MIAMI, June 5: The Ruler of Dubai has sought President George W. Bush's help in getting US courts to dismiss a child-slavery lawsuit against him, according to court papers filed recently.
Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktum, Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, wrote Mr Bush in February about the lawsuit.
The suit was filed in December by a group of parents charging the Ruler of enslaving thousands of children to breed, train and ride camels for the racing circuit.
Warning that the lawsuit was “causing an unnecessary interference” in US-UAE relations, and recalling that the UAE is “a key partner in the global war against terrorism,” Shaikh Mohammed asked for Bush to get involved in the case.
“I would therefore appreciate your personal attention to ensuring the United States government's support for dismissal of the entire case,” he wrote in a two-page letter that his defence lawyers presented in court on May 25.
He said the lawsuit “may complicate our ongoing and already effective efforts to resolve the issues addressed in the litigation”. The UAE in 2005 banned child labour in the camel racing business and signed an agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to repatriate thousands of children and compensate their parents, defence lawyers said.
Unicef has put the UAE cost of the repatriation scheme at $9 million and said 1,000 children so far have been returned to their homes.
Other court documents shown on Monday include a December letter from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telling the UAE foreign minister that Washington was ‘carefully’ considering the request for dismissal “and will take appropriate action”.
“We appreciate the efforts made by the United Arab Emirates to regulate the treatment of camel jockeys,” Ms Rice added in her letter.—AFP
