New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Coalition for Fair Labor at New York University (NYU) have launched a campaign calling on NYU to make migrant worker protection a priority in upcoming negotiations with Abu Dhabi authorities responsible for the development and construction…
Archive for the ‘UAE’ Category
New HRW Report Slams Gulf States for Migrant Abuses
January 26th, 2010
Bahrain Documentation General Gulf Kuwait News Saudi Arabia UAE
Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2010 is out now, and strongly condemns the Gulf states for failing to protect the rights of Migrant Workers. The full report is available here. The HRW report raises the issues of passport confiscation, abuses of domestic workers and bans on trade unions as ke...
UAE: Employer Blackmails his Former Indian Worker
January 23rd, 2010
Despite the fact that withholding of passports and blackmail are illegal in the UAE, it seems that there is a second set of rules when it comes to migrant workers. An Indian worker and his family are suffering greatly because the UAE doesn’t bother enforcing its own laws. Pravin (not his real ...
Behind the Glamorous Facade of the Burj Khalifa
January 4th, 2010
While we are not against progress, innovation and growth, we feel that during all the excitement about the opening of the the Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai), it is forgotten that those who built it, mainly south-Asian migrant workers, have paid a high price for this ambitious project. T...
Top 5 Migrants’ Rights Stories in the Middle East for 2009
January 2nd, 2010
Bahrain Housemaids Kuwait Lebanon Legislation MR Site Sponsorship Suicide UAE Working conditions
After spending another year documenting abuses of migrant workers in the Middle East, it’s time that we look back at the most significant, influential and important stories that we’ve covered. 1. Death of Domestic Migrant Workers in Lebanon This story is significant not just because of t...
The Impact of the Dubai Financial Crisis on Indian Workers
December 26th, 2009
Al Jazeera English recently showed a report about the impact of the financial crisis in the Gulf on Indian migrant workers. Many of the people interviewed have lost their jobs and some are on forced leaves. According to a recent study by an Indian think-tank, 264,000 workers from South Asia have los...
UAE: Couple Guilty of Forcing Three Women into Prostitution Receives Lenient Sentence
December 26th, 2009
The Gulf News reported earlier this week that the Iraqi couple that forced two women and one girl into prostitution in the UAE, was sentenced to three years in prison each. As we’ve previously mentioned, the couple held a 17-year-old girl and two Iraqi women in an apartment in Sharjah and forc...
Abusive Employer to be Tried in the UAE
December 25th, 2009
Abusive employers Housemaids Legal cases Slavery UAE
A Filipino maid who was abused by her employer will testify before a court in Ajman, UAE in two weeks, the National Newspaper reported today. According to the report, the 25-year-old maid, Marilyn Vinluan, was repeatedly slapped, kicked and beaten with an electrical wire by her female employer, whil...
HRW Overview of Migrant Workers Rights in the Middle East in 2009
December 20th, 2009
Egypt Housemaids Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Legislation Saudi Arabia Sponsorship Suicide UAE
Human Rights Watch (HRW) published last week a summary of the reports and research they’ve conducted over the last year on migrant rights. The end-year report highlighted the lack of protection of migrant workers in many Middle Eastern countries. In Kuwait, the report focused on the Sponsorshi...
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