London - Dubai the fun and finance capital of the United Arab Emirates has a dark side. The shameful activities that have now come to light are the recurring racism and exploitation which is frequently committed against migrant labourers hailing from Africa.
ImpACT International for Human Rights Policies, the London based thinktank, has revealed that predominantly black workers are in the process of being forcibly removed from the country in which they have toiled so hard and yet will receive no reward for their work. Furthermore, they, like others before them are being subject to inhumane treatment.
If these crimes were not enough, evidence is emerging that the soon to be forcefully ejected workers face harsh treatment and are trapped in squalid conditions in the migrant centres. Indeed, it’s with sadness that ImpACT International can report that at least one imprisoned Nigerian worker has sadly passed away on 22 August. We are afraid other workers might face the same fate at the al-Aweer prison in Dubai.
“I haven’t done anything wrong to be treated like this. I have worked so hard and instead of being rewarded, I am being imprisoned and humiliated here. I want to go home immediately,” one Ugandan migrant worker told ImpACT International.
Another migrant worker said there are roughly 450 African workers held in detention centers in Dubai, waiting to be forcibly deported to their home countries.
“I don’t know the exact number but they are around 450 people held there. I haven’t been detained yet but I am scared that I would be deported. I have a family that needs my support back home.” he told ImpACT.
I haven’t done anything wrong to be treated like this. I have worked so hard and instead of being rewarded, I am being imprisoned and humiliated here. I want to go home immediately
- An Ugandan migrant worker in UAE
ImpACT International has received a video showing a number of Ugandan workers protesting against the ill treatment at the al-Aweer prison in Dubai, and calling on their embassy to intervene and take them home.
This is not the first time. Detailed below at the end of this press release is a link to the repeated infringements committed against this defenseless people. The international community allowed them to get away with this before and it is happening again. Until such time that nations in the political west stands up for the human rights of those working in states such as the UAE, which has close links with countries such as Britain, it will happen again.
Popular protests have begun in Uganda and Nigeria, many of the workers come from those Commonwealth countries. These should be heeded, reported on, and inspire action. The International Labour Organisation, an agency of the United Nations, must launch an urgent investigation and global human rights bodies must urge that sanctions be taken against the United Arab Emirates.
Robert Oulds, Executive Director of ImpACT International, states that “the press and public in the United Kingdom should be similarly concerned about human rights abuses against those who are linked with Britain though that organisation and its Royal family. Advocating the rights of those at risk abroad should be a challenge for the new prime minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss which we hope she will meet.
“Britain has close business links with the United Arab Emirates. The establishment in the UK and the UAE have fraternal relations and often associate together. Whilst that continues, and until such time that we in Britain censure those in Dubai for taking these actions, the UK should cut its economic ties with those who technically still use slave labour. This is shocking and must end. Indeed, those doing business with the UAE are breaching the law if their trade with that country uses what amounts to forced labour.”
Notes to editors,
Previously, ImpACT has exposed how vulnerable workers were forcibly taken by police out of their accommodation at night, handcuffed, incarcerated, some suffering torture, and then taken out of the country against their will. The full report.