Mr Mabhouh died in his hotel room in Dubai last month
Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni has applauded the controversial killing of a Hamas commander in a Dubai hotel by suspected Israeli agents.
"The fact that a terrorist was killed, and it doesn't matter if it was in Dubai or Gaza, is good news to those fighting terrorism," she said.
It is thought to be the first time a top Israeli has made such a comment.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was found dead in his room on 20 January, having been electrocuted and suffocated.
His alleged killers used fake British, Irish, German and French passports, according to the authorities in Dubai, which released pictures of the suspects, none of whom were caught.
Mr Mabhouh was one of the founders of Hamas's military wing.
The Israeli secret service Mossad has been widely accused of carrying out the killing but Israel has repeatedly asserted there is no proof its agents were involved.
'Fighting terrorism'
Mrs Livni, the former foreign minister who leads the parliamentary opposition for the Kadima party, did not indicate who was behind the killing.
"The entire world must support those fighting terrorism," she told a Jewish conference in Jerusalem.
"Any comparison between terrorism and those fighting it is immoral."
The current Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, responded to allegations of a Mossad plot last week by saying: "Israel never responds, never confirms and never denies."
Dubai security cameras picked up 18 members of what local police believe was a hit team.
Diplomatic tension between Western states and Israel has grown over the killing.
KABUL -- Afghanistan's biggest private bank -- founded by the Islamic nation's only world-class poker player -- celebrated its fifth year in business last summer with a lottery for depositors at Paris Palace, a Kabul wedding hall.
Prizes awarded by Kabul Bank included nine apartments in the Afghan capital and cash gifts totaling more than $1 million. The bank trumpeted the event as the biggest prize drawing of its kind in Central Asia.
Less publicly, Kabul Bank's boss has been handing out far bigger prizes to his country's U.S.-backed ruling elite: multimillion-dollar loans for the purchase of luxury villas in Dubai by members of President Hamid Karzai's family, his government and his supporters.
The close ties between Kabul Bank and Karzai's circle reflect a defining feature of the shaky post-Taliban order in which Washington has invested more than $40 billion and the lives of more than 900 U.S. service members: a crony capitalism that enriches politically connected insiders and dismays the Afghan populace.
"What I'm doing is not proper, not exactly what I should do. But this is Afghanistan," Kabul Bank's founder and chairman, Sherkhan Farnood, said in an interview when asked about the Dubai purchases and why, according to data from the Persian Gulf emirate's Land Department, many of the villas have been registered in his name. "These people don't want to reveal their names."
Afghan laws prohibit hidden overseas lending and require strict accounting of all transactions. But those involved in the Dubai loans, including Kabul Bank's owners, said the cozy flow of cash is not unusual or illegal in a deeply traditional system underpinned more by relationships than laws.
The curious role played by the bank and its unorthodox owners has not previously been reported and was documented by land registration data; public records; and interviews in Kabul, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Moscow.
Many of those involved appear to have gone to considerable lengths to conceal the benefits they have received from Kabul Bank or its owners. Karzai's older brother and his former vice president, for example, both have Dubai villas registered under Farnood's name. Kabul Bank's executives said their books record no loans for these or other Dubai deals financed at least in part by Farnood, including home purchases by Karzai's cousin and the brother of Mohammed Qasim Fahim, his current first vice president and a much-feared warlord who worked closely with U.S. forces to topple the Taliban in 2001.
At a time when Washington is ramping up military pressure on the Taliban, the off-balance-sheet activities of Afghan bankers raise the risk of financial instability that could offset progress on the battlefield. Fewer than 5 percent of Afghans have bank accounts, but among those who do are many soldiers and policemen whose salaries are paid through Kabul Bank.
A U.S. official who monitors Afghan finances, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said banks appear to have plenty of money but noted that in a crisis, Afghan depositors "won't wait in line holding cups of latte" but would be "waving AK-47s."
Kabul Bank executives, in separate interviews, gave different accounts of what the bank is up to with Dubai home buyers. "They are borrowers. They have an account at Kabul Bank," said the bank's chairman, Farnood, a boisterous 46-year-old with a gift for math and money -- and the winner of $120,000 at the 2008 World Series of Poker Europe, held in a London casino.
The bank's chief audit officer, Raja Gopalakrishnan, however, insisted that the loan money didn't come directly from Kabul Bank. He said it was from affiliated but separate entities, notably a money-transfer agency called Shaheen Exchange, which is owned by Farnood, is run by one of Kabul Bank's 16 shareholders and operates in Kabul out of the bank's headquarters.
The audit officer said Farnood "thinks it is one big pot," but the entities are "legally definitely separate."
A new economy
In some ways, Kabul Bank is a symbol of how much has changed in Afghanistan since 2001, when the country had no private banks and no economy to speak of. Kabul Bank has opened more than 60 branches and recently announced that it will open 250 more, and it claims to have more than $1 billion in deposits from more than a million Afghan customers.
Kabul Bank prospers because Afghanistan, though extremely poor, is in places awash with cash, a result of huge infusions of foreign aid, opium revenue and a legal economy that, against the odds, is growing at about 15 percent a year. The vast majority of this money flows into the hands of a tiny minority -- some of it through legitimate profits, some of it through kickbacks and insider deals that bind the country's political, security and business elites.
The result is that, while anchoring a free-market order as Washington had hoped, financial institutions here sometimes serve as piggy banks for their owners and their political friends. Kabul Bank, for example, helps bankroll a money-losing airline owned by Farnood and fellow bank shareholders that flies three times a day between Kabul and Dubai.
Kabul Bank's executives helped finance President Hamid Karzai's fraud-blighted reelection campaign last year, and the bank is partly owned by Mahmoud Karzai, the Afghan president's older brother, and by Haseen Fahim, the brother of Karzai's vice presidential running mate.
Farnood, who now spends most of his time in Dubai, said he wants to do business in a "normal way" and does not receive favors as a result of his official contacts. He said that putting properties in his name means his bank's money is safe despite a slump in the Dubai property market: He can easily repossess if borrowers run short on cash.
A review of Dubai property data and interviews with current and former executives of Kabul Bank indicate that Farnood and his bank partners have at least $150 million invested in Dubai real estate. Most of their property is on Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island in the shape of a palm tree where the cheapest house costs more than $2 million.
Mirwais Azizi, an estranged business associate of Farnood and the founder of the rival Azizi Bank in Kabul, has also poured money into Dubai real estate, with even more uncertain results. A Dubai company he heads, Azizi Investments, has invested heavily in plots of land on Palm Jebel Ali, a stalled property development. Azizi did not respond to interview requests. His son, Farhad, said Mirwais was busy.
Responsibility for bank supervision in Afghanistan lies with the Afghan central bank, whose duties include preventing foreign property speculation. The United States has spent millions of dollars trying to shore up the central bank. But Afghan and U.S. officials say the bank, though increasingly professional, lacks political clout.
The central bank's governor, Abdul Qadir Fitrat, said his staff had "vigorously investigated" what he called "rumors" of Dubai property deals, but "unfortunately, up until now they have not found anything." Fitrat, who used to live in Washington, last month sent a team of inspectors to Kabul Bank as part of a regular review of the bank's accounts. He acknowledged that Afghan loans are "very difficult to verify" because "we don't know who owns what."
Kabul Bank's dealings with Mahmoud Karzai, the president's brother, help explain why this is so. In interviews, Karzai, who has an Afghan restaurant in Baltimore, initially said he rented a $5.5 million Palm Jumeirah mansion, where he now lives with his family. But later he said he had an informal home-loan agreement with Kabul Bank and pays $7,000 a month in interest.
"It is a very peculiar situation. It is hard to comprehend because this is not the usual way of doing business," said Karzai, whose home is in Farnood's name.
Karzai also said he bought a 7.4 percent stake in the bank with $5 million he borrowed from the bank. But Gopalakrishnan, the chief audit officer, said Kabul Bank's books include no loans to the president's brother.
Also in a Palm Jumeirah villa registered in Farnood's name is the family of Ahmad Zia Massoud, Afghanistan's first vice president from 2004 until last November. The house, bought in December 2007 for $2.3 million, was first put in the name of Massoud's wife but was later re-registered to give Farnood formal ownership, property records indicate.
Massoud, brother of the legendary anti-Soviet guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, said that Farnood had always been the owner but let his family use it rent-free for the past two years because he is "my close friend." Massoud added: "We have played football together. We have played chess together." Farnood, however, said that though the "villa is in my name," it belongs to Massoud "in reality."
Haseen Fahim, the brother of Afghanistan's current first vice president, has been another beneficiary of Kabul Bank's largesse. He got money from Farnood to help buy a $6 million villa in Dubai, which, unusually, is under his own name. He borrowed millions more from the bank, which he partly owns, to fund companies he owns in Afghanistan.
In an interview at Kabul Bank's headquarters, Khalilullah Fruzi, who as chief executive heads the bank's day-to-day operations, said he didn't know how much bank money has ended up in Dubai. If Karzai's relatives and others buy homes "in Dubai, or Germany or America . . . that is their own affair," Fruzi said, adding that the bank "doesn't give loans directly for Dubai."
Fruzi, a former gem trader, said Kabul Bank is in robust health, makes a profit and has about $400 million in liquid assets deposited with the Afghan central bank and other institutions. Kabul Bank is so flush, he added, that it is building a $30 million headquarters, a cluster of shimmering towers of bulletproof glass.
The bank is also spending millions to hire gunmen from a company called Khurasan Security Services, which, according to registration documents, used to be controlled by Fruzi and is now run by his brother.
The roots of Kabul Bank stretch back to the Soviet Union. Both Fruzi and Farnood got their education and their start in business there after Moscow invaded Afghanistan in 1979.
While in Moscow, Farnood set up a successful hawala money-transfer outfit to move funds between Russia and Kabul. Russian court documents show that 10 of Farnood's employees were arrested in 1998 and later convicted of illegal banking activity. Fearful of arrest in Russia and also in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, Farnood shifted his focus to Dubai.
In 2004, three years after the fall of the Taliban regime, he got a license to open Kabul Bank. His Dubai-registered hawala, Shaheen Exchange, moved in upstairs and started moving cash for bank clients. It last year shifted $250 million to $300 million to Dubai, said the chief audit officer.
The bank began to take in new, politically connected shareholders, among them the president's brother, Mahmoud, and Fahim, brother of the vice president, who registered his stake in the name of his teenage son.
Fahim said two of his companies have borrowed $70 million from Kabul Bank. Insider borrowing, he said, is unavoidable and even desirable in Afghanistan because, in the absence of a solid legal system, business revolves around trust, not formal contracts. "Afghanistan is not America or Europe. Afghanistan is starting from zero," he said.
Fahim's business has boomed, thanks largely to subcontracting work on foreign-funded projects, including a new U.S. Embassy annex and various buildings at CIA sites across the country, among them a remote base in Khost where seven Americans were killed in a December suicide attack by a Jordanian jihadiist. "I have good opportunities to get profit," Fahim said.
'Like wild horses'
Kabul Bank also plunged into the airline business, providing loans to Pamir Airways, an Afghan carrier now owned by Farnood, Fruzi and Fahim. Pamir spent $46 million on four used Boeing 737-400s and hired Hashim Karzai, the president's cousin, formerly of Silver Spring, as a "senior adviser."
Farnood said he also provided a "little bit" of money to help Hashim Karzai buy a house on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. Karzai, in brief telephone interviews, said that the property was an investment and that he had borrowed some money from Farnood. He said he couldn't recall details and would "have to check with my accountant."
Noor Delawari, governor of the central bank during Kabul Bank's rise, said Farnood and his lieutenants "were like wild horses" and "never paid attention to the rules and regulations." Delawari said he didn't know about any property deals by Kabul Bank in Dubai. He said that he, too, bought a home in the emirate, for about $200,000.
Fitrat, the current central bank governor, has tried to take a tougher line against Kabul Bank and its rivals, with little luck. Before last year's presidential election, the central bank sent a stern letter to bankers, complaining that they squander too much money on "security guards and bulletproof vehicles" and "expend large-scale monetary assistance to politicians." The letter ordered them to remain "politically neutral."
Kabul Bank did the opposite: Fruzi, its chief executive, joined Karzai's campaign in Kabul while Farnood, its poker-playing chairman, organized fundraising events for Karzai in Dubai. One of these was held at the Palm Jumeirah house of Karzai's brother.
The government has returned the favor. The ministries of defense, interior and education now pay many soldiers, police and teachers through Kabul Bank. This means that tens of millions of dollars' worth of public money sloshes through the bank, an unusual arrangement, as governments generally don't pump so much through a single private bank.
Soon after his November inauguration for a second term, President Karzai spoke at an anti-corruption conference in Kabul, criticizing officials who "after one or two years work for the government get rich and buy houses in Dubai." Last month, he flew to London for a conference on Afghanistan, attended by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other leaders, and again promised an end to the murky deals that have so tarnished his rule.
Also in London for the conference were Farnood, who now has an Afghan diplomatic passport, and Fruzi, who served as a financial adviser to Karzai's reelection campaign and also owns a house in Dubai. "If there is no Kabul Bank, there will be no Karzai, no government," Fruzi said.
Correspondent Joshua Partlow in Kabul and special correspondent Anna Masterova in Moscow contributed to this report.
The Burj Khalifa, now the world’s tallest building, is two thousand seven hundred and seventeen feet high—more than a thousand feet taller than its nearest rival and roughly twice as high as the Empire State Building. Photograph by Robert Polidori.
Erecting the tallest building in the world is a pursuit both pointless and exhilarating. Someone will always build a bigger one, but that doesn’t diminish the intense allure of height, which can make a building famous whether or not there is anything else to recommend it. Frank Lloyd Wright, who never much liked cities, understood this perfectly when, in 1956, he unveiled a fantasy known as the Mile High Illinois, a five-hundred-and-twenty-eight-story tower that he proposed for downtown Chicago, overlooking Lake Michigan. An elegant spire, pencil-thin, it was a cavalier dismissal of the gaggle of boxy office buildings that were turning most of America’s urban centers into a blur. Although it was unbuildable, it grabbed more headlines than any real building could have, and it gave the illusion that Wright was in command of a type of building that he had always disdained.
The Burj Khalifa, in Dubai—the new holder of the title of World’s Tallest Building—is no less extravagant a media gesture. Unlike Wright’s design, to which it bears a startling resemblance, this building is very real—all one hundred and sixty stories (or two thousand seven hundred and seventeen feet) of it. For decades, skyscrapers have been topping each other in only small increments: Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers (one thousand four hundred and eighty-two feet) are thirty-two feet taller than Chicago’s Sears Tower (or Willis Tower, as it is now called); the Shanghai World Financial Center is about a hundred and thirty feet taller than the Petronas Towers; Taipei 101, in Taiwan, is fifty feet taller than the Shanghai tower; and so on. But the Burj Khalifa represents a quantum leap over these midgets. Even if you put the Chrysler Building on top of the Empire State Building, that still wouldn’t equal its height.
As with most super-tall buildings, function is hardly the point of the Burj Khalifa. Certainly, it’s not as if there weren’t enough land to build on in Dubai, or any need for more office or residential space, after a decade-long construction spree that makes the excesses of Florida look almost prudent. Dubai doesn’t have as much oil as some other emirates, and saw a way to make itself rich by turning an expanse of sand beside the Arabian Gulf into an all-in-one business center, resort, and haven for flight capital. When the tower was first planned, by Emaar Properties, a real-estate entity partly owned by the government, it was called Burj Dubai, which means Dubai Tower—just in case anyone might have missed the fact that the world’s most high-flying, come-from-nowhere city was also home to the world’s tallest building. But, while the building was going up, growth in Dubai ground to a halt, leaving much of the new real estate unoccupied and unsold. This past November, Dubai ran out of money, was unable to make payments on sixty billion dollars’ worth of debt, and had to be rescued by a ten-billion-dollar bailout from Abu Dhabi, the conservative, oil-rich emirate next door. At the building’s opening, Dubai announced that the skyscraper would bear the name of Abu Dhabi’s ruler, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan. It’s as if Goldman Sachs were to rename its new headquarters the Warren Buffett Tower.
Dubai is unlike any other city, but imagine a cross between Hong Kong and Las Vegas that tries to operate as if it were Switzerland, and you begin to get the idea. There are more glitzy glass towers than you can count, many of them put up not so much to house people or businesses as to give to rich Indians, Russians, Iranians, and Southeast Asians a place to park some cash away from nosy local governments. Given the general level of tackiness on display—not to mention the often appalling living conditions of Dubai’s armies of migrant construction workers—the Burj Khalifa should be an easy building to loathe, and the embarrassing way that its completion coincided with the near-meltdown of Dubai’s economy makes it easy to mock as a symbol of hubris. And yet the Burj Khalifa turns out to be far more sophisticated, even subtle, than one might expect. The tower is a shimmering silver needle, its delicacy as startling as its height. You would think that anything this huge would dominate the sky, but the Burj Khalifa punctuates it instead.
The tower was designed by the architect Adrian Smith and the engineer William Baker, both of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. (Smith left the firm during construction, and Baker and his colleagues George Efstathiou and Eric Tomich saw the project through to completion.) Skidmore has built plenty of iconic skyscrapers before. A generation ago, its architect-engineer team Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan revolutionized skyscraper design with the “bundled tube” structure of the Sears Tower. The Burj doesn’t use bundled tubes, though to look at it from the outside you might think it did. From a distance it looks like a cluster of variously sized metal rods, the tallest at the center. The building has a Y-shaped floor plan, with three lobes buttressing a hexagonal central core, which houses the elevators. The structure provides a lot of exterior walls with windows overlooking the Gulf and the desert. The first twenty or so floors are fairly bulky, giving the building a wide stance on the ground, but as it rises there is a spiralling sequence of setbacks. By the time you get about a third of the way to the top, the tower has gracefully metamorphosed into a slender building, and it keeps on narrowing until only a central section remains.
One advantage of this configuration is that, because the building’s shape varies at each level, wind cannot create an organized vortex around it, and stress on the structure is thereby reduced. The setbacks, the Skidmore team likes to say, “confuse the wind.” But the design has an aesthetic virtue, too, giving the Burj Khalifa, for all its twenty-first-century ingenuity, a lyrical profile that calls to mind the skyscrapers of eighty or ninety years ago. The defining towers of the New York sky line, at least before the Second World War, were skinny compared with today’s skyscrapers, and their vertical lines gave intense visual pleasure. We’ve sacrificed all that for efficiency: office tenants today want lots of horizontal space, which means huge, open floors and stocky, inelegant towers. The Burj Khalifa has three million square feet of interior space, which sounds like a lot, but in fact it is four hundred thousand square feet less than the Shanghai World Financial Center, which is fifty-nine stories shorter. Even the MetLife Building, less than a third of the height of the Burj, has 2.4 million square feet. The Burj Khalifa can afford not to care about square footage because, notwithstanding a few small, high-priced office suites on the narrow floors at the top, it isn’t an office building. Most of the building is given over to condominium apartments. (At the bottom, there will be a hotel designed and managed by Giorgio Armani.) The decision to make most of the building residential speaks volumes about the extent to which Dubai’s economy has been based on the sale of condominiums to absentee owners for investment. Whether or not the decision to fill the tower with apartments made economic sense, it was certainly the right thing to do architecturally. The profile of the Burj has a magnetism that is lacking in almost every other super-tall building of our time. Furthermore, the tower doesn’t indulge in the showy engineering tricks that have become so common today; it doesn’t get wider as it rises, or lean to one side, or appear to be made of broken shards. There is something appealing about a building that relies on the most advanced engineering but doesn’t flaunt it.
The Burj Khalifa, like most super-tall skyscrapers, looks best from afar, and, certainly, it can’t do much to mitigate the real horror of Dubai, which isn’t the fact that most of the towers look gaudy on the sky line but that they are wretched at street level. This is a city that has grown with utter hostility to the idea of the street. The main commercial thoroughfare, Sheikh Zayed Road, lined with skyscrapers, is a twelve-lane highway. It’s impossible to get anywhere here without a car, and there is no place to walk except inside a mall. The city is completing a transit system, and there are some strikingly handsome, glass-enclosed elevated stations, but it is an idealized version of a Western-style metro, dropped onto an urban plan designed solely for the automobile; it’s hard to believe that it will make much difference. The biggest group of pedestrians I saw in five days was on the promenade outside the Dubai Mall, where people gather to look across an artificial lagoon at the Burj Khalifa while watching fountains dance to Middle Eastern music. To them, the Burj is a backdrop for a show.
Then again, almost everything in Dubai is a kind of visual spectacle intended to make you gawk. You can’t justify the Burj Khalifa by the standards that apply to most commercial buildings. But that’s nothing new. Buildings put up to garner titles like “the world’s tallest” or “the world’s second-tallest” are usually erected in cities that have reached a critical juncture in their maturity, and which want to assert their position for the first time on the world stage. The Woolworth Building, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building, each of which was the world’s tallest for a time, were all put up to announce the primacy of their city to the world, and they succeeded. That’s just what Asian and Middle Eastern countries are trying to do now. You don’t build this kind of skyscraper to house people, or to give tourists a view, or even, necessarily, to make a profit. You do it to make sure the world knows who you are.
Jaclyn Nardone December 14, 2009In recent years, Dubai became known as a metropolis of wealth, the economic capital of the Middle East. This Arab Emirate, once rich in tourism and real estate, has recently taken an economic nose-dive with no promising solutions for revival. This essay will take a step back in time, to when Dubai’s markets were rich and growing, and explore how and why it became the place it is, or was. The answer is short and sweet: cheap labor and migrant construction workers. But an explanation behind the inhumane gap between the lavish rich and the destitute poor is a sad and complicated tale based on human rights violations. Living off dollars a day, exhausted and overworked, the men in hard-hats live lives completely contrary to those of the country’s capitalists. This analysis of the mass violations committed amid the UAE Federal Labor Law, leads to open-ended questions. What will the future hold for these workers, many of whom have already left the country? With Dubai’s debts channeling rumors of bankruptcy, will they be better off without the unjust jobs, or the hardest hit by this recession? It seems as though karma has crept up on the selfishness of Dubai, and with migrant workers fleeing the country, it may be too late for forgiveness, but it is worth a try. With fingers crossed and positive thoughts brewing, let’s hope Dubai can come out of this mess, and reroute the image it has given itself thus far, as a mass human rights violator within the realm of cheap labor.
The Trucial States along the Arab Peninsula transformed into the oil rich country of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on December 4th 1971. Little did the world, this country that was once summit by desert, would blossom into the Golden Capital of the world, the New York of the Middle East. In recent years, “entire cities cropped up where there was nothing 10 years ago.”[1] Dubai, one of the seven Arab Emirates, has been advertised to the world as a commercial haven of high-rise buildings, gorgeous cornices, and luxury cars. As the millennium grew older, Dubai grew richer. It has been known as a colossal metamorphosis growing within the economic sector, due to uncontrollable spikes in its trade and service industries. However, this phony economy would not last for long, and in this materialistic world of celebrity and eminence, Dubai seems to have used up its 15 minutes of fame.
The Emirate’s markets have recently become a plummeted disaster; Dubai is falling deeper and deeper into a cyclone of debt with no obvious or promising solutions for revival. This economic nosedive began in the wake of 2009, and by the year’s end, Dubai World sees itself owing some $59 billion US Dollars.[2] Wealthy brother Abu Dhabi has been criticized for not offering a helping hand, Emirates airlines has become too expensive for Dubai to single-handedly own and operate, workers have been laid off by the handfuls, newly built roads are empty of traffic, and the doors of the debtor prison are wide open. Dubai, once a place where investors played real-estate poker, now faces drastically declining shareholder confidence. This “downward spiral that has left parts of Dubai — once hailed as the economic superpower of the Middle East — looking like a ghost town.”[3]
Click for photo byEdson Walker - Dubai Indian Workers
Before understanding why Dubai’s economy is failing, which was “built on and bought with borrowed money,”[4] it is helpful to understand how it was callously built in the first place. It seems as though karma has crept up on the selfishness of Dubai, and it may be too late for forgiveness, but it is worth a try. This essay takes a step back in time, to 2008 and prior years, to when Dubai’s markets were rich and growing, and examine how mass violations of the UAE Federal Labor Law forced the migrant construction workers to live unjust lives, and suggests recommendations for future forgiveness.
Dubai’s population growth is a result of immigration’s push-pull effect, which pulls in expatriates from low waged countries, pushing them to seek employment in the growing Emirate.[5] This trend began in 1968, when migrant workers overwhelmed Dubai’s population by 54%.[6] By 2007, half a million migrant laborers were responsible for crafting the largest construction site on earth, whose projects toppled over 300 billion dollars.[7] As of 2006, these foreigners constituted 95%[8] of UAE’s workforce, outnumbering the country’s national workers by 1,000%.[9] The Dubai immigration boom has been compared to that of the United States of America, some 100 years ago; a Middle Eastern territory with a modern American Dream. Just as the “slave trade fed the wealth of the early Americas, expatriates are the foundation of growth in the UAE.”[10] Unskilled guest workers migrate to Dubai’s constructions sites from India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere. It was estimated that by 2007, some 25,000[11] migrants made their way through UAE immigration each month, leered to Dubai on false promises, unsure of the life that awaited them.
Modern day slavery is often prevalent where cultures and countries undergo rapid transformation and modernization, such as in Dubai. According to political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “we have a moral obligation to condemn those who act to implement systems of slavery, caste, or racial domination.”[12] This scheme is evidently occurring in Dubai; migrant construction workers are treated like slave laborers within the lowest of class status brackets, in comparison to the local UAE citizens. “Man who are the property of another, politically and socially at a lower level than the mass of the people, and performing compulsory labor.”[13] These contemporary forms of worker subordination reveal that “there is little doubt, that in 2008, Dubai remains the region’s primary center for modern-day slavery.”[14]
Modernity constitutes modern markets and states that advance issues of equality and toleration. This hierarchical world of rulers and the ruled is progressively understood as a business, with office holders and their workers.[15] Dubai is a new state and market, and a hierarchical city of chiefs and subordinates. “A common assumption about industrialization is that "class consciousness" is the most fundamental category by means of which we are to understand workers’ experiences.”[16] Migrants are the subjugated lower class, who are subsidiary to the rule of their upper class, egalitarian supervisors and office holders. Worker’s labor is the price paid for the city’s industry, at low cost, which in turn retails basic human labor rights.
Dubai’s migrant construction workers are denied basic human labor rights, as defined by labor laws and international conventions and declarations. The business impact on human rights, with regards to labor rights, include freedom of association, the right to organize and participate in collective bargaining, right to non-discrimination, abolition of slavery and forced labor, right to equal pay for equal work, right to equality at work, right to just and favorable enumeration, right to a safe work environment, right to rest and leisure, and the right to family life. Migrant workers are denied each one of these labor rights, through the failed UAE Labor Law. “The root cause of the business and human rights predicament today lies in the governance gaps created by globalization [hence migrant workers] - between the scope and impact of economic forces and actors, and the capacity of societies to manage their adverse consequences.”[17]
The Federal Law (No.8, 1980), titled Regulation of Labor Relations, is responsible for reigning control and supervision over relationships between the state, the employer and migrant workers.[18] The UAE’s Federal Labor Law dictates all labor relations through the country, via the Ministry of Labor (directed by Dr. Dr. Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi) and his Council of Ministers. This Law, in partnership with labor examiners, is said to support both national and migrant workers; this is true for the former, however it fails to protect the human and labor rights of latter. “Until January 25th 2005, there were only 80 labor inspectors employed to look after the interests of approximately 2,738,000 expatriate workers. Now there are 130 inspectors; 1 UAE national inspector for every 21,062 expatriate employees.”[19]
Employers virtually own their workers once they arrive on Dubai soil. “The sponsorship system continues to be the mechanism through which workers enter labor-scarce Gulf countries.”[20] Prior to arrival in the UAE, foreign workers must be sponsored by a licensed local citizen, who is registered with the Ministry of Labor. This ensures that the workers are under full control and supervision of their sponsors during their stay in Dubai. The sponsor will decide where the workers shall travel to for work purposes, based on the economic needs of the country, at any given time. “This system, as applied to lower level positions, has been analogized to slavery because the employee is tied to one employer.”[21]
Confiscation of migrant workers passports is absolutely illegal, as stated under the UAE Labor Law and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Article 21 of the Convention states that it is unlawful for people, including employers, to withhold one’s identification unless they are of public authority authorized to do so. The UAE Labor Law states that employers are not to confiscate or destroy personal documents, muddle with documents that authorize workers to stay or leave the country, or work permits.[22] Employers seize workers documents, regardless of what the law says, since they are rarely ever punished for doing so. In 2001, the Dubai Court of Cassation legally revealed the “open secret that employers in the UAE often confiscate the passports of their employees, yet the government chooses to ignore this illegal practice.”[23] In addition, bosses will enforce longer and stricter contracts on the workers, to further prevent them from leaving the country. The sponsorship initiative violates the basic human labor right of the abolition of slavery and forced labor.
Article 2 of the UAE Labor Law indicates that migrant worker’s records, contracts, files, and data are to be documented in the country’s official Arabic language. In addition, working instructions shall also be published in Arabic. This choice of language will always prevail, even if the worker speaks in a different native tongue.[24] This overtly violates the basic human labor rights to just and favorable enumeration and non-discrimination. It has been proposed that the Labor Law should ensure contracts and instructions be printed in the comprehended language of the workers, to avoid misconceptions, the spread of misinformation, and employer deception.[25] However, in Dubai’s favor, such language confusions are a cleaver way to trick migrant illiterate workers into unforeseen contracts, which once are signed, the government cannot help them escape from.
Article 101 of the UAE Labor Law requires employees to provide migrant workers in remote areas outside of Dubai’s centrality, with transportation, comfortable living accommodations, drinking water, adequate food supplies, health facilities, and recreational opportunities. The workers are not to be charged for any of these amenities.[26] The majority of these requirements are outstandingly overlooked and discounted by employers and Labor Law enforcement. Further understanding seeks detailed explanation.
Construction workers depend on their sponsors for everything, during their stay in Dubai. Since workers contribute to local traffic, which is already held up for hours each day, they are often dropped off 5-10 KM away from their work site.[27] Workers line up by the dozens just to secure a seat on the buses, which are crammed and unsafe. When they finally make it home from work, and load off the buses, communal life is somewhat restricted. Workers must seek approval from their bosses to obtain liquor licenses and to have or rent a telephone or satellite television.[28] Workers have no independent rights to a sufficient social life, should their employers not grant them access, hence violation of the human labor right to rest and leisure.
Hundreds of migrant workers live in ghettos, dwelling on the outskirts of capitalistic Dubai. The migrant workers in blue construction uniform return home from work to a room that is shared among many men. Many men are not lucky enough to have bunk-beds, and therefore sleep atop each other on the floor. Even worse, it is said that most workers sleep in small cells that are beyond comparable to the beautiful stalls that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s horses live in.[29] The rooms often have one hole for washroom purposes and one water tap.[30] In a better case scenario, the workers share communal bathrooms, showers, and kitchens. The labor camps drown in desert sand and often lack garbage systems. Sonapur has been known as the worst labor camp, lacking basic essentials, such as a sewage system.[31] Inevitably, these labor camps make prisons seem like hotels. Eating conditions and food supply are not much better than other attributes to life; in worst case scenarios, the workers are sometimes only fed “two handfuls of old rice per day.”[32]
The UN’s International Convention on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), ensures just and favorable working conditions for everyone, which includes particular safe and healthy working conditions.[33] Article 91 of the UAE Labor Law, which refers to worker’s safety, protection, health and social care states that all employers are to “provide appropriate safety measures to protect workers against the hazards of occupational injuries and diseases that may occur during the work, and also against hazards that may result from the use of machines and other work tools.”[34] This supports the basic human labor right of a safe work environment. Article 142 of the UAE Labor Law sustains that should a worker suffer injuries on the jobsite, the employer is to immediately report the injury to police or to the labor department. A report should validate all personal and employment information, such as the construction worker’s “name, age, occupation, address, and nationality, and a brief account of the accident, its circumstances and the medical aid or treatment provided.”[35] Police are entitled to follow through with further investigations, which may require questioning witnesses. However, this is hardily ever necessary, because injuries are seldom reported by employers, as it adds too much confusion to their already inhumane practices.
Unsafe working conditions are beyond hazardous, and often deadly, due to the lack of safety equipment provided by their employers. Not only do employers never report worker injuries, even worse, they rarely report migrant deaths that result from worksite blunders. It is up to the employers to immediately notify the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, should a death arise, but very few take action. Dr. Khalid Khazraji, Labor Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labor, said that this gives reason to why “the government has no comprehensive data about numbers, causes of death or injury, or about the identity of those dead or injured.” [36] In 2005, only 1/6 of the near 600 companies in Dubai reported worker injury or death; “800 workers died, only 34 were announced by the government [because] only 6 companies filed reports of death and injury.”[37]
“In an interview with the Indian consul in Dubai for the documentary Dans les Soutes de l’Eldorado, journalists Philippe Levasseur, Philippe Jasselin and Alexandre Berne claim to have been shown confidential reports showing that two Asians per day die on the construction sites of Dubai, and that there is a suicide every four days.”[38]Aside from accidental deaths, horrid working conditions lead to suicide among many labors. In 2004, the Indian consulate claimed that some 67 Indian workers commit suicide in Dubai, and some 100 more commit suicide within the following year. A specific case study details that “an Indian worker killed himself after his employer refused to give him 50 Dirhams to visit a doctor.”[39]/[40] Modern political theorists, such as Thomas Hobbs, philosophizes about his ideal state, which has strict control over its people, making them live a brutish, nasty, poor, and short life.[41] This ancient theory is recognized in the modern lifestyles of migrant workers in Dubai, hence high rates of suicide.
Employers need workers, but do not want to take responsibility of the men when they become injured on the job site, hence the rapid adoption of illegal workers to their workforce team. Seemingly very illicit, local government officials help companies and illegal workers in their efforts. These migrant laborers are of the most vulnerable, and face the most discrepancies and uncertainties, as they literally have no legal labor rights as illicit workers. A specific case study, from the Human Rights Watch organization, reveals these illegal working situations.
Chekalli, originally from Andhra Pradesh, India worked as an illegal migrant construction worker, employed in Dubai. He suffered major back injuries at the job site, especially on January 22nd 2006. Checkalli and his fellow injured work partner were dumped off at the government-run Kuwaiti Hospital in Emirate of Sharjah, to seek medical attention. Chekalli would soon come to realize that his injury caused him to be paralyzed, so not only could he no longer work, but he could no longer walk. Because injured Chekalli served no purpose for being in Dubai, due to his injury, “he would be returning to India without receiving any compensation for his work-related injuries.”[42] Without any reparations, reimbursements, or health insurance, Checkalli would have to take care of himself at home without any assistance from Dubai.
Legal migrant construction workers are paid exceptionally low wages, hence referring them to slave workers. This violates the basic human labor right of equal pay for equal work. Article 63 of UAE Labor Law states that a minimum wage shall be put in place, in accordance to the cost-of-living index payable to workers. It is up to the Minister of Labor to determine a minimum wage standard, that meets equivalencies to the worker’s cost of living, and that will provide for “basic needs and guarantee his livelihood.”[43] Migrant workers are paid close to nothing because they literally have close to nothing, as their living conditions are below minimum custom (hence a minimum wage based on the cost-of-living index payable to workers). Unlike Dubai’s wealthy, migrant’s lifestyles are not ones of extravagance. “Going to the cinema on their day off is out of the question. It costs more than a day’s wages.”[44]
Foreign construction workers are often paid about 600 Dirhams a month, equivalent to $160-170 US Dollars, while the average per capita income is over $2,000 US Dollars per month. These amounts equate to workers being paid about $1 US Dollar per hour. Workers are often in debt before traveling to Dubai, due to the loans they take from their home recruitment agencies, which secure their jobs abroad. In addition, debts increase when they arrive to Dubai, due to high visa and travel costs. Jus Codens norms prove that bonded labor in Dubai is a modern form of slavery, as “migrant workers spend several years working to pay back debts over which they have no control.”[45] This violates the 1926 and 1956 Conventions on Slavery.
Employers often illegally withhold employees low wages for months at a time. This prevents workers from sending money home to their families, who usually receive up to 80% of the migrant workers wages. Within the past few years, thousands of “workers filed complaints with the government about the non-payment of wages and labor camp conditions.”[46] This refusal of wages is of course illegal, under Article 56 of the UAE Labor Law, which indicates that workers on yearly or monthly contracts are to be paid at least once a month, while all other workers shall be paid biweekly.[47] Even though the Labor Law provides penalties for violations of its provisions, including withholding and the non-payment of wages, there has not been “a single instance where an employer was sanctioned, either by prison time or financial penalties, for failing to pay its workers,”[48] as of 2006.
In order to get paid, migrant workers must put in sufficient labor time on the construction site. Under Article 65, the UAE Labor Law states that the maximum normal working hours are 8 hours per day, totaling 48 hours per week. However, migrant construction workers often work 14 to 18 hour days, in the scorching 120(Fahrenheit) degree heat. Article 66 of the UAE Labor Law states that workers shall not labor for 5 hours without a break and Article 69 states that the “number of hours of actual overtime shall not exceed two a day.”[49] It is well know that these Laws are always violated, as laborers always work overtime, are given seldom breaks, and are never equally paid for their extra hours of labor. In addition, the UAE Labor Law’s working hours do not include “periods spent by a worker in traveling between his home and place of work.[50] Workers reside on Dubai’s outskirts, which is at least an hour drive from the construction sites and city’s lavish social scene. This means workers may spend up to 3 unpaid hours per day travelling to and from work.
Migrant workers “have great difficulty functioning outside of their own networks and have no access to government agencies or policies.”[51] They are unsatisfied with the horrid working conditions their employers force them to labor in, and therefore turn to public protests and strikes, in hopes to get their voices heard. Public demonstrations and protesting is illegal in Dubai; “when the workers strike as a result, they are jailed.”[52] Political parties, trade unions, and political organizations that may protect migrant works are also illegal. Freedom of assembly is a denied human labor right that confines migrant workers from political participation and involvement in the decision making processes. The UAE is a member country to the International Labor Organization (ILO), but their behavior does not coincide with the ILO’s Conventions on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize (No.87) and the Convention on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining (No.98).
Disregarding Dubai’s oppressive regimes, however, “between May and December of 2005, 8 major strikes took place.”[53] Throughout 2006, there were some 20 publically organized demonstrations in Dubai, in front of the Ministry of Labor building.[54] Amnesty International, a prominent worldwide human rights NGO, reported that in August and October of 2008, “hundreds of construction workers went on strike in Dubai to protest against low salaries and poor housing conditions, including a lack of safe water supplies.”[55] All these outbreaks prove that the Minister of Labor’s March 2006 promise for the legislation of a new Law to allow for trade unions and collective bargaining had failed. [56]
On March 11th 2007, workers of ETA Ascon, a company owned by the local Al Ghurair Emirati family of Dubai, sought revolts against their employer because of their low income wages. The companies 3,500 works only earn between 550-650 Dirhams each month. These workers demanded not only pay raises, but an “annual leave of one month and a return air ticket to their home country.”[57] 200 workers were to be deported as a result of the riots, which damaged a company vehicle, injured a company manager, and cost the company some 4 million Dirhams. Those who were allowed to keep their jobs and stay in Dubai received “a pay increase of 2 Dirhams (0.55 US Dollars) per day and a return air ticket home every two years.”[58] This situation is an example of how the migrant workers have little to no human labor rights, amid local Emirati people who seek economic gains at the expense of exploiting their workers.
Employers go unpunished for the unending lists of maltreatments that they enforce to control their migrant workers; “governance gaps between the employer and employee provide the permissive environment for wrongful acts by companies of all kinds without adequate sanctioning or reparation.”[59] More specifically, should a company be caught for breaching the law, in relation to the maltreatment of their workers, they shall only seek a small fine of between 6,000 and 12,000 Dirhams ($1,600-3,200 US Dollars).[60] Employers rarely ever take care of their workers, hence all the documented human rights violations. This leaves the construction workers with no one to turn to for assistance and aid. There is a desperate need to recognize and involve outside sources, should these human labor rights atrocities be punished and put to a stop.
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), which fall under the category of Non-State Actors, are inspired to promote basic human labor rights and change societal norms by improving understandings, documenting violations of human rights, creating and supporting enforcement mechanisms, and implementing policies to solve problems. NGOs date back to various forms of Labor Movements, often focused on helping exploited migrant workers, among various other abused minority groups. In Dubai specifically, NGO’s are desperately needed to help free the migrant construction workers from conditions of slave labor, because governmental agencies and big business conglomerates refuse to do so. All 100 some domestic NGOs within UAE must be registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs, through which they receive financial assistance.[61]
One of the most prominent NGOs in Dubai that works toward irradiating the working conditions for migrant construction workers is the Human Rights Watch (HRW). HRW lies the “legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.”[62] The HRW has been around for roughly 30 years, founded in 1978. As of 1989, one of its prominent divisions has been focused on Middle Eastern countries, hence their involvement in Dubai. The HRW monitors some 70 countries within many subcategories of violation issues, such as labor rights. In addition, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a leading NGO that promotes humanitarian law in foreign countries through the world, including in the UAE. The ICRC recognizes the mistaken choices the UAE federal government and local Dubai municipalities have taken in protecting the voices of their workers.
Promoting, protecting, monitoring, and implementing human rights is of main concern to the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); “the principal forum for negotiating international human rights norms.”[63] It is devised as a forum for counties, non-governmental groups, and human rights defenders. HRW recommends the UAE to develop a tighter relationship with the UN. The UAE is a signatory to the UN, as of December 4th 1971.[64] Therefore, the people residing and laboring within the country, under the UAE Labor Law, are entitled to the UN’s basic human labor rights. The UAE is urged to consider UN International Covenants, such as the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The ICESCR seeks “the right of everyone to form trade unions and join the trade union of his choice, for the promotion and protection of his economic and social interests and the right to strike.”[65] The UAE should also consider the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to freedom of association; “everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”[66]
HRW suggests that the UAE adopt the policies of the UN’s International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICPRMWMF). The UN’s Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) seeks to enable and enforce rules and regulations under the ICPRMWMF. If properly considered and implemented, it will better enhance, protect, and secure the rights of its migrant construction workforce. The CMW is practiced through independent experts who monitor human rights protections, while states submit reports to the Committee, following up on implemented or ignored human right practices.[67] These Committees can only issue observations, comments, and recommendations based on their concerns for their member states. The way in which the CMW operates is very similar to the UN’s OHCHR and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Supported by over 180 member states (including the UAE), the ILO works toward ridding work that involves various forms of slavery, such as the working conditions endured by the migrant construction workers in Dubai. The ILO is the first of its kind and was created by the Treaty of Versailles. After WWII, important conventions were created such as “freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, discrimination in employment, equality of remuneration, forced labor, migrant workers, workers’ representatives, and basic aims and standards of social policy.”[68] Dubai evidently chooses to ignore such procedures. States and national authorities, who chose to follow the ILO’s positive worker enforcements, are to submit reports to the ILO, for the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEPCR) review. The ILO’s reporting and monitoring system can only make observations, which are supported and represented by national trade union representatives.[69]
In accordance with following the ILO’s labor laws, HRW raises prominent sections that Dubai needs to focus on; ILO’s Conventions concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour (No.29), Recommendation concerning Migration for Employment (No.86), Convention concerning Migration for Employment (No.97), Convention concerning Abolition of Forced Labour (No.105), the Convention concerning Migrations in Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and Treatment of Migrant Workers (No.143), the Recommendation concerning Migrant Workers (No.151), Conventions
[1] “Fastest Growing City in the World! Middle East 2.0 – Dubai.” YouTube Broadcast: Online. 18 Feb. 2007. <21 Nov. 2008.
[2] “UAE markets plunge again on Dubai debt drama.” 02 Dec. 2009. EUbusiness: Online. <10 Dec. 2009.
[3] Worth, Robert F. “Laid-off Foreigners leave as Dubai Spirals Down.” 11 Feb. 2009. New York Times: Online. <05 Dec. 200.
[4] Thompson, Ben. “What spoiled the party in Dubai?”27 Nov. 2009. BBC World News: Online. <06 Dec. 2009.
[5] Fenelon, K.G. The United Arab Emirates: An Economic and Social Survey. London and New York; Longman Group LTD, 1973. P.7.
[6] Fenelon, K.G. The United Arab Emirates: An Economic and Social Survey. London and New York; Longman Group LTD, 1973. P.7.
[8] “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. <21 Nov. 2008. P.10.
[9] Binder, Leonard. Rebuilding Devastated Economies in the Middle East. New York: Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA, 2007. P. 44.
[15] Donnelly, Jack. Universal Human Rights: In Theory & Practice. United States of America: Cornell University Press, 2003. P.58.
[16] Ong, Aihwa. “The Gender and Labor Politics of Postmodernism.” Annual Reviews: Anthropology. Vol. 20. Pages: 297-309. 1991. <20.100191.001431?cookieSet=1>. 13 Dec. 2008. P.280.
[17] Ruggie, John. “Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights.” Human Rights Council. Session 8. Agenda 3. 7 April. 2008. <13 Dec. 2008. P.3.
[18] Keane, David and McGeehan, Nicholas. “Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab Emirates.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. Vol.15. No.1. Pages: 81. Brill (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers). 2008.<http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/FullText....>. 13 Dec. 2008. P.84.
[19] Keane, David and McGeehan, Nicholas. “Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab Emirates.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. Vol.15. No.1. Pages: 81. Brill (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers). 2008.<http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/FullText....>. 13 Dec. 2008. P.91.
[20] Binder, Leonard. Rebuilding Devastated Economies in the Middle East. New York: Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA, 2007. P. 44.
[21] Keane, David and McGeehan, Nicholas. “Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab Emirates.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. Vol.15. No.1. Pages: 81. Brill (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers). 2008.<http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/FullText....>. 13 Dec. 2008. P.84.
[22]“Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. <21 Nov. 2008. P.66.
[23] “UAE: Draft Labor Law Violated International Standards.” Human Rights Watch: Online. 24. March. 2007.22 Nov. 2008.>
[31] Shaoul, Jean. “The plight of the UAE’s migrant workers: the flip side of a booming economy.” World Prout Assembly: Online. 9 Nov. 2007. <23 Nov. 2008.
[33] “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. <21 Nov. 2008. P.66.
[36] “Federal Law No. 8 for 1980, On Regulation of Labor Relations The Determination of retentive Methods and Measures For the Protection of Workers From the Risks Work.” 30 August 2006, Vol. 142. No.32. 1982. <http://www.mol.gov.ae/Pages-EN/documents-en/rulelabour.>.13 Dec. 2008.
[38] Keane, David and McGeehan, Nicholas. “Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab<>http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/FullText....>. 13 Dec. 2008. P.93.
[39] Keane, David and McGeehan, Nicholas. “Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab Emirates.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. Vol.15. No.1. Pages: 81. Brill (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers). 2008.<http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/FullText....>. 13 Dec. 2008. P.92.
[40] Economist Intelligence Unit. “Country Report: UAE, Main Report.” 1 February 2005. 13 Dec. 2008.
[41] Donnelly, Jack. Universal Human Rights: In Theory & Practice. United States of America: Cornell University Press, 2003. P.204
[42] “Human Rights Watch interview with Indian social activist (identity withhold).” February 21, 2006. “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. 22 Nov. 2008. P. 48.
[44] Shaoul, Jean. “The plight of the UAE’s migrant workers: the flip side of a booming economy.” World Prout Assembly: Online. 9 Nov. 2007. <23 Nov. 2008.
[48] “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. <21 Nov. 2008. P.15.
[51] Binder, Leonard. Rebuilding Devastated Economies in the Middle East. New York: Center for Near Eastern Studies, UCLA, 2007. P. 44.
[52] “Top 20 Reasons Not To Move To Dubai.” YouTube Broadcast: Online. 11 Sept. 2007. <21 Nov. 2008.
[53] “UAE: Address Abuse of Migrant Workers.” Human Rights Watch: Online. 28 March. 2006. <22 Nov. 2008.
[54] “United Arab Emirates.” Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: 2006. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, Labor. U.S. Department of State. 6 March. 2007. <24 Nov. 2008.
[55] “UAE – Amnesty International Report 2008.” Human Rights In United Arab Emirates. Report: 2008. Amnesty International: Online. <23 Nov. 2008.
[56] “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. <21 Nov. 2008. P.11.
[57] Keane, David and McGeehan, Nicholas. “Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab Emirates.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. Vol.15. No.1. Pages: 81. Brill (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers). 2008.<http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/FullText....>. 13 Dec. 2008. P.89-90.
[58] Keane, David and McGeehan, Nicholas. “Enforcing Migrant Workers' Rights in the United Arab Emirates.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. Vol.15. No.1. Pages: 81. Brill (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers). 2008.<http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.uwindsor.ca/FullText....>. 13 Dec. 2008. P.89-90.
[59] Ruggie, John. “Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights.” Human Rights Council. Session 8. Agenda 3. 7 April. 2008. <13 Dec. 2008. P.3.
[60] “UAE: Draft Labor Law Violated International Standards.” Human Rights Watch: Online. 24. March. 2007. <22 Nov. 2008.
[61] “United Arab Emirates.” Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: 2006. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, Labor. U.S. Department of State. 6 March. 2007. <24 Nov. 2008.
[63] Donnelly Jack, Universal Human Rights, United States: Cornell University Press, 2003, p.129.
[64] “United Nations Member States.” Press Release: Org/1469. United Nations. 3 July. 2006. <15 Nov. 2008.
[65] “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. <21 Nov. 2008. P.66.
[66] “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. <21 Nov. 2008. P.66.
[67] “Charter-Based Mechanism for Human Rights Protection and Promotion.” The United Nations Human Rights System. Human Rights Education Associates. <22 October 2008.
[68] Donnelly, Jack. Universal Human Rights: In Theory & Practice. United States of America: Cornell University Press, 2003. P.145.
[69] Donnelly, Jack. Universal Human Rights: In Theory & Practice. United States of America: Cornell University Press, 2003. P.145-146.
[70] “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.” Human Rights Watch. Vol.18. No.8(E). Nov. 2006. <21 Nov. 2008. P.68.
[71] “UAE: Workers Abused in Construction Boom.” Human Rights Watch: Online. 11 Nov. 2006. <22 Nov. 2008.
[72] Donnelly, Jack. Universal Human Rights: In Theory & Practice. United States of America: Cornell University Press, 2003. P.104.
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