A group of 86 Pakistani children who worked as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) returned home as they arrived Friday in Lahore, capital of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province.

This is the second group of Pakistani children to be repatriated from UAE in less than a month. The first batch of camel jockeys of 22 children were repatriated on June 21.

Faiza Asghar, Punjab chief minister's adviser on child protection, received the repatriated children at the Lahore airport, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

All of the boys had worked as camel jockeys in the Gulf with many of them being sold to agents who smuggled them out to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in UAE or other Gulf states.

Pakistani officials say that it is estimated that nearly 3,000 children involved in camel races are stranded in UAE, out of which between 70 to 80 percent are of Pakistani origin.

In May, UAE struck a deal with UNICEF, the UN children's fund, and the governments of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Mauritius to repatriate child camel jockeys.

They agreed that help and protection would be offered to the boys until they were sent back to their homelands.

UAE banned jockeys aged under 16 and weighing less than 45 kg two months ago. Following successful tests, UAE says that it now plans to use robot jockeys in place of the boys.

Source: Xinhua