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Article

15 Apr 2008

Author:
Times [UK]

Growth brings slow progress on human rights [United Arab Emirates]

One of the most difficult ironies of the Dubai success story is that the multi-star resorts, huge shopping malls and gleaming office towers are built on the backs of workers toiling under what human rights organisations have described as little better than slavery. Thousands of skilled and unskilled workers are disgorged into the region every month, having been recruited by [employment] agencies...The [immigrants] say their passports are confiscated so that they cannot return home without their employer's permission; their wages are docked to pay agency commissions. Living conditions are uncomfortable at best…[T]hey work 12-hour days in searing heat...There has been some progress, thanks to…labour strikes and…[the] international media. In Dubai, the Government last year imposed a "midday break" rule on construction companies...The Dubai police force recently launched a human rights department...