Over 3,000 migrant workers arrested in the UAE
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 Emirate of Dubai.
Although not all workers at the factory were involved in the riot, they were all detained an an undisclosed location. Their fate remains unknown, but sources in the UAE have stated that they face imprisonment and deportation.
The situation of migrant workers in the UAE and the Gulf in general is tragic, with death and violent abuse being a common occurrence. In 2006, Human Rights Watch published a report documenting the exploitation of migrant workers in the UAE, but sadly, none of its recommendations have been implemented by the government.
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I live in Dubai and the conditions that these immigrant workers are subjected to is amazing to me.
some people pay a high price so that others can live in relative luxury..
Slavery, there is simply no other way to put it. These workers are always on strike due to mistreatment, lack of payments, ridiculous living conditions, and instead of addressing their issues, they are being imprisoned. And people who are speaking on their behalf are being silenced.
The UAE likes to play the role of the “progressive” nation, with all its buildings and 5-star resorts, as well as this unnatural competitiveness of having “the world’s biggest everything.” But sex crimes and slavery are worst there than anywhere else I’ve seen in the Middle East, so let’s see how they defend their supposed perfection and image when the world begins confronting them on these grave issues.
We have a campaign site for them at Migrant-Rights.org
Your absolutely right, slavery is a better word to describe there situation. I’ve been confronted with many harsh realities since arriving in Dubai, but the one thing that remains prevalent is the lack of concern most expat’s have for these peoples conditions.
there’s a line that expat’s know not to cross, and if you stay on the safe side, your rewarded with a very luxurious life style and everything’s made easy for you. I think even though this issue plays on peoples minds, they are to cautious to risk jeopardizing this lifestyle by speaking out.
not even the media here really address the issue, i guess people feel like they are in no position to really do anything about it, so they just get on with there day and learn to blank these people out. It’s a very sad predicament.
I had spoken about this issue here. You might find it interesting.