Seven children used as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were handed over to their parents at Raipura in Narsingdi yesterday.

The children are Nuruddin, 8, Sumon, 10, Dalim Hossain, 11, Rubel Mia, 12, Md Mihir Mia, 13, Md Sohel, 14, and Obaidullah Hossain,16, -- all from Narsingdi.

Their reunion with their families took place at a simple function at Daulatkandi High School. They were staying at a shelter home of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) in the capital on their return home recently.

Earlier, the BNWLA had collected detailed information and addresses of the children and given those to the home ministry. The ministry passed those on to the upazila nirbahi officers and officers-in-charge of the thanas concerned to verify the information, BNWLA Executive Director Salma Ali said.

A team comprising officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, home, Unicef, BNWLA, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Astec was formed to monitor the process of reunion of the children with their families. Local 'care committees' for the children have also been formed in the areas.

Seventy-four former camel jockeys are still staying at BNWLA shelter home and Ahsania Mission in Dhaka, awaiting return to their families. More than 100 such children are yet to be brought back from the UAE.

The reunion function yesterday was attended by Abdur Rouf, additional secretary of the home ministry, Firoze Salauddin, deputy commissioner of Narsingdi, Ghasan Khalil of Unicef, Mizanur Rahman of IOM, Salma Ali of BNWLA and Imranul Haque Chowdhury of Astec.