Dubai Expo 2020 accused of abusing workers

Foreign workers at Dubai’s Expo 2020 are subject to abusive conditions and treatment that may amount to forced labour, a human rights group has reported.

According to the report published by Equidem, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is failing to protect workers from abroad who serve in positions such as security guards, cleaners and hospital staff at the popular exhibition.

The alleged abuse serves as a “significant disconnect between the Emirate’s stated ambition of being a modern, international state and the reality of racial discrimination and forced labour practices that migrant workers are facing”, the report stated.

The Expo 2020, which opened late in October 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and runs until March 2022, hosts 192 national pavilions representing different countries and multinational corporations. It aims to showcase the latest innovation in the fields of technology and sustainability, and is projected to be visited by 25 million visitors throughout the course of its operation.

Despite the working conditions at the Expo reported to be generally better than elsewhere in the UAE, Equidem found – by interviewing 69 of the foreign workers – that the conditions and treatment of workers broke Emirati labour laws and welfare standards numerous times.

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Over half of the workers interviewed said that they paid recruitment fees in their own countries in order to secure their jobs in the UAE. Even though the practice is illegal underEmirati law, many of the employers reportedly knew of those payments but did not intervene or reimburse the workers, leaving them in debt.

Two-thirds of the interviewed workers also claimed that their wages were often not fully paid or given on time, making them unable to send money back to their families or even pay for food.

One hospitality worker told the rights group that “They promised me an increment in salary after probation – something I have not seen to date … Never have I received overtime payment from my employer.” She stressed that “The way they treat the staff is like slaves, I mean modern-day slavery”.

According to another worker, he had his passport confiscated and kept by his employer’s company, as all the other workers reportedly had. As the practice was specifically banned by the Expo’s organisers, the company dodged the law by making the workers “sign a paper saying we have received our passport. In reality, it is still in the office of our accommodation camp.”

Equidem stated that the poor treatment of the migrant workers and the possible forced labour they undergo, represents a failure that has damaged the reputation of companies and countries participating in the Fair.

Mustafa Qadri, the director of the rights group, said that “The entire international community is complicit in the exploitation at the Expo. It’s a scandal.”

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