Spinning Slavery: The Role of the United States and UNICEF in the Denial of Justice for the Child Camel Jockeys of the United Arab Emirates

This article provides a detailed account of the use of foreign child jockeys in competitive camel racing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although the extensive use of child jockeys ended in 2005, the initiation of a class action lawsuit for civil damages in a United States (US) federal district court in 2006 posed a serious risk to the reputation of the rulers of the UAE. The article describes the resulting public relations offensive, which required the post-fact construction of a substantive defence and embroiled both the United States and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in a serious denial of justice for thousands of victims of child slavery.