Middle East and North Africa director for the Human Rights Watch group, Sarah Leah Whitson, has stated that construction companies need to ‘step up’ in the face of what she calls, ‘rampant abuse and exploitation’ of migrant workers
Migrant workers from abroad are often sent to the GCC for maintenance, building infrastructure or safe demolition of buildings. Whitson said that construction companies need to ‘protect their workforce’.
“These guidelines outline how companies can guarantee workers’ basic rights under international law and will make a huge difference in ending worker exploitation,” noted Whitson.
The human rights group has tried to impose its own guidelines on construction companies published last month, calling on companies to provide migrant workers with safe facilities and ‘decent accommodations’ and to notify them when they have done so.
The document also urges construction employers in the GCC to appoint independent monitors who issue public reports to ‘ensure that workers get the benefits of labour protections, in practice, and not just on paper.’
