Exploitation at Expo 2020
Migrant workers at Dubai’s ‘Expo 2020’ are facing highly abusive conditions, which according to Labour rights organisation Equidem, equate to forced Labour.
Expo 2020 is an international fair which - after being delayed due to Covid-19 – opened in Dubai in October 2021 and will continue until March 2022. In what the UAE has named the ‘world’s greatest show’, the fair provides the UAE with ample opportunities to showcase the world’s leading tech and sustainability projects to more than 25 million visitors. In doing so, organisers hope to offer a global stage from which to realise the UAE’s intention to present itself as an open, international and investable state to tourists and businesses alike.
However, a detailed report by labour rights group Equidem calls this stated intention to question, calling upon in-depth interviews with migrant workers employed in domestic, hospitality and security roles at the ongoing event. The report recalls accounts of workers who describe being treated ‘like slaves’, detailing how many have been forced to pay illegal recruitment fees, have been denied wages and have had their passports seized. Interviewees also reported widespread racial discrimination, which remains an enduring aspect of labour inequalities in the UAE today.
In September 2021, the European Parliament passed a motion urging international partners and member states to withdraw their participation in the Expo, drawing upon various examples of human rights abuses of migrant workers and social activists in the UAE - including the unlawful detention of activist Ahmed Mansoor. Nevertheless, Equidem’s findings showed that - despite being an illegal practice in the UAE - over half of the workers interviewed were forced to pay recruitment fees to obtain their jobs, whilst two thirds described having full or partial wages withheld - leading many to struggle with debts, a lack of food, and an inability to support their families. Almost all interviewees also spoke of their passports being seized and held by their employers, which is also an illegal practice of asserting control over employees.
Whilst the Arab parliament have outright dismissed the claims, Equidem’s report demonstrates overt breaches of both Emirati labour laws and worker welfare standards – which were introduced to protect the rights of Expo employees. The report also joins a number of statements by Non-Governmental organisations, including Human Rights Watch and the UK Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) who have shone a light on the significant health risks and rights violations of labour abuse at the Expo. Perhaps most importantly, these findings also emphasise the need for international partners to not only withdraw their participation, but to challenge the UAE for utilising the Expo to conceal human rights violations.
