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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!

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To: redfish who wrote (98082)3/15/2005 9:58:54 AM
From: Tom Clarke  Read Replies (1) of 108807
 
Crackdown over suffering of underage camel jockeys

ANDREW HAMMOND
IN DUBAI

THE United Arab Emirates yesterday said 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 oil-rich Gulf state.

They say the boys are kept in prison-like conditions and are underfed to keep them light so the camels run faster. They race at speeds of up to 30mph in the sport, popular among Arabs of Bedouin origin.

A new law will tighten an existing ban on jockeys under 16 or weighing less than 45kg. The weight limit is designed to prevent boys being brought in on false passports showing 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 said.

Anyone violating the new regulations will face "stiff legal measures", said Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, the UAE deputy prime minister.

news.scotsman.com
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