18 more camel jockeys return
Staff Correspondent
Eighteen more Bangladeshi children, who were used as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), returned home yesterday, bringing the total number of such returnees to 83.Twenty guardians and their other children, not used as jockeys, also accompanied the group that arrived at Zia International Airport (ZIA) by a Bangladesh Biman flight at about 12:30pm. Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) Executive Director Salma Ali, Juvenile Justice Officer of United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) Rafiquzzaman, and a senior assistant secretary of home ministry received them at the ZIA. They were sheltered at a city home of BNWLA that will begin the reintegration process tomorrow, said an official. Earlier 65 other children returned home in three batches on August 11, 23, and 25. Bangladesh government took initiatives to bring them with the assistance of Unicef and International Organisation for Migration. The UAE government is sending about 260 such Bangladesh children under an agreement the UAE had signed with Unicef in May this year that banned the use of children under 16 and weighing less than 45 kilograms in camel race, a popular sport in the Middle East.
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Another batch of 18 Bangladeshi children, used as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates, arrives at Zia International Airport yesterday. PHOTO: STAR |