Associated Press Reveals Violations of Workers’ Rights at the Expo 2020 Dubai
The Associated Press published a report revealing a wide range of violations and abuses suffered by workers who have built the luxurious site of Expo 2020 in Dubai.
The report stated that the UAE government had failed to uphold its obligations towards workers’ rights according to the minimum human rights standards.
The 37-page report is a detailed report giving comprehensive analysis of the workers’ situation and is based on 70 interviews with migrant workers at the Expo.
The Associated Press had previously published an investigation based on interviews with more than 20 Expo workers who spoke about the abuses they faced, including paying illegal recruitment fees, confiscation of passports by employers and insufficient quantities of food.
This report was also based on the situation of construction workers, a year before the international expo was opened. Workers said they had been denied wages for several months during the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Many employers were aware that workers paid huge fees to recruitment companies in their home countries, and did not get reimbursed, thus creating a debt bondage.
Neither did the exhibition organisers, nor the Emirati authorities responded to the requests of human rights organisations to comment on the report.
The current workers situation revealed in the biggest expo in Emirates raises serious concerns over the amount of forced and the effectiveness of the working system in the UAE.
