahad, sent the following text message 
to Pol Chief on November 22 at 7:37 p.m.: "We have witnessed 
in the last four nights that the use of underage children as 
child camel jockeys is still going on in night and early 
morning."  After we queried him about where these sightings 
took place, Ansar Burney replied on November 28 that the 
children had been seen at racetracks in Al Wathba and an 
adjacent track in Abu Dhabi Emirate, and in Umm Al Qaiwain 
Emirate.  During the meeting at the Hilton, the Burneys 
furnished more details about what they had seen.  Pol Chief 
urged them to document their sightings, and also to inform 
the appropriate government officials and the U.S. Embassy. 
Ansar Burney said he had sent letters to Interior Minister 
Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan and to MFA, but had received 
no replies.  He said he would send the Embassy copies of all 
of his correspondence, although we have yet to receive these. 
 
4. (C) On December 5, three days after the meeting at the 
Hilton, Ansar Burney sent another text message to Pol Chief. 
It stated: "Today, me and Shaheen visited Al Khawaneej and Al 
Usha camps in Dubai and found few underage children on camels 
in racing tracks."  Pol Chief again urged Burney to inform 
the authorities and to send the Embassy copies of any 
correspondence.  (Note: Embassy has requested copies of this 
correspondence.  End note.) 
 
5. (C) Burney told Pol Chief that during the November 18-21 
period, he and his wife and son had gone to camel racetracks 
in the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Umm Al Qaiwain after 
dark to check on reports that underage children were being 
used to train camels for the upcoming racing season. 
According to his account, the children's "handlers" 
(presumably the camel farm owners and their employees) bring 
the children to the racetrack in SUVs.  The children are then 
mounted on the camels and practice into the night while the 
SUVs drive alongside the railing illuminating the track with 
their headlamps.  Burney said he witnessed such activity at 
two racetracks in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (Al Wathba 
racetrack and a second nearby track), two racetracks in the 
Emirate of Dubai (Nad Al Shiba racetrack and a track on the 
road linking Dubai and the Emirate of Sharjah), and a 
racetrack in the Emirate of Umm Al Qaiwain.  (Comment: It is 
unclear what the motivation would be to train with child 
jockeys if they will not be allowed to race with them. 
According to a "Gulf News" interview with prominent camel 
farm owners, one of the greatest challenges they face is 
re-training the camels to race with either adult or robot 
jockeys.  Presuming this is true, training with child jockeys 
would undermine that goal.  End Comment.) 
 
6. (U) On November 29, PolOff noted these reports to Colonel 
Al Seyyar, Director of the Abu Dhabi Social Support Center 
and national coordinator for the jockey repatriation efforts, 
who responded by saying the reports are likely not credible. 
He stated, "The Sheikhs have made it clear that this (use of 
children) will not be tolerated in the UAE, and I find it 
difficult to believe that anybody would flout the Sheikhs 
knowing that everyone is watching."  He added that police 
units have recently been to the camel farms and have not 
found any children.  He said that these visits to the farms 
will continue after the racing season begins. 
 
7. (U) On November 29, Brigadier General Khamis Al Muzeina of 
the Dubai Police Criminal Investigations Division (CID) told 
CG that they had twice been instructed by Mohamed bin Rashid 
al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, to ensure that no farm 
owners were using children as camel jockeys.  The General 
noted that his CID teams had been to numerous farms early in 
the summer and had arrested anybody found to be in violation 
of the edicts regarding child camel jockeys.  He added that 
CID would immediately investigate any information regarding 
the use of children on camel farms, even if they are only 
rumors.  Buthayna Al Khatib notes that she has traveled 
throughout several emirates recently and has not seen any 
evidence that the use of children on camel farms is 
continuing. 
 
Where Have All the Children Gone? 
--------------------------------- 
 
8. (C) Asked about his earlier estimate of between 7,000 and 
8,000 trafficked underage camel jockeys in the UAE, and the 
discrepancy between his estimate and that of the Ministry of 
Interior (2,700 underage camel jockeys), Burney replied, 
"Let's talk about the smaller figure, then we can talk about 
my estimate."  (Note: In June, the Interior Ministry and 
UNICEF signed an agreement that allowed UNICEF to provide 
technical assistance to the Ministry to enable it to rescue, 
document, rehabilitate, and repatriate underage camel jockeys 
to their respective source countries )- principally 
Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sudan.  The planning figure used in 
that agreement was 3,000 boy jockeys.  End note.)  Burney 
insists that the actual figure was, and is still, higher, and 
that the children who have not been accounted for were 
smuggled to neighboring Oman and Saudi Arabia for use in 
camel races, or were hidden in remote villages and camps )- 
known as "jungles" in camel racing circles -- presumably for 
training and racing in other locations.  Burney said he 
stands by his original estimates.  He also refuted reports 
that the majority of the underage camel jockeys are from 
Pakistan.  Based on his experience before March 2005 (Burney 
told us he spent time in camel farms, "uzbahs", disguised as 
a laborer), the children were mostly Sudanese and 
Bangladeshis.  Approximately 10 percent of the children were 
Pakistanis, he contends. 
 
9. (C) Burney also said that some child camel jockeys who 
were repatriated to Pakistan have since returned to the UAE 
and Oman.  "Their parents returned them" to the Gulf, he 
said.  He also claimed that in the midst of the repatriation 
effort last summer, the Ministry of Interior told some of the 
boys at the camel jockey rehabilitation shelter located 
within the Zayed Military City compound that they should 
return to the "uzbahs" to work.  Burney said the Ministry was 
pressured by camel farm owners, particularly from Dubai, to 
return the children. 
 
10. (U) At a dinner with Emboffs and visiting UAE Desk 
Officer on December 4, Ashraf Saddiqi, a local activist who 
has been active in the camel jockey issue since it first rose 
to prominence in 2004, postulated that there were indeed 
children still working on the smaller camel farms in the 
northern Emirates, but almost certainly not in Abu Dhabi 
emirate, with which Imran Haider, the consular official at 
the Embassy of Pakistan who has taken the lead on this issue, 
readily agreed.  Saddiqi went on to explain that while he had 
heard recent reports of children working on camel farms, 
these reports had turned out to be coming from across the 
border in Oman.  He further added that he had heard rumors 
that the children who were working on the camel farms were 
generally children who had been already been repatriated to 
their home countries and had now returned to the UAE, or were 
the children of workers who are sponsored by the same 
employer and were in the UAE with their parents. 
 
Robots Not As Dependable As Kids 
-------------------------------- 
 
11. (C) On the issue of robots being used in place of 
children, Burney said some camel owners complain that the new 
technology is not as reliable as the children they used to 
employ.  Burney said he found it deplorable that these owners 
would grumble about their robots falling off the saddle 
whereas they did not express such feelings when children were 
involved.  One of the owners proclaimed in the "Gulf News" 
article that his farm would not race a camel with a robot 
jockey, but that it may take a couple of years before the 
camels are ready to race with adult jockeys. 
 
Use of Child Jockeys Illegal, But Trafficking is Not 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
12. (U) The law banning the use of underage camel jockeys 
that was passed in July 2005 only prohibits "persons who are 
less that 18 years old ... from participating in camel 
races."  The law does not address the use of child labor in 
the camel racing industry, nor trafficking in any form. 
However, existing labor laws prohibit the employment of 
children under the age of 15, and the UAEG does not issue 
work permits for any person under the age of 18.  A more 
general law that addresses all forms of trafficking is 
reportedly being drafted within the Ministries of Labor and 
Justice. 
 
Comment: 
------- 
 
13. (C) Ministry of Interior officials have told us 
repeatedly that Ansar Burney purposely exaggerates his claims 
to draw attention to his NGO's activities.  Our assessment is 
that estimating the number of underage camel jockeys in the 
UAE or Gulf-wide is a difficult task.  The children are 
scattered across "uzbahs" in sometimes remote places.  The 
reports that there might still be some attempts to continue 
using underage boys for practice runs at night are 
disturbing, but not surprising.  This appears to us to be 
predictable behavior on the part of determined -) and 
unscrupulous -- camel farm owners and die-hard racing 
devotees who want to perpetuate their sport even if it means 
placing the children at even greater risk by racing them at 
night.  We intend to follow up vigorously with our law 
enforcement contacts to share the information that Ansar 
Burney has provided, and we are going to visit the camel 
racetracks where underage children have been sighted. 
SISON