Camel jockeys become issue in ports deal

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration says it trusts the United Arab Emirates and its state-owned corporation in Dubai to take over some operations at six major U.S. ports.

But a clash over the use of children as camel jockeys in the Arab nation has raised questions about the UAE's reliability in recent years, and it has created a delicate situation for the U.S. government as it pushes the ports deal.

The man at the center of the human-rights dispute is former Rep. John Miller, a longtime Seattle Republican and now a top official at the State Department.

Miller said the UAE "misled us" — the U.S. government, his office and former Secretary of State Colin Powell — about the trafficking of children for camel racing three years ago.

The UAE did not address the issue seriously until the nation was embarrassed by Miller's State Department division and had jeopardized its proposed free-trade agreement with the United States.

Miller is U.S. ambassador to control human trafficking. He said the UAE "has made great progress in the last year" on its human-rights record. "They clearly have undertaken significant efforts."

The UAE also is an important ally in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing U.S. access to its ports and airfields, a White House spokesman said.

Camel racing — and gambling on the sport — is popular in the UAE. But jockeys must be small so they won't weigh down the animals.

In 2003 and 2004, Miller said, the UAE announced it had banned the enslavement of boys, some kidnapped from other countries, as camel jockeys for rich racing families in Dubai.

Miller and Powell learned much later, via TV news footage, that the practice was ongoing and well-known in Dubai. It took a top GOP lobbyist, former Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota, to persuade the UAE to work with the State Department on reforms.

"This is exactly why we want in the next 45 days to have a careful review" of the port deal, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "I have heard many members say to Homeland Security that we need to know who this government is, who exactly is running this, who the corporation is."

The credibility issue also troubles Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., who chairs the House Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness Committee. "We have to make sure that the people running this company are trustworthy," he said.

One of Dubai's major investors in camel racing is Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum, the UAE defense minister and crown prince. He's also president of the holding company that owns Dubai Ports World, which would control operations at the six U.S. ports.

In 2003, Powell praised the UAE in a speech after the country announced it had banned the abuse of boys, some as young as 4, as jockeys. Miller and Powell had made the end of modern slavery a policy focus for the State Department.

Miller's office had created a "name and shame list," called the TIP List, that ranked countries by whether they condoned human trafficking, including sex slavery, domestic servitude and other abuses. A bad ranking could hamper commercial ties with the United States.

The UAE's stated ban on young boys as jockeys kept the nation off the lower ranks.

But an HBO crew in late 2004 showed Miller a recent undercover tape showing children racing camels. Miller was furious. In an interview last year, he said the UAE "duped" the U.S.

He placed the nation on the lowest rung of the TIP list last June, despite Weber's efforts. Miller and the State Department further drove their point home with the UAE by giving a special award to the activist who had made the video.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey acknowledged the UAE has had a "bad track record on the issue of trafficking in persons and the camel jockeys."

But, he added, the country has made significant progress.

"The UAE has rescued 600 children, arrested 19 people for trafficking in providing child camel jockeys, and repatriated children to their own countries, and set up shelters for many," Miller said. "They are really trying this time."

Alicia Mundy: 202-662-7457 or amundy@seattletimes.com