UAE delegation holds workshop on child trafficking for Mauritania judiciary

His Excellency Yahya Ould Sid'el Moustaph, Mauritanian Minister for Justice, inaugurated the workshop for judges and legal aides in Mauritania.

The inaugural session was attended by Brigadier Nasser Al Awadhi Al-Minhali, Chairman of the Special Committee for Rehabilitation of Camel Jockeys, UAE Ministry of Interior; Her Excellency Fatima Bint Khatri, Mauritania's Minister for Women's Promotion, Childhood and Family; Christian Skoog, UNICEF representative in Mauritania; and Ghassan Khalil, Head of Child Protection Programme at the UNICEF office in the Gulf countries.

The first of its kind initiative on child trafficking for the Mauritanian judiciary, the training workshop is part of a comprehensive programme to ensure the speedy rehabilitation and integration of the former camel jockeys into mainstream society.

Aiming to highlight global best practices in juvenile courts and similar judicial systems worldwide for the protection of human rights in general and minors' rights in particular, the workshop included in-depth discussions on the UN Convention on the Rights' of the Child and its implementation on a national level.

Christian Skoog said the training workshop greatly benefited the legal professionals, empowering them to protect the society from the phenomena of child trafficking and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

He added: 'I would like to thank the UAE government for their financial support that enabled us to organize this workshop. The Mauritanian government's efforts to protect the children also deserve special commendation.'

Ghassan Khalil offered a valuable overview on the principles of the UN convention for children's rights and its applications for protecting children from trafficking.

Pierre Ferry, a specialist consultant from UNICEF office in Dakar, outlined the scope of the problem of child trafficking in western and central Africa.

During the visit, the UAE delegation presented the second instalment of compensation claims to former child jockeys in Mauritania.

The delegation also visited the areas where community development projects financed by the UAE government are currently under way.