A Model Solution
In Rahimyar Khan, a poor desert region in southern Pakistan, a group of young boys are learning how to write their numbers in English. Many of them have never been in school before. Just a few years ago, they were racing camels for a living.
This class is part of an ambitious program sponsored by the UAE and UNICEF to end the employment of children in camel racing and help resettle the former child jockeys in their homes in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Mauritania.
U.N. officials and others have praised this effort as a model program in the decades-long battle against child labor, a problem that has its roots in the poverty and hopelessness that is found in abundance in places like Rahimyar Khan.
This historic initiative-which involves five countries and multiple government agencies and NGOs-includes a ban on the employment of children in camel racing in the UAE, stepped-up anti-trafficking efforts, the provision of social and educational services and cash for the former child jockeys and broad support for the poor communities where they came from.
The UAE ended the employment of child camel jockeys in 2005. To ensure that the practice never resurfaced, the UAE developed a remote-controlled robot jockey that has replaced human riders at the region's camel race tracks. Officials believe this may be the first time in history that a government has used technology to end a serious human rights problem.
After cutting off demand, the UAE entered into a ground-breaking agreement with UNICEF, the United Nations' children's organization, in 2005 to help locate and repatriate the former child jockeys to their home countries.
Extra care was taken to ensure that the former child jockeys were returned to their real families and not back into the hands of traffickers. When necessary, officials used DNA tests and fingerprints to match up the children with their relatives. To date, nearly 1,100 former child jockeys have been identified and resettled in their home countries and hundreds more cases are under review.
Backed by a $2.8 million grant from the UAE, UNICEF and the governments of the four source countries have set up rehabilitation centers where the former child jockeys can get medical treatment, counseling and financial assistance. Special classes have been established for the former child jockeys, many of whom spoke only Arabic and had never attended school. Teenagers are receiving vocational training, so they can find jobs to replace their lost wages.
In 2007, the UAE extended its program by two years to ensure that all the former child jockeys were located and compensated and approved initial funding of $8.2 million to support that effort. Claims facilities, overseen by independent boards, were set up in each country to distribute compensation payments. Each former camel jockey receives a minimum $1,000 grant and there is no limit on awards for who have suffered injuries and require medical care.
These efforts extend beyond the former child jockeys and their families. To prevent the re-trafficking of children, the UAE and its partners in the four home countries have passed tough anti-trafficking laws and stepped up their enforcement efforts.
These efforts will not end the poverty that drove parents to send their children thousands of miles away to earn money. But the UAE-UNICEF program has provided hope for poor families while providing a permanent solution to a serious human rights problem.
