MIDDLE-EAST & NORTH AFRICA Human Rights Watch on Sunday stepped up the pressure on the United Arab Emirates over alleged abuses of migrant construction workers, whose plight, it said, reflected the more unpleasant side of the Gulf state’s economic boom.
Citing wage exploitation and hazardous conditions, the New York-based organisation issued a report calling on countries including the US and Australia, which are currently negotiating free trade agreements with a number of Gulf states, to insist on labour reform as a condition of signing.
