In July 2006, a blaze at a labour camp in Gudaibiya left 16 Indian workers dead. The workers were made to live in a squalid, overcrowded camp, with outrageously poor facilities. Not only were appropriate safety measures ignored, but the windows were sealed shut, limiting the workers’ means of …
Archive for the ‘Working conditions’ Category
Two years on, blaze victims await justice.
August 7th, 2008
Abusive employers Bahrain Legal cases Working conditions
Construction companies violate midday break rule
July 24th, 2008
Abusive employers UAE Workers Working conditions
Every summer in the UAE (where temperatures can reach a staggering 50 degrees Celsius), doctors brace themselves to receiving hundreds of patients suffering from heat exhaustion. Many of the workers, originating from countries where the climate is not as harsh, lose their lives. Although the Minist...
Workers made to live in boxes
July 24th, 2008
Abusive employers UAE Working conditions
In what could be the one of the worst cases of poor accommodation ever reported in the UAE, over 200 labourers in the Emirati city of Dubai were discovered to be living in cardboard boxes for over three months. Their plight was only discovered after the worker’s refusal to work last weekend, i...
Over 3000 migrant workers arrested in the UAE
July 10th, 2008
Abusive employers UAE Workers Working conditions
Last Friday, over 3,000 migran workers at a factory in the Emirati city of Ras Al Khaimah were detained for rioting. The workers, incited by the poor quality of food they were provided with, wreaked havoc in the factory and burnt nearby vehicles, before riot police were brought in from the nearby Em...
Few rights and low pay for migrant workers in Lebanon
June 23rd, 2008
Abusive employers Housemaids Lebanon Working conditions
With employers frequently abusing their rights, a legal system that ensures them no protection and rights groups that aren’t , the situation of domestic migrant workers in Lebanon is very bleak. “I have only six months left and then I will go back to the Congo,” says Angelique, speaking t...
More slaves today than at any point in history
March 28th, 2008
Abusive employers Slavery Trafficking
According to an article in the LA Times concerning modern slavery: One hot june day in 2006, I saw what slavery really meant. In a rundown mansion in a slum of Bucharest, Romania, a pimp offered to sell me a young woman he described as “a blond.” She had bleached hair, hastily applied ma...
1,300 migrant workers strike in Bahrain over pay
February 12th, 2008
Bahrain Gulf Slavery UAE Working conditions
From the AFP: MANAMA (AFP) — Around 1,300 migrant workers helping to build a luxury coastal development in Bahrain have gone on strike to demand higher wages, a company official said on Sunday. The workers are employed by the contracting firm GP Zachariades to work on the Durrat al-Bahrain develo...
Labour workers suffering in cold weather
January 10th, 2008
Bahrain Workers Working conditions
And some of you can help by donating clothes. I’m attaching two clippings of our local paper which has the contact information of the founder and a volunteer for an organization which distributes clothes to low-paid workers in need of help and support. Click the images for larger viewing.
Links to devastating cases
December 31st, 2007
Documentation Gulf Slavery Trafficking UAE
This is a compilation of articles concerning migrant workers in the Middle East. - Slavery of children and women in Persian gulf countries - Most citizens of Kazakhstan who fall victim to human trafficking are sent to the UAE - May 26: “A group of Iranian boys and girls will be sold in an auct...
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