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Emirates fights jockey lawsuit

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 23, 2006

MIAMI - United Arab Emirates rulers asked a federal judge on Friday to dismiss a lawsuit seeking damages for thousands of children who were forced to become jockeys for racing camels, arguing that the issue is being fully addressed and that U.S. courts have no jurisdiction.

The Emirates, in conjunction with UNICEF, established a program in May 2005 to compensate, provide services for and repatriate young camel jockeys to their home countries, primarily Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Mauritania, the filing said.

A UNICEF report this month said 1,077 young camel jockeys have been returned home and provided with other assistance, including education. The Emirates on Dec. 11 announced it would set aside a minimum of $9-million to expand and extend the program through 2009.

The Emirates banned the use of underage camel jockeys in July 2005.

"As a result of these international efforts ... the lives of former camel jockeys are being changed for the better today," said the motion filed on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Emirates prime minister and ruler of Dubai, and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, the Emirates' minister of finance and industry.

The lawsuit was filed in September in a U.S. district court. It seeks class action status and unspecified damages for about 10,000 boys who were allegedly abducted and sold over a 30-year period to become jockeys in various Persian Gulf countries.

The lawsuit claims the boys, some as young as 2, were held at desert camps and that some suffered sexual abuse and deprivation of food and sleep.

Federal court in Miami is a proper legal venue, the lawsuit contends, because Emirates royal family members own hundreds of horses at farms in Ocala and because no other court in the world could fairly address the claims.

The Emirates rulers, however, say there is no connection between anyone involved in the camel jockey issue and the U.S. court in Florida and that the country's rulers have immunity as heads of state.

U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga has not ruled on the dismissal request or on whether the case should be a class action.

The lead attorney for the children and their families, John Andres Thornton, said Friday he could not immediately comment because he had not read the new filing.

[Last modified December 23, 2006, 00:32:11]