Rights group: Abuse at Abu Dhabi museum site despite reforms
Reforms enacted in the United Arab Emirates have not done enough to end the exploitation of migrant workers building a high-profile cultural complex that includes branches of the Louvre and the Guggenheim museums, a leading human rights group said Tuesday in a report that was immediately rejected by the government-backed developer.
In an 82-page report, Human Rights Watch acknowledged that Emirati authorities have taken "positive steps" to improve working conditions for the mainly South Asian workers on the Saadiyat Island project in the federation's capital, Abu Dhabi.
But it said some workers involved in the project still face abuses it documented in two previous reports, including employers confiscating workers' passports, withholding pay and benefits, and housing workers in poor accommodations. Those who go on strike to protest their conditions face deportation, it noted.
