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Re: [RC] UAE Involvement in AERC Functions - rides2far@xxxxxxxx
Since I don't have TV couldn't comment on any of this, but had just listened to
a book on Cassette about the TB industry and know that the Sheik's family means
a LOT to Kentuckian's financially so I was a bit surprised to see this story
from today's paper in Kentucky come up when I googled "Camel Jockey Abuse"
Posted on Fri, Oct. 22, 2004
Sheik Mohammed implicated in child camel jockey abuse plot
By JANET PATTON
Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sheik Mohammed, one of the richest horse buyers in Kentucky
and the world, has been implicated in the slave trade of child camel jockeys by
a cable TV news program.
A report aired this week on HBO's Real Sports includes footage of appalling
living conditions at camel-training camps and alleges that boy camel jockeys -
some as young as 3 - are kidnapped or sold into slavery, starved, beaten and
raped. The report links the abuses to Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
Sheik Mohammed is the crown prince of Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates.
He also serves as defense minister for the UAE.
No representative of the Maktoum organization would comment on the report.
Sheik Mohammed owns two horse farms in the Bluegrass - Raceland in Paris and
Darley at Jonabell in Lexington; no one from the farms would respond publicly.
And an e-mail sent Friday afternoon to Sheik Mohammed from his official Web
site was not answered.
The report, which HBO says was filmed in the UAE, is not specific about the
locations of the camps featured. Some appear to be in Abu Dhabi, which is also
in the UAE. The report lays the responsibility for these atrocities at the feet
of "the rulers of the United Arab Emirates I the sheiks."
But it focuses on only one member of any UAE royal family: Sheik Mohammed. At
least some of the boy jockeys shown are allegedly at the Dubai camel track,
which is owned and run by the Maktoum family.
The report calls the track "the playground of the crown prince" and contrasts
the boys' hovels with the treatment of Sheik Mohammed's horses and camels.
HBO correspondent Bernard Goldberg said on the report that HBO received a
letter from unnamed UAE officials who said that they were "shocked that this is
happening" and that they "are adamantly against it."
The UAE, a confederation of Arab states, in 1993 banned the use of jockeys
under the age of 15 or under 45 kilograms (99 pounds); in 2002, it reiterated
the ban.
Greg Sullivan, chief spokesman for the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs
Bureau, said State Department officials have urged the UAE to aggressively
crack down on the trafficking of underage camel jockeys and are looking into
the allegations raised in the HBO documentary.
"If the allegations prove true, the U.S. will use that information to further
engage the United Arab Emirates government on that issue," he said.
Sullivan said that the State Department asked HBO to provide the names of the
underage children featured in the documentary, but HBO declined to provide the
information.
The State Department's 2004 Trafficking in Persons Report said the UAE
government has made "substantial efforts" to crack down on the trafficking of
children for camel jockey work, but Sullivan said the practice still exists as
"a form of human slavery."
State Department officials have urged the UAE to impose a minimum age of 18 for
camel jockeys.
Kentucky ties
Sheik Mohammed and other members of the Maktoum family have long been fixtures
at the thoroughbred auctions at Keeneland. Under the royal blue silks of
Godolphin, the family racing stable, the Maktoums have run horses in the
biggest races in Europe and the United States, including the Kentucky Derby.
The Maktoums annually hold the richest race in the world - the Dubai World Cup
at Nad Al Sheba - and they fly the best horses and trainers there to compete.
Kiaran McLaughlin, a Lexington native who now trains horses in New York, spent
a decade working for the Maktoums in Dubai. He said on Friday that he and other
horse workers were well-treated.
McLaughlin said that he trained within half a mile of the camels but never saw
any abuse or signs of child slavery. "I don't know about that. I can tell you
that I lived there and loved it," McLaughlin said.
"I can promise you Sheik Mohammed did not abuse any children," he said.
Members of the racing press, including a Herald-Leader photographer and
reporter, were invited to Dubai in 1999 and given a tour of the country. While
there, they saw tiny jockeys who appeared much younger than 15.
And Anti-Slavery International, a human rights group, in June 2004 released
photos that they said were taken in Dubai showing child jockeys; they accused
the UAE of keeping the boys in brutal conditions.
Kentuckians Marci and Todd Boston lived in Dubai for years. Todd Boston moved
to Dubai in 1995 to work as a blacksmith for Sheik Mohammed. His wife joined
him in 1996; Marci left in 2000; Todd left in 2002.
They always said that they loved their time in Dubai, thought of it as a second
home, and meant to return someday.
But the Bostons said Friday they are very disturbed by the HBO report, and in
retrospect by what they saw in Dubai.
They remember child camel jockeys.
"You kind of knew about it. You knew about the little kids," Todd Boston said,
but they never heard about sexual abuse or beatings.
But based on the way he saw Arabs treat adult workers from India, Pakistan or
Bangladesh, he said, he isn't surprised by the allegations of child abuse.
The HBO report said many of the child jockeys were from slums in those
countries.
Marci Boston said that she heard rumors at the time that the boys were "taken"
from poor homes in South Asia, but that she never imagined the conditions they
were living in while in Dubai.
Todd Boston said that in the morning as he went to the horse track he would
wait as the camels crossed the road to their track.
"There would be a pickup truck following them with little bitty kids in the
back, with little helmets on, waving," Boston said.
The Bostons are haunted by the memory of one green-eyed boy, about 4 years old
they think, who they saw at the camel market wearing a helmet.
The boy stared at them as if he were "desperate for love," Todd Boston said.
They have no idea what happened to him.
"This is a double-edged sword. I worked for Sheik Mohammed and I respect him
very much, but on the other side, I am just horrified by this," he said.
"I expect to hear from Sheik Mohammed. We need explanations," Marci Boston
said. "I'm so angry. We were there - we saw the kids riding camels. I don't
have a doubt about it."
---
Knight Ridder Washington Bureau reporter Dave Montgomery contributed to this
report.
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