UAE outrage at Human Rights Watch 'affront'

The UAE government has hit back at rights advocate group Humans Right Watch for its recent criticism of the emirates' domestic workers.

Alex Zalami, international affairs advisor for the UAE Ministry of Labour, said the advocate's approach was an "affront".

"You don't tell a country how to organise its government agencies. As long as suggestions and recommendations are constructive, even if they are critical, they are fully accepted."

International agencies that criticised the UAE needed to offer solutions to perceived problems, and not simply point the finger, he said.

"The research in a recent Human Rights Watch report on domestic workers from Sri Lanka is flawed.

These workers in the report, only eight of who worked in the UAE, said they were abused and deprived of rights.

Human rights watch did not share this information with us or offer any solutions.

They arrived at broad conclusions and we do not accept this."

Zalami said Human Rights Watch were invited to the Abu Dhabi forum and are currently represented there. "We hope they can become part of the solution and contribute to these partnerships.

To simply point the finger and say the Adu Dhabi Louvre is being built on the blood and sweat of foreign workers without any information from the Abu Dhabi government, is just taking the pleasure of pointing fingers."

Zalami said the UAE had undergone a change in mindset toward its foreign labour force.

"We are beginning a new kind of thinking. In the past we were only concerned with what happened in the UAE, so we were concerned with the protection of the worker while they are here, providing better housing and health and safety conditions, health insurance.

Now we are going beyond that and thinking of what happens to the worker before he or she gets here, and what happens after they leave.

"Now we are saying it is in the interest of the UAE and the employers to make sure that the worker is protected before they arrive.

If they are not protected, it will impact productivity, with illegal workers trying to get second jobs, trying to pay their debts. It impacts the whole cycle of employment.

Zalami said it was in the interest of the UAE that foreign workers succeed in their home countries, because the worker would not stay on after their contract expired and become an illegal worker.

The first step in this new thinking was ensuring safe and legal practices in the recruitment of foreign workers, he said.

Zalami was speaking at the Gulf Forum on Temporary Contractual Labour in Abu Dhabi.

The forum has followed the Colombo Process conference, and is highlighting the key outcomes from the dialogue.

The two-day Gulf Forum is being attended by 22 countries and will conclude with a forum report and recommendation.