DUBAI: His family had given up hope of ever finding eight-year-old Saddam Hussein Sheikh after he was kidnapped from Larkana in 1999.

But last year, news trickled in that Sheikh had been found in Al Ain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he was being used illegally as a camel jockey.

Six-year-old Amir Abbas was not so lucky. Smuggled into the UAE from Pakistan, Abbas fell off a camel during a race and died in Al Ain in May 2001.

The adverse publicity that these and other incidents generated, along with pressure from human rights groups, forced the UAE government to announce on July 29 the enforcement of a 1993 law banning the use of small children as jockeys in the national sport of camel racing.

The ban on using children as camel jockeys — the smaller they are, the faster the animals can go — comes into effect from Sept 1. The next racing season starts in October, after the last one ended in April.

The children jockeys come mainly from the subcontinent.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamad bin Zayed al Nahyan reiterated that the law, in keeping with international standards, stipulates that camel jockeys must weigh at least 45 kgs and not be under 15 years old “as stated in their passports”.

Thus far, the UAE had widely ignored the 1993 law. But now, “offenders will be liable to penalties up to a prison sentence,” the minister said.

Violators will be fined 20,000 dirhams ($5,440) for a first offence. For a second offence, offenders will be banned from participating in camel races for one year; and subsequent offences will invite prison sentences.

“A medical committee will examine each candidate to ensure that he has attained the specified age,” Sheikh Hamdan said, adding that all owners of camel-racing stables would be responsible for repatriating children under 15 currently employed as jockeys to their home countries.

“The Camel Racing Federation has decided to introduce these measures with a view to maintaining the tradition as a worthy sport that successfully meets its objectives,” Sheikh Hamdan explained. “These objectives are to maintain our national heritage and foster social links and relationships among the country’s citizens.”

The minister acknowledged that there had been infringements of the existing rules, which had harmed the sport’s reputation and violated “the legal structure upon which the UAE is based, whether in terms of its domestic legislation or in terms of its obligations under the terms of various international conventions and agreements”.

South Asian rights groups have long protested the use of minors in camel racing — the “rich man’s game” — saying poverty has often led parents to hand over their children to human traffickers.

A number of protests were held outside the UAE embassy in Dhaka, with activists deeming the practice “inhuman”.

According to a 1999 report by Anti-Slavery International, at least 30 boys a month — adding up to 2,000 boys in two years are kidnapped from Pakistan to feed the dangerous sport.

The children are often kidnapped, sold by their parents or relatives, or taken on false pretences, the report said.

Once in the UAE, the boys are often underfed and subjected to crash diets to make them as light as possible and disciplined rather harshly to extract good performances at the races.

The UAE media, under self-imposed censorship, barely reported the use of these children in the camel races and the youngsters’ plight.

But the recovery of the Pakistani boy, Saddam Hussein Sheikh, last year and the rescue in June of five Pakistani children aged three to seven who were allegedly being brought to Dubai — one of the seven emirates that make up UAE to be camel jockeys received ample coverage.

The UAE authorities and the embassies of Pakistan and Bangladesh then took action against the cases of child smuggling and using them as camel jockeys.

Pakistan’s charge d’affaires Noorullah Khan said that the UAE law enforcement agencies had acted quickly to rescue Saddam following a tip-off.

Officials are still investigating how the boy was smuggled into the country and how he was able to stay without a passport and visa.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Saddam was smuggled into the UAE through the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and taught Arabic and Urdu.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.