"Human Rights Watch offers construction companies guidelines to ensure labor rights in Gulf", 22 December 2015

Human Rights Watch released a set of guidelines Tuesday that it says construction companies in the oil-rich Gulf Arab states should follow to ensure basic rights for migrant workers. The New York-based rights group's latest recommendations shift the focus toward employers and are aimed at tackling some of the biggest abuses facing millions of low-paid laborers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. They include ensuring that contractors and sub-contractors pay all recruiting fees, provide workers with places to keep their passports, provide decent accommodation, abide by requirements for maximum working hours and overtime pay, and pay workers their full wages on time. The group also urged companies to appoint outside monitors to ensure workers are receiving basic labor protections in practice, not just on paper...