Child Camel Jockeys - Research Paper Example

Dr. Daniel Garro Ashraf Alhusaini PHL-203 08/14 Child Camel Jockey No matter how much development and advancements have been celebrated by mankind so far, the deep-rooted inhumane side of mankind still persists and is also at its peak at the same time. Human trafficking is one such example of an inhumane act which is being excessively practiced around the world today. It involves being bought or sold, deceived or taken against will and brought into slavery for various purposes and encompasses a gross abuse of human rights. With regards to children, it often pertains to exploitation of parent’s poverty. The parents are promised a better life in exchange for their children or are forced to sell their children to pay off debts or gain income (IFSW 11). The exploitation and abuse are unfortunately of various forms but the one under discussion is a child camel jockey. This research paper will discuss the prevailing evil practice and critically analyze the dire situation at hand. Child camel jockeys are an ethical issue of grave importance and a case of child labor, having disastrous social and moral implications that will be discussed in light of human rights violations and ethical dilemmas (IFSW 11). Camel racing is an old traditional sport in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and Middle East, particularly in the dessert areas. These races are held as a recreation and as a display of the tribesmen’s pride, which mostly entails the ruling Sheikhs, as the owner of the best animal in the region. So winning is deemed crucial and a matter of pride and reverence. For a camel to run faster and to win, the owners started to use children as their small size and light weight worked as a distinct advantage (Kloer 2). In the early 1970s, race camels were ridden by the camel owners themselves or some nimble youngsters of the family. However, these were replaced with migrant children as young as 3 or 4 years of age to work as camel jockeys during the 1970s. These younger jockeys were preferred not just to achieve greater speed but also to reduce the stress on the camel’s spine, mostly in case of younger camels. For the camel owners, this was simply the price to success. The majority of the children being smuggled are of a tender age of 3-4years. Not only are they bought into slavery and forced into racing camels, the story of their maltreatment and living conditions is appalling and heart wrenching as well (Kloer 3). Thousands of children are trafficked or smuggled from Bangladesh, Pakistan and countries in East Africa and sold into slavery to work as camel jockeys, many are escorted into the Gulf region by their parents or legal guardians for financial gains. Some of them are bought into slavery from underprivileged families by agents, mostly lured in with a promise of wages that will give the victim’s family sustainable income, although many victims, who have now reached their teens, are still awaiting their vigorously earned money (Kashka 6). Even the thought of a toddler strapped to a camel, which runs 35 to 40 km/hr, is repugnant. The danger involved is inevitable. The frightening screams of the young rider makes the animal run faster, much to the pleasure of the owners and the spectators, as the animal is whipped into frenzy and forced to run. For keeping the weight of the children lighter, they are deliberately underfed, kept to a point of starvation. "The camel owners would weigh us and if we ate too much, they would give us electrical shocks. I was so scared of them, I remember, if I would lose a race they would beat me", as Shameem Miah said, a victim boy who was just 3 years old when he was sent to the Gulf state of Dubai (Kashka, 3). Thus, these children forced to work as camel jockeys at such tender ages have been starved, maltreated, exposed to long hours of training in excessive heat, sexually abused and also punished by the camel owners (Kashka 1). The riding itself has added much to the physical and emotional scars of these victims as they often fall off of their camels, get crushed under the racing ones, causing severe injuries, often permanent and fatal (Caine and Caine 287). The so called compensation for their work is also not justifiable as many a times they are not paid properly or never at all. On the whole, it is difficult to determine the exact numbers of such young and enslaved camel jockeys in the Gulf region as the ways of trafficking are variable and often surreptitious. But it is said to involve as many as 40,000 children (Caine and Caine 287). With time, these races took the shape of an organized business oriented exercise which required much more sophisticated preparation and caused more hype. It became a lucrative tourist attraction. Over the past two decades, the event of camel racing has rapidly developed into hugely popular spectator sport in the Gulf countries. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a hub of camel racing activity, it is projected that at least 16,000 camels race at 17 official race tracks (Caine and Caine 288). Although the ruling Sheikhs own most of the racing camels, a small number of government officials, merchant families and Bedouin tribesmen also have them. The event is televised and written up in sports pages like any other popular sport and are said to create as much enthusiasm. The sport is very dangerous for children and has been proved to be fatal for them as well. There are reported case series and reliable reports of widespread physical and sexual abuse of innocent children, beatings and chronic under nutrition due to deliberate starvation to reduce weight and growth (Caine and Caine 288). The alarming details indicate that this might be the world’s worst case of organized child abuse and cruelty on an industrial scale. It is also suggestive of a much serious and widespread health problem affecting the child jockeys in the Gulf region, as those children, who are fortunately repatriated, have proved that the scars from the abuse by their owners and from countless falls will remain with them, and so will the mental and physical trauma and hence affecting their growth and nourishment values. That is why it is high time to convey the dark and tragic side of this sport to people out there and to oppose and stop this practice at a macro level. This should not be allowed under any ethical and social system (Khan 1). Although, in 2005 international pressures, including UNICEF, US government and many human rights one of which worth mentioning is Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International, urged UAE to ban child camel jockeys and impose a regulation of age limit 16-18 and weighing at least 45 kg on the jockeys, yet the practice still remains and the enforcement of the law is negligible in some areas. The policy promoted the replacement of child jockeys to robots which weigh less than a child and can whip and motivate the animal in the same way. It was encouraged to use robots so that the spirit of the sport remained intact and also the satisfaction of the spectators. In some areas, this movement has been effective and robots have replaced migrant child jockeys but in other, the practice remains unchanged (Sönmez, Apostopoulos and Tran 12). Conversely, some have started to ban cameras and recording of the event so to keep it on the hush. It can be assumed that like many other policies, this also needs the strict enforcement at a macro level; the policy making is not enough. In spite of the agreements and passing of laws, the child camel jockey industry is still developing. The solution of using robots instead of children is a wise and socially acceptable one. No one is against camel racing sport but the barbaric use of child jockeys is atrocious and not a solution at all as it aggravates the situation and create so many bigger problems (Sönmez, Apostopoulos and Tran 12). The mental health of children is considered to be the most vital determinant of their overall well-being. It is found to be linked with the physical health of a child and its capacity to perform at school, work and to respond to its social environment. It directly impacts the socialization process and triggers resultant behaviors in adult age that have been developed or impaired during childhood. Thus, incidences of children maltreatment have long term affects and leave imprints on the personality, which in turn becomes detrimental for society as a whole. For example a child exposed to abuse is most likely to develop withheld aggression which is thrown out at other individuals, in the forms of bullying other children at school, not cooperating well with colleagues at work and so on (American Psychological Association). Overall the matter at hand has many social and moral implications. The victims face a host of adverse health impacts of both physical and psychological nature, mostly permanent, including more vulnerability to ill health, chronic under nutrition and emotional health implications, to mention a few, that mar the rest of the life of the survivors. Not to mention the undocumented death toll and the number of missing children who have still not been repatriated (Khan 3). Poverty and greed are the two main factors that have given birth to this widespread issue. Families under pressure of poverty, having a large family to feed, are exploited and forced to accept such exchanges and sell their children. Sometimes agents and smugglers use fake stories and lies to lure parents into giving away their children with a promise of earnings, which are seldom given to them. Consequently, in spite of all the opposition and regulation, poverty has blind folded many families and many parents are still willing to sell their children in exchange earnings (Todres 192). Another problematic issue is that these races are held under the label of development and promotion of tourism. This suggests that government agencies are overtly involved in the matter even though this is in violation of ethical standards and human rights. Thus the global community has a moral obligation to pressurize such countries to eradicate systematic exploitation, abuse and discrimination of vulnerable people (Todres 194). Since UAE is not a signatory for most international human rights and labor rights treaties, it limits its accountability to international systems. Nevertheless, health must be viewed as a fundamental human right to be enjoyed by every human being without discrimination. Thus societies and legal entities should build on existing expertise and do what they are capable of doing in pursuit of socially responsible humanitarian goals (Todres 195). More legislative initiatives should be taken to expand this approach on both the national and international level. Uniformity nationally on this issue will not only lead to more countries and companies having to disclose and ideally undertake, measure to battle human trafficking of children for the purpose of child camel jockeys and exploitation. It will also be good for business as a uniform requirement and standard will ensure that entities not subject to such laws or policies do not gain a competitive advantage by benefitting from such exploitations. On a more micro level; we should raise our voice and increase awareness of the frequency and severity of this issue (Todres 197). Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are also working for protection of human rights of children and to promulgate the prevention of child labor. Going through trends and practices, we see that the issue of child labor and child abuse has taken various shapes and forms. People are willing to achieve their monetary gains or any other interests by hook or by crook. The essence of humanity is diminishing and people have become indifferent and insensitive to such issues concerning morals and ethics, especially in case of children. Besides child camel jockey, children are seen used, procured or forced for illegal purposes like for production and trafficking of drugs, for prostitution, for several forms of slavery including forced child labor in many other industries, debt bondage, and forced or compulsory recruitment for use in armed conflict etc. All these malpractices direct us to a similar problem of children rights and safety (Child Labor Photo Project). It is not only a question of compassion but also a moral duty to realize the fact that children are adults of the future. They are ingredients for what kind of society we want to build and flourish. So if we kept this ignorant behavior towards child rights, we are dragging our society towards its doom. With abusing child and maltreatment of such types, we might be on the verge of increasing the element of corruption and cruelty in our society. That brings us back to our moral obligations, the social implications of our actions and our humanitarian goals of building a community with increased resilience, protection of human dignity and reduced suffering. If children’s care and health are not guaranteed, they may not be able to stand on their own feet and we fail to prepare them well for independence. At the individual level, we are also responsible and have the moral duty as a citizen to learn more about this cause, spread the awareness as much as we can in our social circles and support organizations that are working for children rights and safety of their future. We can run campaigns and inquire about the businesses around us if they are child labor free or not. We should inform authorities if we see instances of child abuse and act in a more responsible way in this cause. We should alert others about this matter and build a civil society to urge governments and organizations to take steps towards the abolishment of such activities. Therefore, it is our moral obligation to do whatever we can to stop this social anomaly and unethical practice, in order to preserve the code of childhood which is a precious thing. As David Brower puts it, “We dont inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”. Works Cited American Psychological Association. Childrens Mental Health. 2012. 16 August 2012. . Caine, Dennis and Caroline Caine. "Child camel jockeys: A present-day tragedy involving children and sport." Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine (2005): 287-289. Print Child Labor Photo Project. Images of Child Labor. 2012. [Online]. 16 August 2012. . IFSW. International Federation of Social Workers. 2 August 2010. Web. 12 August 2012 . Kashka, Babukar. Middle East: A story of camels and baby slaves. 2012 Web. . Khan, Daoud. "Riding for their lives." New Internationalist Magazine 1 July 2005: 380. Print Kloer, Amanda. "Despite ban, child camel jockeys are still racing." Change.org 4 March 2010. Print Sönmez, Sevil, et al. "Human rights and health disparities for migrant workers in the UAE." Health and Human rights (2011). Print Todres, Jonathan. "Submission to U.N. committee on the rights of the child on its child rights and business general comment." California Law Review Circuit (2012): 190-208. Print Read More