Home / News / Urgent Appeals / GENERAL APPEAL (United Arab Emirates): Over 4,000 workers are being deported due to their protest in Dubai

GENERAL APPEAL (United Arab Emirates): Over 4,000 workers are being deported due to their protest in Dubai

November 1, 2007

[NOTICE: The AHRC has developed a new automatic letter-sending system using the "button" below. However, in this appeal, we could not include e-mail addresses of some of authorities. We encourage you to send your appeal letters via fax or post to those people. Fax numbers and postal addresses of the  authorities are attached below with this appeal. Thank you.]

URGENT APPEAL GENERAL URGENT APPEAL GENERAL URGENT APPEALS GENERAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal General

1 November 2007
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UG-007-2007: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Over 4,000 workers are being deported due to their protest in Dubai

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Labour rights; deportation; denial of freedom of association
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that more than 4,000 workers, mostly from south Asian countries, are being deported from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as a result of their protest seeking to improve their working conditions on 28 October 2007. Most workers are from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Some 2,000 workers are reportedly going to be retrenched and the deportation process has already started. The AHRC urges you to immediately intervene in this large scale deportation.

CASE DETAILS:

According to media reports, thousands of construction workers went on protest on Sunday, 28 October 2007 as the first working day of the week in Middle East, over harsh working conditions and labour shortages. The Ministry of Labour and employers of the construction and petroleum companies involved instructed them to stop the disruption otherwise they would be deported without their legal wages, including other benefits of gratuity and funds.

It is also reported that more than 1,500 workers have already been served with retrenchment letters and cancellation of contracts from their sponsors. These are mostly non-unionized workers and they were involved, according to authorities, in the protest outside the work places and destroyed some properties during the protests on retrenchments.
 
The 4,000 workers who are facing threats of deportation to their countries, without their entitled legal benefits, are from AI Habtoor Engineering Co, Dubai and Sun Engineering & Contracting and Construction Co Dubai. These companies claim to pay skilled workers USD 177 a month and unskilled workers USD 149, however the workers say that they have not been paid more than USD 150 and USD 100 respectively. On the other hand their working hours have been increased up to 12 to 14 hours a day in the hot weather, reducing their break times from 2 to 4 hours to one hour only. Under theses vulnerable circumstances the workers started to protest to improve these poor working conditions.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Thousands of workers from South Asian countries go abroad to earn money, especially to the oil rich states of the UAE. They usually take loans from private banking systems, which are illegally run with very high interest rates. If they are deported without finishing their contracts, there is no way to pay the loans back.

Due to the policy in June 2007, Dubai has already deported about 280,000 workers who were staying without legal documents. There has been a tremendous shortage of workers to work, despite the booming construction industry. This shortage caused to deteriorate the working condition of the other workers remained. Workers with legal documents face long working hours, hard work and low wages. On the other hand they are continuously facing the threat of cancellation of their sponsorship and deportation.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

Migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates comprise 85-90 per cent of the workforce. Although the Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 allows the right to collective bargaining, to allow labour disputes to be solved through specific structures, this labour law does not apply to migrant workers who may attempt to protest for those rights are fearful of reprisals or expulsion.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write the letters to the authorities listed below, demanding them to stop the deportation and repression against the protestors claiming improving their working conditions and respect labour rights.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Suggested letter:

Dear ________,

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Over 4,000 workers are being deported due to their protest in Dubai

Name of victims: More than 4,000 workers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Date of incident: Since 28 October 2007

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the large scale of deportation of workers due to their protest on 28 October 2007.

According to the information received, thousands of construction workers went on strike on October 28 due to harsh working conditions and a shortage of labour. However, the Ministry of Labour and employers from the construction and petroleum companies involved instructed them to stop their strike, otherwise they would deport them without their legal wages including other benefits of gratuity and funds. 

It is reported that more than 1,500 workers have already been served with retrenchment letters and cancellation of contracts from the sponsors. These are mostly non-unionized workers and according to authorities, they were involved in the strikes outside the work places and destroyed some property during their protests.
 
The 4,000 workers that are facing the threat of deportation to their countries without legal benefits are from AI Habtoor Engineering Co, Dubai and Sun Engineering & Contracting and Construction Co Dubai. These companies claim to pay skilled workers USD 177 a month and unskilled workers USD 149, however the workers say that they are not paid more than USD 150 and USD 100 respectively. On the other hand their working hours have been increased up to 12 to 14 hours a day in the hot weather yet their break times have been reduced from 2 to 4 hours to one hour only. Under theses vulnerable circumstances, the workers started striking in order to improve their poor working conditions.

I am informed that after June 2007, the government has already deported around 280,000 workers working without legal document and there has been a tremendous shortage of workers to work, despite the booming construction industry. This shortage caused to deteriorate the working condition of the other workers remained.

I am also informed that migrant workers in the country comprise 85-90 per cent of the workforce. Although the Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 allows the right to collective bargaining, to allow labour disputes to be solved through specific structures, this labour law does not apply to migrant workers who may attempt to protest for those rights are fearful of reprisals or expulsion.

In light of the above, I urge you to ensure that the protest of the workers, claiming to improve their working conditions is protected and they can continue to work in a better condition. Deporting the workers trying to protect their rights by themselves is unacceptable. I also urge that repression against the workers by deportation must be stopped and ongoing process of deportation has to be reconsidered. I further demand that workers should be protected in accordance with international human rights laws and standards and United Arab Emirates ratify the International Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Family (ICRMW) in order to prevent similar violation in the future.

I look forward to your prompt intervention into this case.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. H.E. Dr. Ali bin Abdullah Al Kabi
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Tel: +971 4 2691333
Fax: +971 4 2695011
E-mail: minister@mol.gov.ae

2. H.E. Ambassador Masood Khan
Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations
56, Rue de Moillebeau
Case Postale 434
1211 Geneva 19
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 749 1930
Fax: +41 22 734 8085
E-mail: mission.pakistan@ties.itu.int

3. H.E. Ambassador
Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations
65 Rue de Lausanne
1202 Geneva
SWITZERLAND
Tel:  +41-22 732 5940/732 5949/732 1239
Fax: +41 22 438 4616 

4. H.E. Ambassador Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations
Rue de Moillebeau 56
Case postale 436
1211 Genève 19
SWITZERLAND
Tel. +41 22 919 12 50
Fax +41 22 734 90 84
E-mail: mission.srilanka@ties.itu.int

5. H.E. Ambassador Mr. Jayant Prasad
Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations
7 bis, rue du Valais
1202 Geneva
SWITZERLAND
Fax: + 41 22 906 86 70
E-mail: mission.india-cd@ties.itu.int

6. Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed
Chief Adviser
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Chief Advisor Tejgaon
Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 8828160-79, 9888677
Fax: +880 2 8113244 or 3243 or 1015 or 1490

7. His Excellency the Hon. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
President Socialist Democratic Republic of  Sri Lanka
C/- Office of the President
Temple Trees, 150, Galle Road
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2472100 / 2446657
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk

8. Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister
7, Race Course Road
New Delhi 110011
INDIA
Fax: + 91 11 23019334
Email: pmosb@pmo.nic.in

9. General Pervez Musharraf
President
President's Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
E-mail: (please see - http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)

10. Mr. Juan Somavia
Director-General
International Labour Organisation
4, route des Morillons
CH–1211 Geneva 22
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 799 6026
Fax: +41 22 799 8533
E-mail: cabinet@ilo.org

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal General
Document ID :
UG-007-2007
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.