SC directs for immediate action

ISLAMABAD The Supreme Court on Friday while hearing the case after taking suo moto notice against the trafficking of children from Pakistan to UAE for camel race, directed the authorities concerned to take immediate action to stop such an inhuman act. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday and Justice Ghulam Rabbani heard the case of the illegal smuggling of minor folks from Pakistan to the Arab countries. In his remarks, Chief Justice of Pakistan showed his grave concern over the inhuman act of child trafficking, saying that the Government and civil society had failed to take any action against that barbarous act. The court was apprised of the gravity of issue vide the report on Camel Jockeys of Rahimyar Khan presented by Save the Children, a non-governmental organisation. Trafficking of children from Pakistan to UAE for the camel race has been going on for more than 30 years. The study by Save the Children Sweden and Pakistan Rural Workers Social Welfare Organisation is therefore a unique and pioneering effort in gathering data from the repatriated children, who had returned to Pakistan after working as camel jockeys in the UAE. This research investigation was carried out in Rahimyar Khan District of Punjab Province for being notorious in the trafficking of the children. It has been categorically pointed out in the report that poverty, lack of economic opportunities, illiteracy and unawareness about child rights are the main factors why the custodians of children allow them to be taken to Gulf and become child jockeys. The research respondents include 46 children who went through the trafficking and exploitation trauma. All had been trafficked at an average age of five years, the youngest being three and the oldest aged eleven. On average, these children spent about four years on the camel racing tracks and fifteen of them had spent seven years. Twenty-nine children were sent back to Pakistan by the age of ten, and the remaining seventeen between the ages of eleven and fifteen. They had been repatriated because of their racing injuries or their weight exceeding 20 kg. A camel jockey is paid a salary in the range of Dh 500- 600 per month. In some cases if they win the race, they are also given a small amount of cash as prize money, called 'baksheesh, study revealed. The study has further investigated that the agents are the influential people who have contacts with the local politicians and the higher police authorities.