The Whole World is Watching -

- as is the WTO, I would imagine.

The good folks over at HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH have released a report titled "Building Towers, Cheating Workers," much to the discomfort of the Ministry of Labor. The 71 page report outlines a pattern and abuse and deceit, especially by (but not limited to) the construction industry. Some observations from various media outlets -

From the HOUSTON CHRONICLE:

None of us wants to be here. The work is too hard and there's not enough money," said 23-year old Biswas, who makes about $180 a month.

New York-based Human Rights Watch says hundreds die in unreported accidents on dangerous job sites. The Emirates, the watchdog said, "has abdicated almost entirely from its responsibility to protect workers' rights."

From the BBC:

Hundreds of thousands of mainly foreign labourers are employed in construction booms in Dubai and elsewhere.

But according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), they are often poorly paid and made to work in dangerous conditions.

Labour reforms unveiled last week by the government were welcome but more must be done to enforce them, HRW said.

From REUTERS:

Entitled 'Building Towers, Cheating Workers', the rights group report identifies abuses ranging from illegal recruitment practices in the UAE and in source countries, to low wages, the withholding of employees' passports, and hazardous working conditions.

"It is the employers who are violating the laws and it is the government's responsibility to enforce the laws," said Hadi Ghaemi, a researcher for HRW and author of the report. He added that most of the UAE's existing laws already protect migrant workers from exploitation and abuse but that the problem was a lack of implementation and enforcement.

From KUWAIT TIMES:

HRW also highlighted the burden of debt incurred by workers because of fees they pay recruitment agencies inside or outside the UAE when the country's law expects employers to meet these costs. "Recruiting agencies unlawfully force workers, rather than their employers, to pay 2,000-3,000 (dollars) for travel, visas, government fees and the recruiters' own services," it said.

From the INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE:

Deaths in construction accidents or by heatstroke are thought to be rife in the Gulf, but few are ever made public. In 2004, the Dubai recorded 34 deaths in construction accidents. But Human Rights Watch learned that embassies of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh shipped home corpses of 880 construction workers.

Even the usually spineless lackeys over at GULF NEWS appeared to have grown a backbone (albeit in a rather roundabout fashion). While they start out with their standard parroting of the government's position:

The report drew strong criticism from lawyers and members of non-governmental organisations in the country for what they said as "imbalanced recommendations" and "sensational arguments" based on poor investigation.

Interviews with just 60 workers will not give anybody a real picture of the situation, one critic said.

But to GN's credit, the middle third of the article manages to get some information out under the guise of a government response to the allegations:

Titled "Building Towers, Cheating Workers", the 71-page report distributed here yesterday focused on issues ranging from forcing workers seeking employment in the UAE to pay illegal sum to get working permits, to delayed payment of salaries, lack of proper safety measures in construction sites and poor living conditions in accommodation facilities.

The rights body said it based its report on interviews with workers and people related to the business in February this year.

Hadi Ghaemi who managed and conducted the survey, blamed the UAE Government for "not aggressively prosecuting" companies violating labourers' rights and recommended an 11-point action plan to curb abuse of workers rights in construction sector.

The official response appears to be some type of strange counter-propaganda campaign to denigrate HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH's attempts to work with the Ministry of Labor in the preparation of the report. Which is bizarre -- if there wasn't a problem, then why have several sub-ministerial types spent the last week running around talking about how labor problems will be solved?