VZCZCXRO9746
RR RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR
DE RUEHAD #0513 1410826
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210826Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2503
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0243
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1734
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0343
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 0087
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0070

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000513 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARP, DRL, AND IO/UNP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM KTIP EAID MR SU BG PK UN AE
SUBJECT: UAE AND UNICEF CONTINUE TO ASSIST REPATRIATED 
CAMEL JOCKEYS 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The effort to repatriate young foreign camel 
jockeys was the headline focus of the UAE's anti-TIP efforts just a 
few years ago; the follow-up continues unabated, with significant 
UAE effort and resource applied to the rehabilitation of prior 
jockeys.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) UAE camel races in the spring of 2009 had all of the 
energy of prior years, but with no small children as jockeys.  Small 
robots have replaced the riders and have become somewhat of an art 
form of their own.  Transmitters on the robots urge the camel 
forward, as does a rotating whip controlled remotely.  Pol officers 
spent some time at the formal races, on the training tracks, and 
among the holding pens and found no sign of the young boys who had 
been a key feature in the sport some years earlier. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The UAEG effort to repatriate youngsters brought from 
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Mauritania to assist in camel 
racing (and camel-related farm work) got much attention in 2005 and 
2006, since which time the UAEG and UNICEF have been working not 
only to return the former jockeys to their homelands but also to 
reinvigorate their communities and support their education.  The 
repatriation of a reported 1,077 former jockeys by 2006 was only 
part of the program.  Others have been assisted -- including some 
who had already returned home but were identified as former jockeys 
in need of assistance. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) UNICEF Gulf Area Representative Dr. Ayman Abu Laban told 
PolOff May 13 that he is satisfied with the ongoing program. 
UNICEF's primary role is to support communities, he said, using the 
UAEG's $9 million donation to improve conditions in communities to 
which the boys have returned.  That 3-year project should be 
completed this year.  UAEG payments to individual boys are a 
separate matter coordinated directly by the UAE Ministry of Interior 
(MoI) and its partners in source countries.  Dr. Ayman said UNICEF 
steps aside when compensation is administered.  The price tag to the 
UAE therefore exceeds the $9 million UNICEF program; while total 
costs are unclear, a recent press report of a $221,000 donation to 
assist 91 young boys in Mauritania is characteristic.  The UAE press 
notes the periodic travel of UAE officials making similar payments 
and following up on rehabilitation programs. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Press anecdotes suggest that hundreds of former jockeys 
(well over the 1,077) have been assisted in four primary source 
countries, benefiting from medical, education, and social 
assistance.  The UAEG notes "26 social and economic projects related 
to rehabilitating and reintegrating the former camel jockeys into 
their home societies."  Post cannot confirm specific expenditures, 
but will continue to seek data from Brigadier Nasser al-Awadhi 
al-Minhali, Chairman of the UAE Special Committee for Rehabilitation 
of Camel Jockeys.  The complex repatriation effort faces some 
resistance, according to anecdotal reports, from families and 
communities who lost extra income when the boys came home.  Some of 
the boys reportedly seek to return to the UAE for employment when 
they reach adulthood. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Comment:  The plight of young jockeys evolved with the 
sport of camel racing and, when exploitation resulted, gave the UAE 
opportunity to show its humanity without losing enthusiasm for local 
tradition.  The apparent success of the repatriation effort, and 
ongoing UAEG attention to rehabilitating former jockeys and 
assisting their communities, seems to indicate ongoing UAEG 
sincerity in turning a new page.  End comment. 
OLSON