Al Jazeera has published an interesting article and a video on aljazeera.com. Click HERE.
(https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/08/mongolia-child-jockeys-risk-death-race-170826063128607.html)
Mongolia is also one of the countries where camel racing has also became a tradition although not popular as in countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Oman etc.
Child jockeys used to ride race camels in Saudi Arabia but now they have replaced child jockeys with robots. They used to use younger children with lower weights so that the camels could run faster. Allegedly they used to keep so called "slave children" who were intentionally malnourished for that purpose. After much critics and outrage Saudis have abolished this tradition.
Interestingly, in Mongolia only adults ride race camels.
So, there is no problem with camel racing in Mongolia, but with horse racing there is. How bad is it to our children? It is very dangerous to their health and lives! According to law professor Munkhsaikhan O., Mongolian State University, in average 2 children would die every year. Hundreds would fall from horses during races, and many of them would get injured, some seriously. His article can be read HERE (in Mongolian).
Since horse owners prefer to keep secret any information regarding any accident during races, many cases of injuries are not reported, and that is why there are no complete statistics available for each year in the past.
The data Munkhsaikhan found is:
17 deaths in 1996-2006,
2 deaths in 2006-2008,
6 deaths in 2012-2014, (some data shows 4 deaths in 2012-2014 and 6 deaths in 2015-2017).
In addition, every year 300 child jockeys suffer from injuries. The number of children who fall from horses during racing is much higher. Those 300 children lose their ability to become productive citizens in the future since they would become invalids because of their injuries. This is a tragedy we can prevent! How? Very simple: Stop using children as jockeys. But we are still keeping this dangerous practice which sometimes can turn out to be deadly, and creating literally an army of disabled people!
 |
| "Dunjingarav 2018" horse race |
There is an non-governmental organization called Mongolian Association of Horse Racing and Horse Trainers (MAHRHT) which is responsible for organizing horse races. The Ex-Speaker of the Mongolian Parliament, M.Enkhbold, a long-time President of MAHRHT, has stepped down recently due to critics regarding Dunjingarav 2018 race event, mentioned above. He should have it done long time ago and should have worked on abolishing of this child jockey "tradition", but instead he kept silent for so many years and did nothing. Maybe, even though he is no more President of that organization, he still supports child jockey "tradition." Since he has been for so many years the head of this organization, he is at least morally guilty and responsible for all deaths and injuries occurred in the past years.
M.Enkhbold , Ex-Speaker of Mongolian Parliament (stepped down as long time President of MAHRHT)
What do we need? We need to end this practice and change the rule ! We are hurting our children in the name of tradition. It is like encouraging and keeping an ancient practice of female genital mutilation as tradition in some countries. Race horses should be ridden only by adults, jockeys 18 years old and up. Even though there are sufficient laws existing in Mongolia to protect children, child jockeys are not protected. These laws are falling short of international standards established by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
According to THIS article , International Labor Organization (ILO) made an observation in 2015 and urged the Mongolian Government to take necessary measures in law and practice to ensure that no child under 18 years of age is employed as horse jockey, but both the Government and the Parliament have been ignoring this advice because the MAHRHT is represented in both bodies very strong.
It seems that UNICEF is helpless too. Even though it has a representation in Mongolia, UNICEF Mongolia, our children are still being put in harm's way. If UNICEF is helpless and cannot defend the rights of children as it declares proudly, one should not expect any positive results from all our governmental and non-governmental organization.
Mongolia is one of the 196 parties, UN member countries, to sign the Convention on the Right of the Child, a human rights treaty. This Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of 18. Nations that ratify this Convention are bound to it by international law. So, Mongolia must follow this agreement too. But apparently we do the opposite what in Article 19.1 of this Convention states, "Parties shall take all appropriate legislative , administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse..."
Compliance is monitored by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child but unfortunately it seems that the Committee does not do its job either. Every year in average 2 children would die and hundreds get injured! What other proof does the Committee need?
Governments of countries are required to report to this Committee on the child rights' situation in their country, but I am sure that our Government has been trying to whitewash the real situation. It must be some ways to enforce the Convention, otherwise it would be useless and become nothing but an empty declaration on papers.
Here is one story telling about a child jockey who became a disabled person cause by the injuries after he fell from his horse during a race. Click HERE to read this story.
There should not be any discussion but stopping the use of children as jockeys. Protective gears of any kind are useless. It is about the bone, flesh and body of a child who is in a very sensitive, fragile phase of its development and growth, and that needs to be protected by not risking their health and lives.
Last victim was a 10-year old boy who died from falling a horse during a training, in January 2019. At the first race carried out recently a horse without a jockey was seen crossing the finish line.The reporter mentioned that horse without a rider but by his tone he was more excited about horses finishing the race and said not a word about that child who fell and acted as if nothing serious happened. That is the picture we need to change. According to the MAHRHT- schedule, approved by the Government , there are 8 big regional races to be carried out this year, in May and July. The main event of the year is of course the Mongol Naadam (traditional Mongol festival) where the best horses come together to the capital city to compete. There are going to be so many local races after Naadam too. All these combined, the numbers of horses and children riding these horses will be huge. How many children would sacrifice their health and even lose their lives while racing, nobody knows.
In conclusion one can say that Mongolia is not doing anything to abolish this harmful to children practice, thus violating international laws and acts. In my opinion, the Mongolian Government and Parliament can be obligated to do something only if UN and UNICEF put pressure on them, otherwise all non-governmental organization and citizens are too weak to lobby against this practice. Also lots of citizens side with those horse owners and trainers who brainwash people with lie.
I urge UN and UNICEF to take necessary measurements to force our responsible bodies and help our children!
Posts
