DUBAI: About half a million migrant workers employed in the construction sector in the United Arab Emirates are facing exploitation, thanks to weak enforcement of laws and lack of labour reforms, according to Human Rights Watch.

The abuses include non-payment or payment of extremely low wages and withholding of their passports, a 71-page report of the rights group, released on Sunday, said. The hazardous working conditions are apparently the cause of the high death rate and injury among the workers. A majority of them are from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The report, "Building towers, cheating workers," says the UAE's labour laws, which are "relatively good on paper," are poorly enforced.

Welcoming the recent decree issued by Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum on labour reforms as a "step in the right direction," the rights group was however sceptical of its implementation. "Unless the Government starts to hold employers accountable for breaking the law, the UAE's colossal new skyscrapers will be known for monumental labour violations," Sarah Leah Whitson, West Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, said.

Special court

The UAE's official news agency, Wam, on Sunday said that under Mr. Sheikh Mohammed's directions, a special court to resolve labour disputes would be set up. The number of inspectors charged with evaluating the living conditions of workers would be shortly raised from 80 to 2,000. Health insurance would become compulsory and a "mandatory" mechanism for prompt payment of salaries would be established.

The group has urged the Governments of the U.S., the EU and Australia, which are engaging the UAE in free trade negotiations, to ensure that any new agreement is premised on respect for workers' rights.

The report says that employers "routinely withhold construction workers' wages for a minimum of two months."

Passports are also kept as "security" to stop workers from leaving. Besides, switching jobs is not easy because UAE law prohibits workers from obtaining new jobs without the consent of their old employer.

The debt trap, into which construction workers fall, also inhibits free mobility. It takes workers two to three years to clear the $2000-$3000 loan recruiters "unlawfully" claim for travel, visas, government fees and their own services.

Hundreds of migrant workers die each year in the UAE under unexplained circumstances. "In 2004 alone, the embassies of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh sent the bodies of 880 construction workers back to their home countries."

The group has said UAE, as a member of the ILO, should respect fundamental workers' rights, including the right to freedom of association, collective bargaining and the right to strike.

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