Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - United Arab Emirates (Ratification: 1982)

Articles 1, paragraph 1, and 25 of the Convention. Referring to its observation made under Convention No. 138, the Committee has noted the communications received from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in August 2000 and September 2001 concerning work by children as camel jockeys, as well as the Government’s reply to these communications.

According to the ICFTU’s comments referring to information received from Anti-Slavery International, numerous young boys of five or six years of age are being trafficked (either kidnapped, sold by their parents or taken under false pretences) to the United Arab Emirates to be used as jockeys in camel races. They are thereby separated from their families and taken to a country where the people, culture and language are completely unknown to them. According to the information received, the boys are often mistreated, underfed and subjected to severe diets before races so as to be as light as possible. The ICFTU indicates that the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International (ABWTI) has rescued 49 children from camel stables in the UAE during the first five months of 2001; the ABWTI estimates that approximately 30 boys a month are being kidnapped in Pakistan alone and taken to the UAE. The comments emphasize that the children are separated from their families and thus completely dependent on their employers and de facto coerced into working.

In its reply, the Government states that the ICFTU’s communication refers to separate incidents and events that took place in 1997, 1998 and 1999, and that some time is needed to examine these events and the accusations, which requires gathering information from several sources. It points out that the employment of children under the age of 15 is a clear violation of section 20 of the Federal Labour Code No. 8 of 1980, and that current laws prohibit the buying of children, their exploitation or mishandling (sections 346 and 350 of the Federal Penal Code of 1987). The Government also states that such matters as kidnapping of children, their sale, or smuggling into the country away from their parents, occur outside the territory of the UAE, where such crimes are penalized, if they are proven. It also indicates that the internal statutes on camel races in the UAE contain a set of rules prohibiting the exploitation of children in camel racing (section 14), and that 42 persons have been returned to their countries at the Emirates’ expense, following the violations of these rules. Finally, the Government informs that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has carried out consultations with the relevant state bodies to obtain information on the events referred to in the ICFTU’s comments, with a view to transmitting any new information on these issues to the ILO.

The Committee notes these indications. It also refers in this connection to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (E/CN.4/1999/71), which states that "in 1993, the Camel Jockeys Association of the United Arab Emirates finally prohibited the use of children as jockeys. New evidence, however, clearly indicates that the rules are being blatantly ignored. In February 1998, ten Bangladeshi boys, aged between five and eight, were rescued in India while being smuggled to become camel jockeys". While being aware that these events occurred outside the territory of the UAE, the Committee refers to its general observation published in 2001 under the Convention, where it asked governments to supply information, inter alia, on measures designed to strengthen the active investigation of organized crime with regard to trafficking in persons, including international cooperation between law enforcement agencies with a view to preventing and combating the trafficking in persons.

The Committee urges the Government to take all the necessary measures, in cooperation with the other governments concerned, to eradicate the trafficking in children for use as camel jockeys and to punish those responsible through the strict enforcement of adequate penal sanctions. It hopes that the Government will provide full information on the action taken, including information on legal proceedings instituted against those involved in trafficking and on any penalties imposed.