Dark side of dubai
Dubai Slavery
88.5% of the population of the UAE are migrant workers, with South Asian immigrants making up 42.5% of the workforce.
These workers, mostly illiterate and impoverished villagers from rural communities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, respond to work ads and are lured to the UAE with the promise of $300 monthly salaries plus food and accommodation, in return for working 9-5, five days a week. If this were the case, they would be able to work their contract then bring money home to their families.
The reality is this – as soon as they land in the UAE, their passports are confiscated immediately, they are told to work 14-hour shifts for 6-7 days a week in scorching 50C (122F) heat, and are promised just $175 a month.
The workers are forced to shack up in squalid, shanty towns on the edge of the desert, with 10 people to a room, and 45 men share ONE outdoor bathroom.
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In most situations, workers need their sponsor’s permission to transfer jobs, end employment, and enter or exit the host country. Leaving the workplace without permission is an offense that results in the termination of the worker’s legal status and potentially imprisonment or deportation, even if the worker is fleeing abuse. Workers have little recourse in the face of exploitation, and many experts argue that the system facilitates modern slavery.
Debt bondage.Debt bondage. Although most host countries require employers to pay recruitment fees, these often get passed on to workers, who take out loans to pay them or become indebted to the recruiter. Employers sometimes reduce or withhold workers’ wages, ostensibly to pay off recruiters but sometimes as punishment.
Sources
They have deep pockets and shallow hearts.
ora.com/What-is-the-dark-side-of-Dubai-as-a-tourist
Quora incident
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Kafala system
Racism often magnifies the inhumane treatment of darker-skinned African and South Asian workers. A 2020 UN report [PDF] on racism in Qatar found that foreign workers of all income levels reported that their salaries depended on their countries of origin, and that “despite possessing professional degrees, some migrant workers reported being relegated to low-income jobs most commonly linked to and occupied by workers of their racial or ethnic group.”
Gender-based discrimination is also rampant. Domestic workers, usually women, face the most abuse, including sexual violence. But victims often choose not to report, afraid to upset their sponsors or even be charged with a crime themselves. Certain countries, such as Kuwait and Qatar, have imprisoned female workers for extramarital sex, even in cases of rape. The gendered abuses of the kafala system are especially worrisome given that in some countries, such as Lebanon, women compose the majority of kafala workers.
The kafala, or sponsorship, system gives private citizens and companies in Jordan, Lebanon, and most Arab Gulf countries almost total control over migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.
The system arose from growing demand in Gulf economies for cheap labor, and the desperation of many migrants in search of work and the opportunity to send money home to their families.
The kafala system is a legal framework that has for decades defined the relationship between migrant workers and their employers in Jordan, Lebanon, and all Arab Gulf states but Iraq. It was created to supply cheap, plentiful labor in an era of booming economic growth, and its defenders argue that it benefits local businesses and helps drive development.
Restricted movement and communications. Employers regularly confiscate passports, visas, and phones, and confine domestic workers to their homes. Non-domestic workers often live in overcrowded dorms, which puts them at greater risk of contracting illnesses such as COVID-19. Many lack adequate health care.
orced labor. Experts say deception or coercion by recruiters when enlisting workers can amount to forced labor. Contract substitution is a common tactic in which workers unwittingly accept poor wages and working conditions by signing multiple contracts, some in languages they don’t understand.
Visa trading. Sponsors sometimes illegally sell a worker’s visa to another employer while remaining the official sponsor. The new employer might not keep to the same terms as the original one, requiring different types of work or providing lower wages.
Irregular residency status. Workers depend on sponsors to remain in the country legally because sponsors can invalidate their status for any reason.Irregular residency status. Workers depend on sponsors to remain in the country legally because sponsors can invalidate their status for any reason.
Racism often magnifies the inhumane treatment of darker-skinned African and South Asian workers. A 2020 UN report [PDF] on racism in Qatar found that foreign workers of all income levels reported that their salaries depended on their countries of origin, and that “despite possessing professional degrees, some migrant workers reported being relegated to low-income jobs most commonly linked to and occupied by workers of their racial or ethnic group.”
It is estimated that around 150,000 migrant female workers are employed under this scheme
In 2012, BBC reporter Ben Anderson travelled to Dubai to film a documentary which detailed the plight of foreign workers. In a three-month investigation, Anderson interviewed workers and witnessed the shocking conditions the men were exposed to. He also found the men had been approached by agents in their villages in Bangladesh, telling the men they will be paid $580 a month. But in reality they are paid half that with the agents taking a $4000 cut in the process. Anderson also found the men were then in debt and too poor to return home, with many working 12 hour shifts six days a week. The shocking conditions were further highlighted last March when hundreds of migrant workers staged a protest over pay. Public protests are banned in the UAE, but angry workers defied the law to demand fair pay for their work on the 202ha Fountain Views development site in central Dubai, the BBC reported. One worker told the broadcaster he was paid a monthly salary of just $170, well below what was promised to him.
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