Child Jockey suit dismissed

A Class action suit against Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum fails because of lack of jurisdiction.Hmm...why am I not surprised?

The lawsuit was filed by the parents of child jockeys alleging that Sheikh Mo, his brother Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid and other unnamed defendants kidnapped and enslaved children in the past three decades for use as camel jockeys, in some cases as young as two, to be used on the camel racing circuit.The Dubai ruler had earlier sought US President George W Bush’s help in having the complaint dismissed, arguing it could affect ties between the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

Child camel jockeys are often sexually and physically abused; most are physically and mentally stunted, as they are deliberately starved to prevent weight gain.Most of them are forced to wear metal helmets in the scorching heat of the desert so they bleed through their noses and lose weight that way.They are tied up on the neck of the camel and beaten and the high piched screams of the child in the camel’s ear makes it run faster. Barbaric.

Though Qatar and the UAE had agreed in early 2005 to abandon child jockeys,NGO's are still concerned that not all former child jockeys are accounted for, and that some are still being used in illicit night-time races.

Anti-slavery website has some interesting pictures of these child camel jockeys.