Dubai: one of the most prestigious & awe inspiring cities in the world.
Since the rise of the millennium, the United Arab Emirates has been lifted from just another Middle Eastern Country to a global hub for tourism & finance. However, beneath the shining gem being advertised to the world, an army of modern-day slaves toil in extreme heat day after day, working with the hope they may be able to return home.
In small villages around Bangladesh, India & Pakistan, hundreds of ‘employment agents’ hunt for people who they can promise high wages, a good home & a better future; all this working in construction in Dubai. The price for this: £2,300. A vast amount for those being pitched this seemingly flawless proposition.
After selling land, possessions and taking loans, tens of thousands of prospective workers from impoverished backgrounds flock to Dubai, clutching their passport & the few personal items they have. Once they reach the city that is going to pave the way for their future, the majority of these workers will have their passports taken, and then abruptly told that they’ll earn less than they did at home, with days so long even the most desperate would turn their heads down. If they don’t like it? They’d better work until they can afford to escape. So there they are, with a pocket full of broken dreams & a huge debt hanging over their head. Once at work, these people, who are now at the mercy of their employer, have to //construct high-rise buildings with their wellbeing completely overlooked.
Corroborating evidence of this includes the Indian consulate reporting 971 deaths of their citizens in Dubai in 2005. In an attempt to save face proceeding this, the Emirati Government ordered foreign representatives to stop counting their citizen’s deaths in the country. At least it’s written in law that a public holiday is declared if the heat pushes the mercury to 50°c. Funnily enough, since that law was set in stone, it’s rarely hit that temperature - conveniently reaching a maximum of 49°c. For a country whose average salary is over £120,000, it’s staggering that those building the very foundation of the city are barely breaking four figures a year. There isn’t even any shelter from the heat when the workers are resting: their accommodation more often than not is built to the lowest standard possible, with no air conditioning & water; leading you to question if it’s fit for human inhabitation. The conditions are so poor that many of these labourers commit suicide, though the debt that is owed will heartlessly be passed onto their families.
Unfortunately, even though this has been reported since the early 2000s, the practice of taking workers hostage is evident everywhere in Dubai. Take a taxi anywhere around the city & you’re guaranteed to see old busses filled to the brim with South Asian workers. The shameless nature of it is almost as bad as treating these people as a means to a goal. They know that no matter how much the general public is against this inhumane treatment; they’re completely powerless to change it. There is never going to be a solution created where the issue lies; they aren’t going to get rid of the engine that got them to the top of their hill of wealth. Instead, we have to hope that awareness will be raised where these workers are coming from. Quite a startling thought, it isn’t just Dubai that was built on slave labour: your phone, laptop & clothes were probably made in a sweatshop by people just trying to survive on the tiny amounts they’re given to fuel our modern world.
Let me ask you, if we all know that the way the workers who make the majority of our possessions are treated horrendously, why are we still allowing that? Is it because responsibly made products are too expensive, or because it’s just easier to ignore?