UAE compensates Bangladeshi child camel jockeys

Hundreds of Bangladeshi children taken from their homes and forced to become racing camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates will be compensated by the Persian Gulf nation, the Bangladeshi government said Wednesday.

Home Minister Sahara Khatun said the UAE has given the government nearly $1.44 million to distribute among 879 Bangladeshi children, who worked as camel jockeys after it was banned in 1993.

Hundreds of boys under 15 were lured or trafficked into the Gulf states to ride bareback on camels in traditional desert races. Most of them were repatriated after a 2005 agreement between the UAE and UNICEF.

The children _ some as young as four and …