The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that it will legalize unions and collective bargaining to improve labor standards for migrant workers. The announcement of this pending legislation, expected to be in place by the end of the year, immediately followed a Human Rights Watch press release calling on the UAE government to take steps to end widespread abuses against migrant workers, including non-payment of their wages, squalid working conditions, and virtual bonded labor due to their inability to pay back loans from job recruiting agencies.
In recent years, the UAE has emerged as a major business and trading hub in the Middle East, attracting substantial foreign investments from governments and corporations. The UAE’s economic expansion, however, has come at the expense of those who toil to support its growing infrastructure. Despite increasing international attention and a number of major strikes by the workers themselves, the UAE has continued to turn a blind eye to the problem. While we are encouraged by the UAE’s reforms, Human Rights Watch will continue to expose the plight of migrant workers in the UAE and pressure the government to implement additional reforms.
