UAE: Labour subcontracting, remote locations & inadequate labour protections contribute to rights violations for renewable workers, finds NGO; incl. co. non-responses
BHRRC Renewable Energy & Human Rights Benchmark Briefing
In a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change, NGO Equidem has documented a series of labour and human rights violations impacting workers employed on vital climate-related infrastructure projects, including renewable energy.
Based on interviews with workers in the UAE, conducted between February and November 2023, the submission outlines the impact of the absence of labour protections and inadequate implementation of labour laws resulting in serious rights violations for migrant workers, including barriers to access justice. The submission highlight how features of the industry, including long subcontracting practices in the renewable energy sector and the remote location of project and accommodation sites, mean there are challenges for both businesses and researchers to document, monitor and remedy issues that occur further down supply chains. Equidem particularly documents how hiring on a project-by-project basis in the renewable energy sector exacerbates this problem.
In illustrating the short-term nature of work and employment on renewable projects through “the network of contractors and subcontractors”, Equidem quote a migrant worker who describes such practices, saying they were employed on solar parks in the UAE on a project-by-project basis by four different companies:
I have been working on the Al Dhafra project for two years. Before that it was Mohammed Al Maktoum Solar Power Plant. First, I worked for a Spanish company, TSK on phase 2 and then another Spanish company on phase 3. Then I worked on phase 4 with another Spanish company. Then a Chinese company took over, Shanghai Electric on phase 5. In the UAE solar sector, we are hired on a project basis. When the project is complete, our contracts are terminated.Pakistani migrant worker in the renewable sector, UAE
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre wrote to both TSK and Shanghai Electric to invite them to respond to concerns regarding the possible negative impacts of fragmented labour subcontracting practices and project-by-project hiring in the UAE renewable energy industry; neither company responded.