11 April 2005 Monday 01 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426 Robots will replace child camel jockeys DUBAI, April 10: The United Arab Emirates, under pressure to stamp out the use of children as camel jockeys, plans to introduce robot riders this year, newspapers said on Sunday. “The mechanical jockey is light in weight and receives orders from the instructor via a remote control system fixed on the back of the camel,” the daily Gulf News said, quoting an official statement. It said President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan was behind the initiative. The Gulf Arab state last month enacted new laws to crack down on the trafficking of under-16 camel jockeys, a practice internationally condemned as a form of slavery. The paper said the first prototype mechanical jockey was tested on Saturday and the first batch would go into service in August in the lucrative sport, popular among Bedouin Arabs. Rights groups say several thousand boys, some as young as four, work as jockeys in the sport in the oil-rich country, many after being abducted or sold by their families. —Reuter

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