Ten camel jockeys handed over to parents
Staff Correspondent
Ten children who were used as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirate (UAE), were handed over to their parents on Monday bringing the total number to 95.They are Rony, Amirul and Sadequl from Mymensingh, Shameem and Sohagh from Dhaka, Azad Alam from Noakhali, Abu Bakar and Ali from Comilla and Rony and Jony from Kushtia. The parents received their children from the officials of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) in their respective areas in presence of upazila nirbahi officers (UNO) or ward commissioners or union parishad chairmen. BNWLA officials also filed general diaries (GD) with the respective police stations in this regard. A total of 125 children were so far repatriated and more than 100 are still waiting their return, said BNWLA officials. The repatriated children were sheltered at the homes of BNWLA and Dhaka Ahsania Mission in Dhaka on their return from the UAE in different phases beginning from August 11 this year following an agreement between the governments of Bangladesh and the UAE. A Community Care Committee (CCC) comprising a UP member, local leaders and school teachers has been formed at thana level to supervise the rehabilitation programme for former camel jockeys. A monitoring committee comprising officials of home ministry, Unicef, International Organisation for Migration, BNWLA and some other NGOs will supervise the rehabilitation process. "We tried to hand over all the repatriated children to their parents so that they could share the joy of Eid-ul-Fitre after staying a long time abroad, but could not do it as all the genuine parents could not be properly identified yet," said BNWLA Executive Director Advocate Salma Ali.
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