The sheiks who rule the UAE beam with pride at the very mention of the Burj
Dubai. Towering above the hot and hazy desert, this as-yet-unfinished
2,000-plus feet of steel and glass recently became the world's tallest
man-made structure. For the Emiratis, the building, not to mention the rest
of the topsy-turvy skyline, is exhibit one in their contention that Dubai is
the most modern and dynamic conurbation on the planet.
But those who are actually getting their hands dirty building the sky-scraper
— hundreds of thousands of labourers imported from India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines — may tell a different story. That
is, if they could speak freely about their experiences.
One of the most difficult ironies of the Dubai success story is that the
multi-star resorts, huge shopping malls and gleaming office towers are built
on the backs of workers toiling under what human rights organisations have
described as little better than slavery. Thousands of skilled and unskilled
workers are disgorged into the region every month, having been recruited by
agencies on the promise of wage packets that, while ridiculously low by
western standards, considerably outstrip earnings in their home countries.
The problems begin not long after those immigrants pass through the airport.
They say their passports are confiscated so that they cannot return home
without their employer's permission; their wages are docked to pay agency
commissions. Living conditions are uncomfortable at best, labourers
shoehorned in seven or eight to a room. A cramped and tedious bus journey
takes them to building sites where they work 12-hour days in searing heat
that can reach 50 degrees Celsius.
There has been some progress, thanks to a combination of a series of labour
strikes and the sharpening glare of the international media. In Dubai, the
Government last year imposed a "midday break" rule on construction
companies, requiring them to allow workers to down tools and seek shade for
a few hours a day during the three most brutal summer months. An amnesty was
announced for overstayers, who were even flown home at the UAE's expense
with no questions asked; the scheme was flooded with applicants.
The Dubai police force recently launched a human rights department, primarily
aimed at protecting the position of foreign labourers and those caught in
the country's burgeoning sex trade. Anwar Mohammed Gargash, the UAE's
minister for federal national council affairs, has said the Government is
dedicated to "streamlining our laws and practices in line with our cultural
heritage and religious values, which enshrine justice, quality and
tolerance".
But there are still problems throughout the region. The position regarding
women's rights, sexual orientation, freedom of speech and the treatment of
those charged with criminal offences is increasingly falling under the
spotlight. The reality is, despite the financial and commercial advances,
Kuwait is the only Gulf state with a fully democratically-elected government
— indeed, both men and women there are given a vote.
The position of women in the region is a complicated mix of reverence,
protection and, in many cases, subservience. On one hand, the UAE recently
appointed a woman to its governing cabinet for the first time. But
parochialism persists, with men allowed more than one wife. In Saudi Arabia,
women are forbidden from driving because doing so could expose them to men
to whom they are not related. Non-Muslim women convicted of consorting with
men who are not related, regardless of the circumstances, are routinely
lashed.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both claim the death penalty is
routinely used in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, away of the glare of
international eyes. According to Amnesty, court proceedings in Saudi Arabia
fall short of the international standards for a fair trial: defendants do
not have the right to formal representation by a lawyer and in many cases
are not informed of the progress of proceedings against them.
Geoffrey Bindman, the English solicitor and human rights campaigner, is acting
for two Britons and a Canadian who are suing the kingdom for allegedly
falsely accusing them of murder and torturing them. "The general
position regarding human rights in the region is dreadful," Bindman
says. "In relation to the Saudis, we were met with nothing but obstruction
and hypocrisy at every turn."
Professional bodies are also cautious about the region. The International Bar
Association has just opened a Middle East base in Dubai. Its executive
director Mark Ellis is clear on the human rights position. "The Gulf region
has no choice but to embrace and expand protections for human rights," he
says. "International investors . . . will come under increasingly heavy
criticism if human rights norms are ignored or minimised. Gulf states cannot
afford this."
The Law Society of England and Wales also has concerns. Alison Hook, head of
the society's international department, says: "While there has been
significant progress in countries such as Oman and the UAE over recent
years, there remain significant human rights issues that must be addressed
by the region's leaders.”
Hook argues that the region needs an independent body of lawyers to protect
and represent individuals against the state and to promote improvement in
human rights, access to justice and due process. Currently, despite the
hordes of legal practitioners pouring into the region from the UK, US and
Europe, no such body exists at a meaningful level in any of the main Gulf
jurisdictions. Some suggest that the arrival of the IBA, which has a strong
record on campaigning for human rights, could provide the impetus.
International lawyers should bear in mind that business is enhanced, not
hindered, by a positive human rights environment, and they are crucial to
both.
Jonathan Ames is the editor of The Brief, a monthly legal magazine
based in Dubai
