The Middle East

Migrant Workers Mistreated in Dubai

    The Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is the world’s tallest tower at 512 meters.  Recently, it passed Tapai 101 at 508 meters.  The construction is ahead of schedule and still has another year and a half of construction.  It is being built by a migrant force of 4,000 Indians. The final completed height of the building is rumored to be around 700 meters tall.  Dubai has been growing at a tremendously rapid pace, because of the rising prices of oil.  As the oil has increased, it has poured money into United Arab Emirates, making it is the central business hub of the Gulf Region.

    The rapid growth of the United Arab Emirate region has created thousands of jobs for construction workers.  In response to the surplus in jobs, Dubai has responded by opening itself to many migrant construction workers, especially from South Asia, to fill the void.  However, since the workers are not United Arab Emirate citizens, they have not been protected by the government.  For example at the Burj Dubai, the 4,000 Indians have been working round-the-clock shifts in the brutal Dubai summer heat.  Also, the workers have no set minimum wages.

    Human Rights Watch created a publication on the topic, “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.”  The report shows the slave-like conditions of the migrant worker.  For example, the average salary of the construction worker in 2006 was $106-$250 dollars a month, whereas the nation average salary for a person in the UAE, including the migrant workers, was $2,106 dollars a month.  The workers are being paid less than 10% of the typical salary for the country.  Also, it is common for employers to engage in “security” practices to ensure that workers do not quit such as withholding monthly salaries and denying the workers access to their passports.  The migrants work in poor conditions, causing premature deaths of the workers.  In 2005, 880 corpses of construction workers were returned to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh alone.

    The government has not protected the migrant construction workers.  In 1980, the UAE passed a law requiring the passage of a minimum wage, however, a law has never been passed complying with the regulation.  Also, the law does not allow a worker to accept a job at a rival company without the consent of his current employer, further tying down workers to bad jobs.  Additionally, the workers cannot assemble themselves into unions to create leverage to force employers to pay them, but instead, the workers who strike will be deported home.  The government has forced employers to pay back wages, yet have not yet publicly penalized an employer for withholding wages, giving the employers no disincentive to treating the workers badly.

    The workers need to be protected by the government.  They are a necessary resource for the UAE to continue to develop into the business capital of the Gulf Region.  The migrant construction workers must be given a minimum wage, and also more substantial rights to be able to protect themselves.   

Al-Jazeera. Burj-Al Dubai ‘world’s tallest tower’. 21 July 2007.
Human Rights Watch. Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates. November 2006.
Human Rights Watch. UAE:Worker’s Abused in Construction Boom. 12 November 2006.

Civil Marriage in Israel

On July 18, Israel’s Justice Minister, Daniel Friedman, and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Amar reached agreement on legislation that would allow limited civil marriages in Israel.  Currently, there is a difference between the state’s and religious requirements to be considered Jewish.  Under Israel’s Law of Return a person needs only to have a Jewish grandparent to be considered Jewish.  However, according to religious authorities, a person needs to have a Jewish mother or convert to Judaism.  This difference leaves about 270,000 Israeli Jews unable to marry in their own country.

This limited bill will apply only to couples where both partners are not considered Jewish according to Jewish law.  However, many criticize that this law is too limited and many will still be forced to get married outside of Israel.  The proposed legislation does nothing to address marriages between a Jew and a non-Jew, gentile.  Therefore, while gentile couples and Jewish couples will be able to marry inside Israel, mixed couples will not.

In addition to the limited scope of the legislation, critics also state that the law may isolate and discriminate against immigrants.  Most of the people who fall between the state and Jewish law’s definition of Jew are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.  So this legislation marks a first step in recognizing civil marriages and expanding marriage rights.  However, more can be done to recognize full marriage rights of every Israeli citizen.

For more information please see:

Jerusalem Post:  “Amar OKs civil marriage for non-Jews”  19 July 2007. 

Ha’aretz:  “Bill would let non-Jews wed in civil ceremony”  19 July 2007. 

Ha’aretz:  “Government to support non-Jewish civil marriage law”  19 July 2007. 

Middle East Times:  “Limit civil marriage in Israel for first time”  19 July 2007. 

Ynetnews.com:  “‘Green light’ for civil marriage in Israel”  18 July 2007.

100 Palestinians trapped in Egyptian Airport

        Since the fighting broke out between Hamas and Fatah thousands of Palestinians have fled to Egypt.  The number of Palestinian refugees in Egypt ranges from 4,000 to 6,000.  Egyptian President Mubarak stated that the refugees will remain in Egypt until the fighting subsides between the two factions.  Therefore, he has shut down Egypt’s border to the Gaza Strip, the Rafah Crossing.  He has also shut down air travel from Egyptian Airports to the Gaza trip, which has stranded passengers.

        Consequently, 100 Palestinians have been trapped in the Arish Ariport for about 20 days.  The Palestinians arrived at Arish from various countries. They had planned on stopping in Arish only to make their connecting flight to the Gaza Strip.  Therefore, they did not obtain visas to enter Egypt, because they did not think they would get stuck in the country.  These Palestinians have been forced into a small section of the airport, and have not been allowed to leave for any reason.  The Palestinians have tried to break free, but the police forcefully restrained the crowd, injuring three people.  One of the men told the Middle Eastern Times, “We are sleeping on the floor, we all share one toilet, [and] there is nowhere to take a bath or shower.”   Reportedly, they have survived on water and salt, and currently, have gone on on hunger strike. 

        The Egyptians’ rationale for shutting down the border travel is to protect the Palestinians.  The Egyptian government’s fear is that if the Palestinians enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing, they may be shot by Israelis or Hamas soldiers misidentifying them as smugglers.  The Egyptians have kept the border crossings to Israel open, but many Palestinians are hesitant to cross into Israel.  The Palestinians fear that the Israeli’s will cause them trouble or even arrest them.  Therefore, the Palestinians are stuck in Egypt for an indefinite period of time.  However, the Egyptians are trying to address the problem by setting up free health care facilities to treat the Palestinian refugees.   This help may be too little because 28 Palestinians have already died with health related issues, which could be compounded with thousands of Palestinians crowding the border towns seeking to entrance into the Gaza Strip. 

Daily Star Egypt. Palestinians Trapped in Arish Airport go on Hunger Strike. 9 July 2007.
Middle East News. Palestinians Trapped for Weeks in Egypt. 17 Jul 2007.
News24.com. Palestinians Trapped. 17 July 2007.
People’s Daily Online. Egypt to provide free treatment for stranded Palestinian patients at Rafah crossing. 16 July 2007.

Abbas appoints caretaker government

Following Hamas’s takeover of Gaza, Palestinian president, Abbas, declared a state of emergency.  He dismissed the then prime minister, Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh and appointed Salam Fayyad as the emergency prime minister.  On July 13, Fayyad resigned as prime minister but then was re-appointed by Abbas as the interim government’s prime minister.  In addition, Abbas appointed three more ministers and decreed that this new government will remain in power until the next legislative or presidential elections.

According to the Palestinian Authority’s Basic Law, an emergency government may rule for 30 days without legislative approval.  However, as a result of the in-fighting between Fatah and Hamas and Israel’s arrest of Hamas lawmakers, the Palestinian parliament is dysfunctional and was incapable of giving approval.  Fatah and Abbas’s attempts to convene a parliamentary meeting to approve the new government have or will be boycotted by Hamas.  In addition, Hamas’s attempts to convene a parliamentary meeting to declare the new government unconstitutional will be boycotted by Fatah.  In either case, the parliament will lack the quorum necessary to make an official vote.

Palestinian lawmakers who drafted the Basic Law question the constitutionality of Abbas’s actions.  While most agree that Abbas had the right to dismiss Haniyeh as prime minister, many argue that Abbas does not have the necessary authority to appoint an entire cabinet without parliament approval nor the right to suspend parts of the constitution by decree.  Abbas seems to recognize these constitutional pitfalls but states that he will do what is necessary to keep the government functioning in Palestine.

The international community has shown support for Abbas in recent weeks.  Many western governments began sending aid to Abbas and the impoverished Palestinians.  Israel has released some of the withheld tax revenue that it collects for the Palestinian Authority and is set to release 250 Palestinian detainees. 

For more information please see:

Ha’aretz:  “Fatah to boycott parliament session convened by Hamas”  15 July 2007. 

The Media Line:  “‘Abbas to prevent Hamas’ participation in future elections”  15 July 2007. 

The Independent:  “Abbas to form new caretakers government”  14 July 2007. 

Reuters:  “Hamas rejects Abbas’s new government”  14 July 2007. 

Voice of America:  “Palestinian President Abbas rules out talks with Hamas”  14 July 2007. 

Washington Post:  “Abbas rejigs Palestinian government”  13 July 2007. 

Reuters:  “Framers of Palestinian constitution challenge Abbas”  8 July 2007.

19 year old Sri Lankan Maid to be beheaded in Saudi Arabia

Rizana Nafeek is scheduled to be beheaded on July 16, 2007.  She is a 19 year Sri Lankan maid who migrated to Saudi Arabia seeking a better life through employment.  She was barely 17 when she immigrated to be a nanny in 2005, although her forged identification documents stated she was 23.  Eighteen days after she arrived in the country, the four month infant she babysat began choking. Nafeek tried to massage and stroke the child, while she screamed frantically to the child’s mom for help.  Despite all her efforts, the child still died.

Following the incident the child’s family pressed charges against the Nafeek claiming that she strangled the child to death.   The police arrested the girl and interrogated her without procuring a translator for her.  After much coercion the girl signed a confession admitting to strangling the infant to death.  However, when she was given access to a translator at a later time, through the translator she denied strangling the baby and tried to explain what had actually happened.  She also refused to sign a second confession to causing the child’s death.  However, when trying the case the court only contemplated the girl’s first confession to decide her verdict.  She was given no legal representation by either Saudi Arabia or Sri Lanka and was condemned to death by decapitation by the court. 

Nafeek is one of the many young South Asian girls who have migrated to the Middle East seeking employment.   These migrants have benefited their home nation greatly by sending money to family.  For example, there are about 400,000 Sri Lankans working in Saudi Arabia alone.  (UPI Asia Online.)   These workers ought to be protected in court, especially in capital punishment cases.  They need to be protected either by their home nation, or the home nation needs to pressure the sponsoring nation to represent these workers.  Otherwise, it will continue to create more situations where undeserving hired workers will die, and live in fear.

UPI Asia Online.  Commentary: Teenager’s beheading tests Saudi’s sharia law. 13 July 2007.

Des Moines Register. Basu: Tried without a lawyer, teen about to be beheaded. 13 July 2007.

Arab News. Initial Legal Fees Paid for Filing Sri Lankan Maid Appeal. 13 July 2007.

Arab News.  Lankans Appeal to Victim’s Father. 14 July 2007.

International Herald Tribune. Sri Lankan housemaid on death row highlights a surge in Saudi beheadings. 13 July 2007.