I found this in the Gulf Times today:
Heavy penalties are expected to be imposed on the violators of the new law prohibiting the use of child jockeys in camel races, said Dr Ghalia bint Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, member of UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.The warning is intended to deter any possible offences at "private" races. Dr Ghalia told reporters yesterday that the new regulation banning child jockeys had stemmed out of Qatar’s respect to the children’s basic rights, saying that she played a role in drafting the law, putting an end to the use of child jockeys in Qatar.
I guess this explains why the officials at the camel race freaked out when we took pictures of the jockeys last week.
i heard that these children are being kidnapped or bought from poor families to be smuggled into the country for these events.
Ladybird: If you’ve followed Arab Times they openly have an axe to grind with the royals of Jordan. They’ve sparred before — legally — and I have to say, from a fairly neutral point of view, that the organization really does take pot shots at the royals to the point that some (other say all) of the stories seem like pretty complete fabrications. They are surely of a tabloid nature.
I’m not sure how it all got started, except to say that the editor is Jordanian and claims that he’s been threatened over what he writes. I’d love to know more abou the guy. Sometimes it seems he’s obsessed with royal bashing and I’m curious to know what got it all started.
Natasha
I think it is important to see the headlines on ArabTimes: http://www.arabtimes.com/
A few days ago the Times of Oman newspaper carried an article that said from Sept 2005 Oman will implement an age limit on camel jockeys, stating that they can’t be younger than 14 years. Why wait till September though? I wish there was a harsher law to prevent the use of child camel jockeys.
Natasha, all i can say is that u guys are lucky their reaction wasnt more physical.