MILLIONS of migrant workers from South Asia, including Pakistan, work on construction sites and in other sectors of Gulf sheikhdoms in order to support their families.

Yet, these migrant workers lead less than ideal lives and are often subjected to exploitation by local employers, and have few options for reporting abuse. However, as reported recently, the United Arab Emirates has taken steps that — if implemented in earnest — may improve the conditions for foreign workers.

Also read: UAE unveils migrant labour reforms

These changes, due to take effect from Jan 1, would make job terms and contracts more transparent, while also providing options for breaking contracts and changing employers.

Across most of the Gulf, foreign workers are employed under the kafala system; in many instances, this virtually makes them the property of their employers — with hardly any rights and widespread chances of abuse. Hopefully, the changes proposed by the UAE authorities will be adopted in letter and spirit; other Gulf states should also attempt similar progressive changes to improve conditions for their foreign workers.

In actuality, what is needed is a change of mindset in these states; instead of being treated like chattel, foreign workers must be given respect and due rights, in accordance with international labour conventions.

Organisations such as the International Trade Union Confederation have been highly critical of the Gulf states’ attitudes towards foreign workers. In the UAE, working conditions have at times deteriorated so much that labourers have taken to the streets — an unusual and a brave move as protest is not tolerated in the Gulf.

Payment of wages can be delayed while living conditions for blue-collar workers are quite appalling. Living far from home and in deplorable conditions, it is easy to understand how workers’ patience can boil over. Qatar has also been criticised as reportedly hundreds of migrant workers have died over the past few years as the sheikhdom experiences a building boom in preparation for the 2022 football World Cup.

Thanks largely to their wealth by way of the petrodollar, the Gulf states seek everything that defines the modern world: skyscrapers, cavernous malls, state-of-the-art airports and all the other trappings of modernity.

Yet they must realise that along with the infrastructure they seek to replicate, they should also consider the rights most Western states have given to working people. It is about time that the men who toiled to build the modern Gulf metropolises are given their due.

Published in Dawn October 3rd, 2015

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