Article

Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab Emirates

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Abstract

The appalling treatment of migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who constitute 80 per cent of the population and 95 per cent of the workforce, has largely escaped international scrutiny. The paper analyses the failure to protect migrant workers' rights in the UAE from a domestic and an international perspective. It outlines the extent of the abuses and demonstrates how the state's weak domestic laws have been further undermined by poor enforcement mechanisms and a lack of political will to address the issue. It examines violations of international human rights law and possible avenues of redress, notably those relating to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1965, one of only three international human rights treaties that the UAE has ratified. Furthermore, the paper will argue that the UAE's exploitation of the relative economic weakness of its South Asian neighbours has led to a situation that can be characterised as bonded labour of migrant workers, a form of slavery as defined under international law. It will be concluded that domestic labour provisions in the UAE will never be sufficient to provide basic rights to migrant workers due to the de facto control of the private sector by the public sector. Therefore, concerted international attention and pressure will be required to improve a situation in which over two million workers live in terrible conditions, wholly at odds with the wealth and luxury of the country they have helped to build.

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... Another possibility is that workers' individual barriers apart from financial cost that prevents them from seeking healthcare. These include obstacles in scheduling, transport, and logistics, cultural and language barriers, health literacy, and coverage awareness [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Given these factors, it is possible that workers are not aware they have treatable conditions, and/ or are hesitant to seek care because they do not understand the resources and health coverage available to them [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. ...
... These include obstacles in scheduling, transport, and logistics, cultural and language barriers, health literacy, and coverage awareness [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Given these factors, it is possible that workers are not aware they have treatable conditions, and/ or are hesitant to seek care because they do not understand the resources and health coverage available to them [23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. They may also perceive low job security and worry that they will be sent back to their country if their employer suspects they have an illness [30]. ...
... They may also perceive low job security and worry that they will be sent back to their country if their employer suspects they have an illness [30]. The results of this study are consistent with the literature that documents lower utilization of healthcare services by migrant workers, but the data cannot confirm whether the reason is better health or worse non-financial obstacles to utilization or both [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. ...
Article
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Background: In 2013, Dubai implemented the Insurance System of Advancing Health in Dubai (ISAHD) law which required mandatory health insurance for all residents of Dubai effective in 2016. This study compares the effect of the ISAHD on the utilization and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures for low and high socio-economic status sub-groups. Methods: The study used the 2014 and 2018 Dubai Household Health Survey (DHHS) a representative survey of Dubai stratified as: 1) Nationals; 2) Non-nationals in households; 3) Non-nationals in collective housing; and 4) Non-nationals in labor camps. The probability that each household would have expenditures was calculated, then multiplied by a weighted estimate of the average total OOP expenditure. Results: Overall Dubai's health spending rose from 12.8 billion AED (3.4 billion US )in2014to16.8billionAED(4.6billionUS) in 2014 to 16.8 billion AED (4.6 billion US ) in 2017. Concurrently, the OOP share in total health spending in Dubai fell from 25% in 2014 to 13% in 2017. From 2014 to 2018, there were increases in the utilization of inpatient, outpatient and discretionary services for all groups except non-nationals living in camps. In 2018, nationals spent a total of 1064.65 AED, non-nationals in households spent 675.01 AED, collective households spent 82.35 AED, and labor camps spent 100.32 AED out-of-pocket per capita for healthcare expenditures. During and after the implementation of ISAHD, there was a substantial growth in the OOP expenditure per capita for nationals and non-nationals in households due to increased utilization. OOP spending did not rise for the lower-income non-National households. Conclusion: Dubai has been successful in reducing the household share of OOP expenditures by shifting the financial burden to government and employers. Emiratis and expatriate households increased their health service utilization after ISAHD but blue-collar workers did not. Remaining non-financial barriers to care for Dubai's blue-collar workers must be identified and addressed.
... As Table 4 shows the most common issues among men were health problems, occupational injuries, and lack of PPEs. Keane and McGeehan (2008) add, that in UAE, employers are obliged to pay two years' salary to the family of a deceased worker in the case of an occupational fatality. ...
... Ibitayo (2011) injuries. Keane and McGeehan (2008) agree that poor housing conditions are linked to illhealth. One labour camp in UAE accommodated 12,000 workers and one room was often shared by 20 workers (Keane and McGeehan, 2008). ...
... Keane and McGeehan (2008) agree that poor housing conditions are linked to illhealth. One labour camp in UAE accommodated 12,000 workers and one room was often shared by 20 workers (Keane and McGeehan, 2008). Lebanon were confused about whether or not payments were eventually deducted from their salaries (Simkhada et al. 2018). ...
Thesis
The Gulf States are one of the greatest labour-receiving countries and the majority of their foreign workforce are low-skilled migrant workers from Asia. Those migrant workers often risk their health while working in low-paid and hazardous industries in order to gain better incomes than they would in their home countries. The literature review revealed exploitative living and working conditions that led to high rates of occupational injuries and deaths and decreased health status during foreign employment. Female migrant workers suffer increased risks of physical and sexual abuse and violence and their freedom of movement was often limited. Many migrant workers resigned because of those reasons and returned home with ill-health conditions and permanent disabilities. Their access to health care in host countries was not always guaranteed and it was usually controlled by employers. The Kafala sponsorship system is applied in all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and it gives the legal responsibility of migrant workers to employers and companies. It has been criticised for failing to protect migrant workers and for allowing employers to take advantage of migrants. Additionally, lack of effective legislation, political will, and monitoring has been acknowledged in the region and it allows the cycle of low-skilled migrant workers exploitation to continue.
... There is always a nexus between forms of crime, crime markets, and specific ethnic or national characteristics. To some extent, crimmigration marks a modern, more critical version of Ianni's (1974) ethnic succession theory of involvement in crime. Crimmigration attempts to develop an explanation based on alienation and denial of full citizenship, but is less fulsome in relation to structural explanations that focus on poverty, discrimination, etc. that this necessarily entails. ...
... It is in the very nature of the mediated contract with the state, one of bonded labour, that most migrant workers are excluded from ever attaining full citizenship, and as Martin (1983) argues, constitutional protection in law depends mostly on an individual's connection or potential connection with the national community. Keane and McGeehan (2008) have outlined the contemporary labour regime in UAE, especially in relation to migrants from the Indian subcontinent.They argue that the state has a vested interest in what we have termed the importation of exploitation, so that the most of the economy is built from cheap, available labour; however the reasons why organised crime and also legitimate businesses both draw on illegal labour are because they can without fear of political or law enforcement interference. In essence, most workers from the Indian subcontinent, and those of other nationalities who occupy the lowest rung of employment are managed by state proxy through labour contracting companies that have effectively imported an existing form of bonded labour from the Indian subcontinent. ...
... Our jumping off point for UAE is that there was never any intention of integrating or encouraging permanent residence for the vast majority of migrants to UAE and that, contrary to expectations, those in the weakest position, ie from the Indian subcontinent, while often being blamed for crime in the popular press, are actually the group least likely to commit crime. This is uniquely at variance with Stumpf's findings for the US and also with the notion of ethnic succession (see Ianni, 1974) since most of those who are excluded will never have the chance to 'succeed', which would suggest that crime should be high among them, and remain so. ...
Article
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The term crimmigration is currently being used by Stumpf as she develops a way of trying to explain the seemingly inevitable link between migrant groups and crime in their country of choice. Crimmigration focuses on the increasing merger of US and European criminal and immigration law. There is always a nexus between forms of crime, crime markets, and specific ethnic or national characteristics. To some extent, crimmigration marks a modern, more critical version of Ianni's (1974) ethnic succession theory of involvement in crime. Crimmigration attempts to develop an explanation based on alienation and denial of full citizenship, but is less fulsome in relation to structural explanations that focus on poverty, discrimination, etc. that this necessarily entails. However, what is striking and radically different about our research findings from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is the extent to which those who are the least privileged and most numerous section of the Dubai population, ie, those from the Indian subcontinent, have the lowest offending rates, despite the focus of police attention on them. The study is based on new official crime data and interviews with key Dubai police officers.
... ISIS has on some occasions shut water to villages, which has included agricultural water and on other occasions flooded agricultural plains in Iraq, thus destroying parts of the agricultural yield. 32 When nontraditional actors such as ISIS gain ground in the region, as they did at a significant pace during 2014, it opens up new security challenges with repercussions on food security. As such, control over primarily dams becomes a potential weapon in the arms of these actors that they seemingly do not shy away from using. ...
... In the basin as a whole around 75 percent of the water is used in the agricultural sector, and in Ethiopia and Egypt, the figure is around 85 percent, while in Sudan it is over 90 percent. 32 This makes those countries very dependent on rainfall (and thereby climate) variability in the basin. The rapid population growth in the basin (not least in Egypt) puts additional pressure on the water resources in the region, both from a food security and energy security perspective. ...
... 31 Oman's total oil production in 2013 was approximately 945,000 barrels per day, but the country is still not an OPEC member. 32 The country has huge oil reserves. Oil accounts for the country's 71 percent of total primary energy production, while the share of natural gas is the rest, around 29 percent. ...
Book
Increasingly the Middle East and its growing population face a highly complex and fragile security system. The rich deposits of natural resources, such as oil and gas, suffer from a strained renewable resource base that includes water and arable land. This leads to water scarcity, desertification, and land degradation. Increasing population, industrialization, and urbanization put more and more demand on the food supply. Energy insecurity may not be generally associated with the Middle East, but the countries in the eastern Mediterranean part have been traditionally vulnerable to it as their fossil fuel endowments have been low. Another issue is the large-scale temporary labor migration and the large number of forced migrants, refugees, and internally displaced persons. The book analyzes these emerging security challenges in a comprehensive and systematic manner. It draws national and regional security issues into both the global security and human security perspectives
... Another possibility is that workers' individual barriers apart from nancial cost that prevents them from seeking healthcare. These include obstacles in scheduling, transport, and logistics, cultural and language barriers, health literacy, and coverage awareness (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29). Given these factors, it is possible that workers are not aware they have treatable conditions, and/or are hesitant to seek care because they do not understand the resources and health coverage available to them (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29). ...
... These include obstacles in scheduling, transport, and logistics, cultural and language barriers, health literacy, and coverage awareness (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29). Given these factors, it is possible that workers are not aware they have treatable conditions, and/or are hesitant to seek care because they do not understand the resources and health coverage available to them (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29). They may also perceive low job security and worry that they will be sent back to their country if their employer suspects they have an illness (30). ...
Preprint
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Background In 2013, Dubai implemented the Insurance System of Advancing Health in Dubai (ISAHD) law which required mandatory health insurance for all residents of Dubai effective in 2016. This study compares the effect of the ISAHD on the utilization and out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures for low and high socio-economic status sub-groups. Methods The study used the 2014 and 2018 Dubai Household Health Survey (DHHS) a representative survey of Dubai stratified as: 1) Nationals; 2) Non-nationals in households; 3) Non-nationals in collective housing; and 4) Non-nationals in labor camps. The probability that each household would have expenditures was calculated, then multiplied by a weighted estimate of the average total OOP expenditure. Results Overall Dubai’s health spending rose from 12.8 billion AED (3.4 billion US )in2014to16.8billionAED(4.6billionUS) in 2014 to 16.8 billion AED (4.6 billion US ) in 2017. Concurrently, the OOP share in total health spending in Dubai fell from 25% in 2014 to 13% in 2017. From 2014 to 2018, there were increases in the utilization of inpatient, outpatient and discretionary services for all groups except non-nationals living in camps. In 2018, nationals spent a total of 1,064.65 AED, non-nationals in households spent 675.01 AED, collective households spent 82.35 AED, and labor camps spent 100.32 AED out-of-pocket per capita for healthcare expenditures. During and after the implementation of ISAHD, there was a substantial growth in the OOP expenditure per capita for nationals and non-nationals in households due to increased utilization. OOP spending did not rise for the lower-income non-National households. Conclusion Dubai has been successful in reducing the household share of OOP expenditures by shifting the financial burden to government and employers. Emiratis and expatriate households increased their health service utilization after ISAHD but blue-collar workers did not. Remaining non-financial barriers to care for Dubai’s blue-collar workers must be identified and addressed.
... Work-related accidents, deaths and suicides are common in the Gulf countries. It is estimated that two Asians die per day on the Dubai construction sites and one case of suicide occurs every four days 39 ...
... During the same period, the total number of deaths of Nepalese migrants in UAE was 30, but in 2005 just one construction-related death was reported. Again, during 2005, the Embassy of Nepal in UAE reported the deaths (cardiac arrests) of 13 immigrants, seven suicides, seven fatal road accidents and two deaths of unknown causes39 .Anecdotal evidence has suggested that the reason for the high mortality rates of Nepalese workers is because of excessive intake of home made alcohol and the risky nature of many jobs. The most recent study about Nepalese migrants in the Middle East has found that many Nepalese have been working in risky occupations (e.g. ...
... As a result, the general sentiment toward police officers became defined by the reported experiences of expatriates who currently make up the majority of the UAE population. Non-citizens, who mostly comprise migrant workers, endure bias as police officers abuse their power in these interactions (Keane & McGeehan, 2008). As in many other contexts throughout the world, racial and ethnic difference is a factor that also affects the police-civilian dynamic in the UAE. ...
... Relatedly, 56% of surveyed Arab expatriates in the emirate of Sharjah expressed fear of being arrested based on race or ethnicity, and even being deported from the country (Abdel Muttaleb, 2007). UAE citizens, or Emarti people, are given preferential treatment, hold more influence in the legal system (police and judiciary), and are perceived more favorably by law enforcement (Keane & McGeehan, 2008). ...
Article
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This study investigates the impact of perceived police accommodation on police–civilian interactions. Elaborating theoretically beyond a range of cross-cultural studies, we examine the cultural impact of accommodative communication in the United Arab Emirates and the USA, as the prior context demonstrates sociocultural parallels and differences including the influence of Sharia law. Between-country comparisons evaluate the mediating role of trust, affect, and intergroup orientation on various civic outcomes. Accommodative communication was the strongest predictor of trust for both nations and demonstrated a direct impact on moral alignment and willingness to help only in the United Arab Emirates.
... Workers in the UAE, whether national or foreign, do not have the rights to form unions or the rights to strike. Nor is there an explicit wage protection policy, such as minimum wages, for foreign workers in the country (Keane and McGeehan, 2008). ...
... From the host countries' point of view, the large inflows of foreign workers disrupt the demographic balance of the local population, post potential hazard to national security, threaten national culture and identity, and put stresses on public services and infrastructure (Kapiszewski, 2006;Louer, 2008). From labors and labor-sending countries' point of view, labor migration generates income for workers and their families, reduces unemployment at home, and increases foreign currency remittance to the home countries, but lack of protection of workers' rights overseas often causes concerns (Agenor et al., 2007;Keane and McGeehan, 2008). Despite efforts to improve labor protection standards, the labor laws in Gulf States have been criticized by international labor organizations for being inadequate and poorly enforced (Ahn, 2004;McLaurin, 2008;Arif, 2009). ...
Article
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The rapid increases in the international migratory flows of workers are poised to play an important part in reducing global inequalities by shortening the gaps in salaries and incomes of comparable workers from different countries. This paper presents a different case in which a workforce comprising almost entirely of migrant workers in the private sector has maintained the high wage inequalities. Using labor records in the United Arab Emirates, we find that labor force diversity in the UAE comes at a price of high wage inequalities, and that a labor market full of migrant workers is unable to reduce inequalities on its own.
... Despite the fact that Codes are yet to be drafted into law on a former level, it suggests that individuals are playing their part in making incremental improvements in this matter. However, owing to the discrepancy in H&S norms between the government and several stakeholders operating in the sector, there is a consensus that the time has come to specify a comprehensive set of legally enforceable provisions nationwide (McGeehan & Keane, 2008). ...
... Despite the fact that Codes are yet to be drafted into law on a former level, it suggests that individuals are playing their part in making incremental improvements in this matter. However, owing to the discrepancy in H&S norms between the government and several stakeholders operating in the sector, there is a consensus that the time has come to specify a comprehensive set of legally enforceable provisions nationwide (McGeehan & Keane, 2008). ...
Conference Paper
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Safety needs to be a visceral element of construction processes in order for them to succeed. In that context, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) makes use of Estidama as a tool for building design so as to measure practices relating to sustainable building via its Pearl Rating System. To that end, in essence, it shares some similarities with UK BREEAM measures. Against this backdrop, the current research will evaluate the potential for using Estidama as a tool for implementing systems with a view to track construction workers’ health and safety (H&S). It has been pointed out that there needs to be greater appraisal when it comes to these systems within GCC nations and, on a larger level, draw linkages between cultural, socioeconomic, institutional, environments, political, and safety-related elements across construction sites owing to poor levels of understanding. Notably, meaningful comparisons of H&S statistical data could help drive enhanced performance; however, greater degrees of transparency must be ensured and the ability to secure valid information. A systematic literature forms the cornerstone of this research, and exploratory interviews are then undertaken with UAE-based construction professional staff. According to the findings, a lot of work needs to be done in order to enhance H&S performance. Governments need to demonstrate greater commitment towards enforcement, whereas the perception of legislation leaves a lot to be desired. Put simply, the prospect of implementing tools such as Estidama is not impervious to challenge. In a similar vein, questions must be asked about implementing H&S regulations with building green …
... It gives sponsors the possibility to control a foreign worker's entry into and departure from the country as well as their legal and professional status (Castles and Miller 2009). This has put the kafala system under scrutiny for being exploitative (Keane and McGeehan, 2008). ...
Article
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The UAE is not a signatory to the the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. As such, it does not recognize individuals fleeing war or persecution as refugees. Instead, the UAE has allowed for the presence of Syrians and other vulnerable populations within its existing migration framework, the kafala system, using the temporary visas offered under this labour migration system as ‘an asylum policy by proxy’ or ‘quasi-asylum policy’. Despite this restrictive local response, the UAE is extremely generous internationally. The contradictory nature of the UAE’s response will be highlighted, where on one hand, it restricts admissions, yet on the other, it has been generous in terms of international aid to the Syrian crisis—the UAE’s version of the grand compromise. This research ultimately aims to understand how the UAE’s policy of ‘migrants’ (referring to temporary labour admissions), not ‘refugees’, and its ‘quasi-asylum policy’ has impacted the lived experience of a group of vulnerable Syrian families in Abu Dhabi.
... Despite the fact that Codes are yet to be drafted into law on a former level, it suggests that individuals are playing their part in making incremental improvements in this matter. However, owing to the discrepancy in H&S norms between the government and several stakeholders operating in the sector, there is a consensus that the time has come to specify a comprehensive set of legally enforceable provisions nationwide (McGeehan & Keane, 2008). ...
Conference Paper
The study aims to understand the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP) group savings scheme model for self-help housing and how it can be used for the promotion of sustainable human settlements. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate this model, whether or not it could be replicated in the central region of South Africa as well as to devise a policy framework in order for the model to be used for housing consolidation in South Africa. The study will use the qualitative research approach for data collection, analysis and presentation. The data collection techniques include semi-structured interviews, structured observations, and focus groups. The study will have a positive social impact by demonstrating how self-help housing can assist in enhancing the current unsustainable government system of low-cost housing provision, through community participation in the housing development process and production of an arguably better housing product. It also has the potential to make contemporary contributions to the public housing policy framework in South Africa.
... This is the lowest rate globally. Most female expatriate workers are engaged in non-professional and semi-skilled jobs (Keane & McGeehan, 2008;Malecki & Ewers, 2007). There are many social scientists like Shaffer and Joplin (2001) who loathed that only a little attention was given to this area of research. ...
Article
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Work-life-balance and expatriation are phenomena that have evinced keen interest among Social scientists. Though the two topics have been researched separately, studies that examine the relationship between the two are scarce. Further, there are far less studies that have examined these among women employees. The present work intends to fill this gap in the literature. Using a randomly collected sample of 201 female employees from India and the Middle East, the study examined the difference in work-life balance between them. The study has brought out some interesting results, which will be of high utility to social scientists and researchers. It has been found that female Indian employees enjoy better work-life balance than expatriates.
... Additionally, the UAE's exploitation of the relative economic weakness of its South Asian neighbours has led to a situation that can be characterised as bonded labour of migrant workers, a form of slavery as defined under international law. (Keane, 2008) 19 ...
Book
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The man-made peninsula Palm Jumeirah on the coast of Dubai is a project of superlatives and an exemplary model for the gated communities and resorts that have developed worldwide in property bubbles. The development may be spectacular, but cannot conceal the fact that the former marketing success story is faced with serious problems. How can an isolated anti-urban exclave be opened up and integrated? Can issues concerning networking, the public sphere and affordable housing, as well as climate change adaptation, biodiversity and the supply of energy be resolved through targeted tactical interventions? The Charter of Dubai is a manifesto of critical urban transformation. It subversively encourages the conversion of isolated quarters into a socially and ecologically open urban space. The detailed catalogue of the individual measures, richly illustrated with clear sketches and references, make the Charter a handbook for urban transformation that takes account of the social and the ecological. With a foreword by Philipp Misselwitz, an essay by Kees Christiaanse and an interview with the planners of the Palm Jumeirah.
... People reporting their work environment as poor and those perceiving health risks at work were more likely to report mental health complications. Previous studies corroborate these findings that migrant workers are likely to experience mental disorders because of poor living and working conditions (Adhikary et al., 2011;Joshi et al., 2011;Keane and McGeehan, 2008). Poor working environments include factors such as low social support at work, long working hours and low wagesall leading causes of mental illness reported in a series of non-migrant studies (Artazcoz et al., 2009;Vail et al., 2011). ...
... The Arab Gulf States 1 in the Middle East are the largest destinations for Bangladeshi migrant workers. Various studies and reports show that many migrant workers in the Gulf States experience labor exploitation (Amnesty International, 2016;Auwal, 2010;Harroff-Tavel & Nasri, 2013;Human Rights Watch, 2016Keane & McGeehan, 2008;Sönmez et al., 2011;Tock, 2010). Some studies also indicate that the recruitment process is usually complex and may often create harmful situations for the workers during the recruitment, and later, during employment (Afsar, 2009;Jureidini, 2014;Rahman, 2012). ...
Article
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This paper looks at the recruitment process of Bangladeshi migrant workers for employment in the Gulf States through the legal framework of human trafficking. The migrant workers are recruited through a complex process by various recruitment actors which include private recruitment agents, brokers, and social networks. This paper argues that because of harmful recruitment practices, many Bangladeshi workers are often deceived and become victims of human trafficking for labor exploitation under the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act, 2012 of Bangladesh as well as the United Nations Trafficking Protocol. Some recruitment actors in Bangladesh deceive the prospective workers during recruitment for the purpose of exploitation or with the knowledge that the workers would face exploitative consequences. The study is significant in several respects; first, it links the recruitment process of migrant workers in the origin state with human trafficking though it is commonly associated with exploitation in the destination. Second, it reveals the prevalence of the crime in apparently regular/legal migration channel where potential victims go through formal procedures. Finally, and most importantly, it contributes to the legal analysis of mens rea element which is a crucial factor in establishing human trafficking as a criminal offence.
... People reporting their work environment as poor and those perceiving health risks at work were more likely to report mental health complications. Previous studies corroborate these findings that migrant workers are likely to experience mental disorders because of poor living and working conditions (Adhikary et al., 2011;Joshi et al., 2011;Keane and McGeehan, 2008). Poor working environments include factors such as low social support at work, long working hours and low wagesall leading causes of mental illness reported in a series of non-migrant studies (Artazcoz et al., 2009;Vail et al., 2011). ...
Article
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Purpose Although South Asia is a growing supplier of migrant labour, there is a paucity of research on the health and well-being of male Nepalese migrant workers. The purpose of this paper is to assess the health and mental well-being of Nepalese construction and factory workers employed in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire administered, in and around Nepal’s international airport, to 403 migrants who had worked for over six months in their host countries. Logistic regression was used to investigate factors associated with self-reported health status and mental health symptoms. Findings Over 13 per cent reported poor or very poor health and nearly a quarter reported mental health issues. Whilst age and exercise were significantly associated with health status, poor work environments and perceived health risks were associated with both mental health issues and health status. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to males only and those working in the factories and the construction industry. To improve migrant health and mental well-being, Nepalese and host governments should consider mandatory health insurance and a range of pre-departure and arrival education around general literacy, mental health assessments and workplace health and safety. Originality/value There have been no known studies on the health and well-being of Nepalese migrant construction and factory workers in the Middle East and Malaysia. The strong association between self-reported poor health and perceived work environment is an important issue that policy makers in Nepal and destination countries should address.
... Published studies indicate that migrant workers worldwide face risks of workplace accidents and other lifestyle-related risks, such as the use of tobacco and alcohol (7,12). This wider literature also shows that construction and manufacturing industries are among the most dangerous sectors to work-in globally (13,14). ...
Article
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p>Background: Nepal is a growing supplier of migrant labour for factories in Malaysia and building sites in the Middle East. This study assessed the extent of workplace accidents among Nepalese migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Methododology: A questionnaire survey was conducted at Nepal’s main international airport with men who returned from working in Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was completed by 403 migrant workers from these three countries. Where possible the questionnaire was self-administered and interview-administered for those migrant workers with poor literacy skills. A logistic regression was conducted to identify factors associated with accidents at work and health risks perceived by migrant workers themselves. Results: One in six (17%) experienced accidents at work in their host country. This proportion is lower than that reported in previous studies of Nepali migrant workers. Age, country of work, doctor registration and perceived standard of work environment and accommodation are significantly associated with accidents at work. Conclusion: To help improve Nepalese men’s health and well-being whilst working abroad, host countries and the Government of Nepal should ensure that migrants hold health insurance. Mandatory pre-departure and arrival health and safety training is also recommended as a way to reduce risks to the health of migrant workers.</p
... Female expatriate workers in the middle-east constitute less than 30 percent of the expatriate workforce, which is the lowest participation rate globally (Dito, 2008). The majority of female expatriates is engaged in non-professional and semi-skilled jobs (Keane and McGeehan, 2008;Malecki & Ewers 2007). ...
Article
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Factors influencing work-life balance are evolving at a very fast pace, thus creating a fecund ground for innovative work-life balance tools and techniques. The increasing significance of expatriates in the global workforce necessitates a targeted set of work-life balance initiatives to help expatriate workers contribute more effectively in the competitive work environment. Health and recreation are the two important life spheres which play a very important role in success or failure of an expatriate assignment. While work-life balance researches are being conducted globally in plenty, yet research on expatriate adjustment and expatriate work-life balance is still in its nascent stage especially in an expatriate dominated work environment in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This research paper investigates the health and recreation spheres of expatriate academicians working in private higher education institutes in Bahrain, Oman and the UAE. The research paper illustrates and evaluates the health and recreation spheres in relation to the demographic factors of the respondents and suggests ways to improve work-life balance of expatriate employees.
... Female expatriate workers in the middle-east constitute less than 30 percent of the expatriate workforce, which is the lowest participation rate globally (Dito, 2008). The majority of female expatriates is engaged in non-professional and semi-skilled jobs (Keane and McGeehan, 2008;Malecki & Ewers 2007). ...
Article
Full-text available
Factors influencing work-life balance are evolving at a very fast pace, thus creating a fecund ground for innovative work-life balance tools and techniques. The increasing significance of expatriates in the global workforce necessitates a targeted set of work-life balance initiatives to help expatriate workers contribute more effectively in the competitive work environment. Health and recreation are the two important life spheres which play a very important role in success or failure of an expatriate assignment. While work-life balance researches are being conducted globally in plenty, yet research on expatriate adjustment and expatriate work-life balance is still in its nascent stage especially in an expatriate dominated work environment in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This research paper investigates the health and recreation spheres of expatriate academicians working in private higher education institutes in Bahrain, Oman and the UAE. The research paper illustrates and evaluates the health and recreation spheres in relation to the demographic factors of the respondents and suggests ways to improve work-life balance of expatriate employees.
... The paper will discuss the feasibility and business mode of the proposed prefab accommodation system, with regard to cost and management, as well as the prospects of its popularization. It is suggested that this business mode is promoted in regions where there are large numbers of migrant construction workers, such as India (rural-urban workers) (Adsul et al. 2011;Pattanaik 2009), the Middle East (Asian workers) (Keane and McGeehan 2008;Zachariah et al. 2003), Europe (workers from east to west) (Meardi et al. 2012), the United States (Mexican workers) (Iskander and Lowe 2013), etc. ...
Article
Serious labor shortages in the construction industry have emerged in China in recent years. This has led to a significant need for the industry to improve the poor accommodations and inferior conditions of living quarters for migrant workers by applying both technical and management methods. In order to address the problem of improving the accommodations for rural migrant construction workers in urban China, this paper uses modular construction technology to develop an innovative integrated prefabricated (prefab) accommodation system for construction workers on site. The current status of the traditional construction workers' quarters is investigated to reveal the most urgent problems in terms of health, safety, and environmental considerations. By analyzing barriers that block innovation to improved workers' quarters, the integrated prefab accommodation system is proposed in detail, with the quarters' design and operational management mode taken into account. The developed system can provide more comfortable accommodations and living conditions for migrant on-site workers, with a lower residential density and a cleaner, safer, and higher-quality lifestyle. A case study of a real-world pilot project in China is studied to validate the economic feasibility and applicability of the innovative integrated prefab quarters system. Results indicate that migrant workers should only pay about 2–3 Yuan per day, which is 1–1.5% of their daily income, for the use of the integrated prefab quarter system. The developed system provides a novel construction management mode for practitioners in the industry and can further increase the productivity of a project due to reduced physical and mental health problems of migrant workers. It is suggested that the developed system and the business mode are promoted in regions where there are large numbers of migrant construction workers.
... It is this phenomenon of sharp price fluctuations of food that is a concern to planners for food security especially in food importing countries. (Keane and McGeehan, 2008). This paper will attempt to analyze the factors affecting the increase in prices on the diverse population groups in the UAE. ...
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According to recent statistics, the prices have increased about 14% in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This increase in prices has affected the UAE diverse population differently. The main objective of this study was to analyze the perception of UAE household and to assess the economic and social impacts of increases in prices. The results showed that about half of the respondents do not have enough income to meet their daily needs. Majority of the respondents were affected severely with the recent increase in prices. The increase was much higher for rent, food, education and healthcare. Ordered Probit regression model was used to determine the factors affecting severity of increase in prices. The regression results showed that the effect of high prices varied among groups based on their age, ethnicity, gender, educational level and income. The paper provides useful information to policy makers in order to understand the impacts and design programs to deal with increase in prices.
... The ambitious "development path" in the GCC6 requires manpower and skills unavailable locally in the necessary quantity and quality, and leads to the "sponsorship" of foreign workers, effectively creating a system in which income is derived from citizenship, not merit (Forstenlechner and Rutledge 2011;Hvidt 2011). Thus, liberal immigration policies and lax enforcement of labor regulation (Keane and McGeehan 2008) in the GCC remain key pillars of the "social contract" between the governments and the national businesses, creating access to the rentier income for the latter, resulting in an unwanted quantity and quality of workforce (Forstenlechner and Rutledge 2010). "The ruling bargain" in the GCC6 has been the states' provision of a relaxed life, but with complete political control. ...
Article
This article analyzes the antecedents and outcomes of the expatriate labor force that comprises about 60% of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) workforce. It shows that the GCC governments' policies have been manipulated to create unsustainable (unskilled) labor-intensive economies marginalizing the citizens. The discussion concludes that the GCC workforce localization programs should aim not for full native employment through complementarity or substitutability of jobs, but rather to correct the unsustainable demographic imbalance, to reclaim the economy, culture, entitlement, tradition, and values through complementary economic programming, and to rationalize the work and regionalize the workforce. The article ends with some strategic actions for the labor-exporting countries in Asia, such as the export of “value-added” human capital instead of raw human resources. These actions are likely to serve the twin purposes of increasing the bargaining power of the labor-exporting countries and protecting the migrant workers’ rights in order to stabilize the international labor market for both parties. Using a political economy approach, the article uses information and data from the World Bank, other recent studies, direct observation, and discussions in the region.
... The large number of domestic workers in the Middle East and the Arab Gulf is alarming (Shah, Badr & Shah, 2012;Keane & McGeehan, 2008). Domestic servants are brought into family homes in positions that require minimal skills (IOM, 2010). ...
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Many domestic servants live and work in Qatar. The domestic servants are asked to care for children in addition to the house work. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between domestic servants and children in Qatari homes and the mediation of this relationship by negative parenting styles. A set of questions was developed along three main themes: the affiliation of children to domestic servants, fear and anxiety and sharing of personal matters. Based on factor analysis, a measure of closeness of children to domestic servants was created. A set of endogenous and exogenous variables was used to predict this measured relation using a stepwise regression equation. The endogenous variables measured the parenting styles as perceived by the children. The exogenous variables measured the background information of the domestic servants. The main predictive variables were parents demeaning of children by their parents and the mother’s lack of attention or presence as perceived by the children. The main exogenous variables of knowledge of language and years of employment were also strong predictors because the domestic servants may have worked a number of years in the homes, which made the children more easily attracted to the servants. Further studies must begin to address the impact of parenting on children’s behavior. The pressures of home and child care have led to a number of suicides and psychological and traumatic experiences of exploitation and abuse among domestic servants. Policy makers must begin to address family management and family support issues and rights of domestic servants in custodial setting. Any future studies should address the conditions of domestic servants and children, those affected the most.
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As of September 2023, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) hosts one million displaced people, including refugees from Syria, Iran, Türkiye, and Palestine, as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs) from elsewhere in Iraq. Syrian refugee numbers in the KRI have surged to more than 260,000, constituting 97% of all Syrians currently residing in Iraq (UNHCR Iraq Factsheet 2023). Additionally, some 40,000 non-Syrian refugees and asylum seekers have registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR) in Iraq. Of these, the KRI hosts 7,860 from Türkiye, 8,241 from Iran, and 615 from Palestine (Joint Crisis Coordination Centre 2023). The KRI also hosts approximately 700,000 Iraqi IDPs who have fled territories occupied by the Islamic State (ISIS) since 2014. Counted together, refugees and IDPs account for a 12% increase in the KRI’s population. Recent statistics (Joint Crisis Coordination Centre 2023) indicate that 1 in 5 people in the KRI was a refugee or IDP, a ratio higher than in Lebanon (1 in 6), Jordan (1 in 11), and Türkiye (1 in 28) (extracted from UNHCR’s Global Trends data). Often, the density of displaced people within the host community of KRI is obscured when statistics provided by the United Nations and other humanitarian actors are given for the whole of Iraq (where displaced people represent less than one in every 33 people). Displacement is also highly visible within the landscape of the Kurdistan Region, with a total of 35 official camps for refugees and IDPs and many informal settlements in addition to urban displaced people (UNHCR 2020). While it has been noted that the authorities in refugee rentier states sometimes “adopt policies that extract revenue from other state or non-state actors in exchange for retaining refugee groups within [their] borders” (Tsourapas 2019), such dynamics still need to be explored for authorities associated with non-state and/or sub-state entities. The question of how this situation plays out in the context of the autonomous KRI, where the vast majority of Iraq’s refugees are to be found, leads us to reflect on: i) the relationship between humanitarian operations and the ability of de facto states or state-like governance systems to secure their own funding streams that circumvent the central state, and ii) the utility of humanitarian programming for displaced populations (both refugees and IDPs) within the politics of legitimacy for aspirant states. Indeed, analysis of these dynamics became all the more pressing in the context of, and subsequent backlash to, the 2017 independence referendum called by the leadership of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Adding to the emerging body of work on refugee rentierism, we also consider the parallel case of “IDP rentierism” (a new contribution to the literature) in the context of the mass internal displacement crisis caused by the 2014 ISIS occupation of significant swathes of Iraqi territory. This paper’s core research questions consider how the KRI authorities have instrumentalized the presence of refugees and IDPs, and assistance programs responding to their needs, in the pursuit of both financial independence and political legitimacy. Broadly drawing on reflections about refugee rent-seeking strategies (Lynch and Tsourapas 2024), we seek to map out the systematic steps taken by the KRI authorities to benefit from hosting refugeesand IDPs in the Kurdistan Region. With this in mind, we consider: i) how the KRI authorities have sought, and continue to pressure the international community to provide, humanitarian funding to fill their resources gap when hosting large numbers of refugees and IDPs in the post-ISIS context (especially when the KRI struggles to provide employment opportunities for its own, often disgruntled, youth population, many of whom are considering migrating out of Iraq); ii) how, in parallel, the KRI, like many MENA countries, has used the employment sponsorship (Kafala) system to generate a secondary income from refugees; iii) how the KRI has attempted to use “hospitality” for refugees and IDPs to gain legitimacy for its statehood aspirations, with refugees and their electoral votes being used to obtain greater representation in parliament and a larger budget from Iraq’s federal government; and iv) how the dynamics of earmarked funding has also created a hierarchy among refugees, for example by prioritizing Syrian over Iranian and Turkish refugees because of donor attention to their plight, further marginalizing the latter through processes that we elsewhere label as the “othering” of certain refugees (Yassen et al. forthcoming). This paper contains a review of the available data from the KRG, including from the Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC), which is the governmental entity responsible for humanitarian affairs and displacement policy under the KRG’s Ministry of Interior. We also studied media and financial reports produced by the KRG and donor agencies with a view to understanding the motivations behind programmatic and funding decisions. This methodology is complemented by semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and individuals affected by funding and political contestation. We combined interviews with desk research to improve our understanding of the complex legal framework and procedures in place.
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Perceived ethnic discrimination is known to be associated with anxiety and depression, and in turn, anxiety and depression are known to be associated with nightmare frequency and distress. This elicits a question: is perceived ethnic discrimination associated with nightmare frequency and distress? In this study, 179 female university students from the United Arab Emirates were assessed to answer that question. Results showed that while anxiety and depression were related to nightmare experiences, perceived ethnic discrimination was a stronger predictor of nightmare experiences. We posit two explanations for this finding: one based on psychoanalytical insights, and the other based on the Disposition–Stress model with neurobiological correlates. No significant differences were found across ethnicity when it comes to nightmare experiences or perceived ethnic discrimination. This is an encouraging sign of optimal societal integration in the United Arab Emirates.
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Abu Dhabi and Dubaï, the two largest cities in the United Arab Emirates, epitomize the otherness as an urban issue, and the tension between inclusion and exclusion of minorities. On one hand, foreigners – mostly low skilled workers- account for nearly 90 percent of the population and are officially prevented from accessing citizenship or political participation. On the other hand, the country has been striving to present itself as « tolerant » over the last decades, in terms of non-discrimination against ethnic, religious or national communities. The article explores how the vague and abstract concept of tolerance is translated into urban policy, more particularly in terms of compliance with the « inclusive city » model, which is supposed to be more precise and operational. In addition to a conceptual analysis, the article discusses the empirical outcomes of a three years fieldwork, focusing more particularly on the case of South-Asian low skilled workers within Abu Dhabi’s public spaces. Based on the analysis of how they access and use these spaces and interact with other users, the paper discusses the image of a tolerant city, and highlights how these categories of habitants tend to be excluded and relegated by specific temporalities, social norms and regulations of uses on a micro-scale. The urban translation of the concept of tolerance can eventually be analyzed as fragile, by occuring informally and temporarily, and incomplete, being far from encapsulating the whole meaning of the notion.
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In an attempt to discuss neoliberalism with a reference to new institutional economics, this chapter problematizes the role of formal institutions in the neoliberal age by focusing on a specific type of formal institution, namely property rights in developing countries. New institutional economics (NIE) argues that secure property rights are important as they guarantee investments and thus, promote economic growth. This chapter discusses why the protection of property rights is weak and ineffective in certain developing countries despite their endorsement of neoliberalism by shedding light on the link between the institutional structure of the state and neoliberalism in the developing world. With the political economy perspective, the chapter aims to build a bridge between NIE and political economy, and thereby providing fertile ground for the advancement of NIE.
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This paper examines the future roles and determinants of foreign domestic workers living in United Arab Emirates (UAE) society as well as the implications of their work on local Emirati families. Using in-depth interviews with 30 local employers in the UAE, we argue that the structural dependency on domestic workers (henceforward referred to as “khadama dependency syndrome”) will not only intensify due to complex micro- and macro-level factors, but also transform into a long-term dependency, given the changing demographic and family structures in the context of rapid globalization. This empirical study situates the perceptions of local UAE families on the determinants of foreign domestic work, and their complex and multiple effects on UAE society, culture, and economy. The study also conceptually examines the globalizing effects of long-term structural dependency on foreign domestic workers.
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At present human resource is being trafficked by luring in the world instead of using as a resource. This heinous crime and social scar have become a global concern recently. The uneducated and innocent feeble people are illegally immigrated seeking a better future abroad but they are abused. Data have been collected from primary and secondary sources by questionnaire and interview method. The development of any country depends on the development of human resource. But today the traffickers consider human trafficking as a profitable industry. They target some illiterate workers and take them abroad by promising lucrative job as well as an attractive salary that dreams the workers standard life leading opportunity. But the workers are not given the promised job abroad. They are used as a slave, forced or bonded labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Even the workers often face isolation, sexual abuse, fear, rape that can be caused by death. But if this human resource is used properly instead of abuse, they will be a great resource for any country.
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Despite the large benefits to guest workers from poor countries in rich countries, agencies charged with global poverty reduction do little to facilitate guest work. This may be because guest work is viewed as a repugnant transaction-one whose harmful side effects might cause third parties to discourage it. This paper sets out six criteria for a transaction to be repugnant in consequentialist terms and uses the criteria to formulate several uncommon empirical tests for the repugnance of guest work by Indian construction workers in the United Arab Emirates. It separates the effects of guest work from its correlates using a natural experiment that quasi-exogenously allocates guest work among a group of several thousand job applicants. The effects offer little evidence that guest work in this setting is typically the cause of repugnant consequences.
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The Gulf region has emerged as one of the largest hubs of international migration and more recently has also become a site of contestation for debates over the treatment of international labour migrants. This paper reviews the labour migration system in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, studies the unfolding human rights discourse on Gulf migration, and examines how Islamic principles might be applied to the labour reforms taking place in these countries. The paper suggests that there is a fragmented landscape around the human rights discourse of migrant workers globally. There are also tensions around the adoption of international human rights norms as a framework for addressing the vulnerabilities of Gulf migrants. In conclusion, the paper argues that the category of current Gulf labour migrant is best served if placed within the Islamic view of how an ethical economy ought to function. Islamic precepts on the ‘humane’ economy can serve to provide guidance on how to balance the interests of workers and employers, and elevate the standards for migrant workers’ rights in this region.
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Hostile environments pose a distinct threat to international organizations and their staff and yet they are under researched within the literature on IHRM. Localization of staff may present a means to manage some of the risks and also to provide the resources needed to achieve competitive advantage. Drawing on the resource-based view and institutional theory, we explored resource- and capability-based and institutional influences in relation to the decision of whether to localize professional staff in a hostile environment (Afghanistan). Using in-depth semi-structured interviews with representatives from four organizations in Afghanistan, our investigation identified new influences on localization at the societal and organizational level. These include ongoing security issues as well as influences on localization such as corruption, impartiality and the need for outside experiences as well as perspectives not identified in previous work. In addition, we emphasize the importance of both picking appropriate valuable local human resources and using appropriate internal capabilities to develop and deploy them in such a way to build firm-specific assets which are also rare, inimitable and non-substitutable, thus leading to sustainable competitive advantage.
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The term “guest workers” refers to foreign migrant workers, admitted for the purpose of seasonal or temporary low-skilled work to fill a temporary labor need. The concept is most commonly associated with systems of temporary labor recruitment in postwar Western Europe. Even though it is considered the archetype of guest-worker programs, the temporary recruitment of foreign labor and the problems associated with it are in no way unique to Western Europe. Similar schemes have been applied and are still in place in other regions of the world, such as North America and the Gulf States. Guest-worker programs have been found to lead to short-term economic benefits but to be problematic in the long term when they evolve into a resident-worker program. They are likely to produce discrimination against migrant workers and to exacerbate the employment problems of minorities of the resident native population (Martin & Miller 1980). Moreover, there have been human rights concerns associated with the often limited number of rights of low-skilled migrant workers. In particular, there appears to be a trade-off between the number of migrants and the number of rights in a given country (Ruhs & Martin 2008).
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OPEN ACCESS: https://journals.openedition.org/cy/3150 Cet article explore la gestion des migrations dans les monarchies du Golfe depuis les annees 1930. Il decrit les dynamiques d’importation de main d’œuvre et les politiques d’immigration en soulignant la nature hybride et transnationale de la gestion des migrations. Les flux migratoires et les vies des migrants sont en effet structures par les acteurs et des institutions publiques et privees qui operent entre les pays d’origine et d’accueil des migrants. Le transnational dans cet article est entendu au sens de la politique transnationale des migrations et non au sens du transnationalisme des migrants. L’article decrit donc les strategies politiques des Etats a l’echelle nationale et internationale (diplomatique) ainsi que l’ensemble des acteurs prives, notamment les entreprises petrolieres qui ont contribue a structurer a la fois les flux migratoires et la vie des migrants dans les monarchies du Golfe au cours du xxe siecle. A partir de cette description, on se propose de conceptualiser la gestion des migrations comme relevant d’un transnationalisme illiberal.
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How migrant worker grievances transform into different forms of contention is a matter of contextual contingency. Comparative studies of the contentious politics of Chinese construction workers in Singapore, strikes among South Asian construction workers in Dubai and migrant domestic worker (MDW) advocacy in Asia reveal that migrant labour politics are shaped by how production politics articulate with modes of political participation within the specific context. The nature of and outcomes from production politics in the workplace significantly impact the extent to which migrant labour regimes can be contested. Certain outcomes of production politics allow workers and civil society groups to carve out new modes of participation that are autonomous from the state. State actors respond by either repressing these new spaces or creating alternative state-sponsored ones where reforms are enacted.
Article
In this article I examine why Kuwait and other migrant-receiving countries in the Persian Gulf have failed to enfranchise migrant workers and their descendants through citizenship. I contend that the increasing exclusion of expatriate workers from these societies can be understood in comparison with the disenfranchisement of the stateless populations to which these governments are host. I argue that nationalist narratives that portray these groups as threatening to the host societies have been extremely significant in creating an atmosphere of increasing isolation and exclusion for both expatriates and stateless peoples. I conclude by examining what the Kuwaiti case tells us about how notions of membership and belonging develop and the significant role of historic and political circumstances in shaping these notions.
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Migrant workers have lived in the Arabian Peninsula for more than two centuries. Starting in the 1970s, however, the dynamics of migration flows to the Persian Gulf region took a new twist with the rise in oil prices and the development boom in the region’s newly independent countries. These changing dynamics were most notable in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).1 In 1968, the population of the UAE was 180,000, of which two-thirds were nationals and one-third migrants.2 By 2005, the UAE’s population had risen to 4.1 million, of which about 80 percent were migrants.3 The changing dynamics of migration flows to the region have triggered a debate over labor conditions and practices that violate the rights of migrant workers and subject them to modern day exploitation and abuse.
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Esther was an Ethiopian domestic worker for an Emirati family in Dubai, one of many African women for whom migration to the Gulf was a viable livelihood strategy. She was in her early twenties, and was nursing her baby boy, Ibrahim, when I first met her at a social worker’s flat. Soon after I met them, Esther and her son would return to an uncertain reception from her family in Addis Ababa. Esther was forced to leave the UAE as she had become pregnant — a situation that typically results in the deportation of domestic workers. Under their terms of employment, childbearing is conceived of as illegitimate, and in breach of contractual obligations as workers in the emirate.
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In less than two decades, Dubai has transformed itself from an obscure Gulf Emirate into a global center for business, tourism, and luxury living. It is a fascinating case study in light-speed urban development, hyperconsumerism, massive immigration, and vertiginous inequality. Its rulers have succeeded in making Dubai into a worldwide brand, publicizing its astonishing hotels and leisure opportunities while at the same time successfully downplaying its complex policies towards guest workers and suppression of dissent. In this enormously readable book, Syed Ali delves beneath the dazzling surface to analyze how-and at what cost-Dubai has achieved such success. Ali brings alive a society rigidly divided between expatriate Westerners living self-indulgent lifestyles on short-term work visas, native Emiratis who are largely passive observers and beneficiaries of what Dubai has become, and workers from the developing world who provide the manual labor and domestic service needed to keep the Emirate running, often at great personal cost.
Article
In the UK we have a highly regulated construction industry to ensure health, safety and welfare of individuals in the workplace. Yet we still have an unacceptable number of fatalities and accidents. The expectation of professionals when they work abroad is that if the industry is not as regulated then it is not adequate. The research aim was to assess the health, safety and welfare in the construction industry within the United Arab Emirates and explore whether the current provision was adequate following on from the recent construction boom experienced in the region. An online questionnaire survey was carried out with construction professionals with experience of working in the UAE. The sample set produced 101 respondents, from 18 different countries, which provided a wide range of perceptions within the resulting data. The findings from the research provided evidence of a clear division emerging between European participants and respondents from other nations on how they perceived the observed standards within the UAE. The main conclusion drawn from the study is that cultural differences do affect how people perceive health, safety and welfare standards, as they judge what they see from what they are used to in their respective home countries.
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This project focuses on the energy-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) whose food staples are at most risk to insecurity. These staples form a major source of the caloric needs for the peoples in MENA and include wheat, rice, and corn. In this report, we identify the structure, size and scope of the wheat value chain, the players involved in them, and the drivers governing their operation. The Global value chain (GVC) analysis provides both the conceptual and methodological tools for looking at global, regional, and local economies by using a top-down approach that examines the global lead firms that control trade, as well as a bottom-up approach that studies countries and regions, which are explored in terms of their economic, social and environmental upgrading or downgrading trajectories. This study uses the global value chain (GVC) framework to understand: (1) The global wheat industry; (2) the industrial organization of the wheat GVC; (3) the structure of the wheat value chain in five MENA countries, specifically Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates; and (4) the key value chain challenges and strategies for maintaining a staple wheat supply in these countries.
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Arguably serving as a cenotaph for the fourteenth-century explorer, Dubai’s Ibn Battuta Mall constitutes an insular space for which history, geography, and climate have been produced. This essay studies the spatial strategies used and represented therein and argues that the building acts as what Peter Sloterdijk calls an “absolute island,” reproducing its outside as a vacuum that cannot be inhabited except in this manner. Furthermore, the mall and the phantasmagoric curiosities that inhabit the mall become different articulations of claims to a superiority that is characteristic of the style of urbanism that one witnesses in Dubai.
Article
This article provides a detailed account of the use of foreign child jockeys in competitive camel racing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Although the extensive use of child jockeys ended in 2005, the initiation of a class action lawsuit for civil damages in a United States (US) federal district court in 2006 posed a serious risk to the reputation of the rulers of the UAE. The article describes the resulting public relations offensive, which required the post-fact construction of a substantive defence and embroiled both the United States and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in a serious denial of justice for thousands of victims of child slavery.
Article
Despite their productivity and contribution to urban development, homeless migrants are seen as problematic and their needs largely overlooked by policy. For many, migration and/or homelessness can form a part of a well-planned and successful strategy for individual or household survival or improvement. Nevertheless, other migrants find themselves living in a prolonged state of liminal homelessness, unable to return home or improve their situation. This paper uses a concept of 'consequential context' to explore the relationship between migration and homelessness and the factors which may serve to trap migrants in situations of abject poverty in the city.
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At the most basic level, slavery is a social and economic relationship that is played out in systematic ways. It has patterns of expression; it is grounded in cultures and societies. Many patterns of enslavement have been in use for long periods, though small or large changes over time in those patterns are to be expected. This paper assesses existing measures of slavery and forced labor, presents a modest test of an aggregate level analysis of what predicts slavery, and explores the methodological challenges faced by those who hope to research modern slavery and forced labor. Recommendations are offered for improving the quality of data and the methodological approach to contemporary slavery.
Article
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (the Convention) is the most important of the general instruments (as distinguished from specialized instruments such as those pertaining to labor or education) that develop the fundamental norm of the United Nations Charter—by now accepted into the corpus of customary international law—requiring respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race. It has been eloquently described as “the international community’s only tool for combating racial discrimination which is at one and the same time universal in reach, comprehensive in scope, legally binding in character, and equipped with built-in measures of implementation.”
Article
Slavery is illegal throughout the world, yet more than twenty-seven million people are still trapped in one of history's oldest social institutions. Kevin Bales's disturbing story of slavery today reaches from brick kilns in Pakistan and brothels in Thailand to the offices of multinational corporations. His investigation of conditions in Mauritania, Brazil, Thailand, Pakistan, and India reveals the tragic emergence of a "new slavery," one intricately linked to the global economy. The new slaves are not a long-term investment as was true with older forms of slavery, explains Bales. Instead, they are cheap, require little care, and are disposable. Three interrelated factors have helped create the new slavery. The enormous population explosion over the past three decades has flooded the world's labor markets with millions of impoverished, desperate people. The revolution of economic globalization and modernized agriculture has dispossessed poor farmers, making them and their families ready targets for enslavement. And rapid economic change in developing countries has bred corruption and violence, destroying social rules that might once have protected the most vulnerable individuals. Bales's vivid case studies present actual slaves, slaveholders, and public officials in well-drawn historical, geographical, and cultural contexts. He observes the complex economic relationships of modern slavery and is aware that liberation is a bitter victory for a child prostitute or a bondaged miner if the result is starvation. Bales offers suggestions for combating the new slavery and provides examples of very positive results from organizations such as Anti-Slavery International, the Pastoral Land Commission in Brazil, and the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan. He also calls for researchers to follow the flow of raw materials and products from slave to marketplace in order to effectively target campaigns of "naming and shaming" corporations linked to slavery. Disposable People is the first book to point the way to abolishing slavery in today's global economy. © 1999, 2000, 2004, 2012 by The Regents of the University of California.
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Human Rights Quarterly 22.3 (2000) 867-872 Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, by Kevin Bales (Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1999), 298 pp. Slavery has existed for thousands of years and this ancient scourge has perhaps been the darkest spot in human history. Most people understand slavery in terms of legal ownership. Its evocation conjures up memories of the bondage of the Atlantic slave trade, the American South, or the Biblical slavery of the Old Testament. Today ownership of human beings is illegal in every country. Hence, slavery is understood to be an extinct phenomenon of the human past about which some feel guilty or angry and also a little smug and superior since legalized slavery no longer exists. However, according to Kevin Bales, slavery still exists in many variant forms in most parts of the world today. In Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, Bales stresses that slavery has evolved and endured even though legalized slavery has been abolished. According to Bales, the technology of violence in the new global economy is used as a form of control over impoverished people. Bales defines a slave as a person held by violence or the threat of violence for economic exploitation. The new variant forms of slavery -- what Bales calls "new slavery"--are different from the older forms of slavery. Old forms of slavery were based on legal ownership where slaves were expensive, scarce, long-term investments generating low profits. Slaves were almost always racially or ethnically different from their masters in the old forms. In all respects, "old" slavery reflected the agricultural and rural economies of which it was a part. On the other hand, the "new" slavery is generated essentially by greed and the profit-making motive. Slaves are controlled not through legal ownership, but violence. In the "new" forms of slavery, profits are high and the slaves are readily dispensable. Although Bales argues that slavery exists in almost all countries of the world, he bases his conclusions on case study data from five countries. Bales focuses on one industry in each country: prostitution in urban Thailand, the charcoal industry in Brazil, the brick-making industry in Pakistan, the Indian agricultural industry's "untouchable" farm workers, and water carrying in Mauritania. In choosing these five countries, Bales' principal objective was to highlight the different types of slavery that vary between old and new forms. Bales analyzes these variant forms of slavery within the social, economic, and historical context of each country. Thailand poses the purest example of the new form of slavery. The prostitution industry, which is illegal in Thailand, is rife with the characteristics of the new slavery. According to Bales, there are currently between half a million and one million prostitutes (in a national population of 60 million) and prostitution is one of the biggest industries in Thailand. Prostitutes are sold everywhere in Thailand -- barber shops, massage parlors, coffee shops and cafes, bars and restaurants, night clubs and karaoke bars, brothels, hotels, and even temples. The industry is fueled by Thailand's entrance into the global economy. Capital flows in from middle and upper-class Thais, who invest without any social repercussions; often the police and other government actors are intricately involved in the system. Investors from Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong also contribute heavily. The industry is very profitable (sometimes with 500% or more return per year) and very little capital is needed to start operations. Most of the prostitutes are either bought or recruited by brokers and pimps from Northern Thailand, Burma, and Laos. They are usually bought at a young age from consensual parents, often only for the price of a TV set. After they are taken to the cities and towns, they are beaten into submission and are often raped if they refuse to consent to sex. Prostitutes are hardly paid anything for their services and most of their earnings are used for rent and living expenses in the brothels. Most of the money earned in the industry goes to brothel owners and pimps. Prostitutes face various risks at the brothels, including contracting sexually transmitted diseases...
On Slavery and Islam in African History: A Tribute to Martin Klein
  • S Miers
S. Miers, 'On Slavery and Islam in African History: A Tribute to Martin Klein', 34 Canadian Journal of African Studies (2000) p. 728.
Traffi cking and Forced Labour of Children in the Gulf Region
  • Anti-Slavery International
Anti-Slavery International, Traffi cking and Forced Labour of Children in the Gulf Region, 6 June 2005, available at <www.antislavery.org/archive/submission/submission2005-cameljockeys.htm>.
It is well established that prohibitions against slavery and slave-related practices have achieved the level of customary international law and have attained jus cogens status
  • C Bassiouni
C. Bassiouni, 'Enslavement as an International Crime', 23(2) New York University Journal of International Law and Politics (1990) p. 460: "It is well established that prohibitions against slavery and slave-related practices have achieved the level of customary international law and have attained jus cogens status."
Th e Tribal Society of the UAE and its Traditional Economy United Arab Emirates: A New Perspective
  • F Heard-Bey
F. Heard-Bey, 'Th e Tribal Society of the UAE and its Traditional Economy', in I. Al Abed and P. Hellyer (eds), United Arab Emirates: A New Perspective (Trident Press, 2001) pp. 98–117, available at <uaeinteract.com/uaeint_misc/pdf/perspectives/04.pdf>. 167) Ibid.
Building Towers, Cheating Workers
Human Rights Watch, Building Towers, Cheating Workers, 2006, available at<hrw.org/ reports/2006/uae1106/>.
In-kind remuneration allows employers to hide low wage levels. For example a worker's remuneration package may include food, security, shelter, clothing, health or other essentials
  • Fourthly
Fourthly, the ILO report refers to "in-kind linkages" as determinitive of bonded status: "In-kind remuneration allows employers to hide low wage levels. For example a worker's remuneration package may include food, security, shelter, clothing, health or other essentials. In-kind compensation promotes dependency,
Article 8, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Article 8, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 19 December 1966, Fed. Reg. 45, 934 (1993), 999 UNTS 171.