Sheik accused in camel jockey abuse plot
By JANET PATTON
Lexington 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.’’
More on thread (Dubai bump thread)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519343/posts?page=24#24
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519343/posts?page=26#26
>>>They dazzled Kyrgyz girls with promises of well-paid work in Dubai as waitresses and dancers. Special companies took care of all the travel arrangements. But, as soon as they arrived in Dubai, the girls were relieved of their passports and forced into prostitution by the racketeers.<<<
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519343/posts?page=27#27
info about the camel jockey slaves from the U.S. State dept website:
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46606.htm
excerpt—
“The trafficking and exploitation of South Asian and African children as camel jockeys has burgeoned in the Gulf states, which, with the discovery of oil and the associated surge in wealth, transformed camel racing from a traditional Bedouin sports pastime to a multi-million dollar activity. Today, thousands of children, some as young as two years of age, are trafficked from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and countries in East Africa, and sold into slavery to serve as camel jockeys.
These children live in an oppressive environment and endure harsh living conditions. They work long hours in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit, live in unsanitary conditions, receive little food, and are deprived of sleep so that they do not gain weight and increase the load on the camels they race. They are trained and kept under the watchful eyes of handlers, who employ abusive control tactics, including threats and beatings. Some are reportedly abused sexually. Many have been seriously injured and some have been trampled to death by the camels. Those who survive the harsh conditions are disposed of once they reach their teenage years. Having gained no productive skills or education, scarred with physical and psychological trauma that can last a lifetime, these children face dim prospects. They often end up leading destitute lives. Trafficked child camel jockeys are robbed of their childhoods—and of their future.”
SICK AND SAD.