Expo City site is currently being adapted to prepare it to host the world’s largest annual climate conference. A senior Expo City official told UAE media in September 2023 that, “the city is undergoing major, major preparations in many areas.” On 11 September, parts of Expo City were handed over to the office of COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber. The team managing the site’s transition were “working day and night happily”, the official said...

Shortly after parts of the site were handed over to the COP28 President’s team, FairSquare researchers obtained evidence that on two separate days, migrant construction workers at Expo City were working outside during the middle of the day on at least three separate sites. Work included moving large, heavy items and working on scaffolds in harnesses...

This work took place before 15 September between 12.30pm and 3pm. Under a 2022 Ministerial resolution, outdoor work is banned by law during these times across the UAE between 15 June and 15 September due to the extreme temperature.

The three work sites were located at the Dubai Exhibition and Convention Centre and the Opportunity site, both of which will be within or adjoining the “blue zone”, the UN managed zone where world leaders will gather during the COP28 climate conference in November this year...

At the times the men – nationals of countries in South and Southeast Asia and Africa – were working, publically available climate data shows that the temperature at Dubai International Airport, a 30 minute drive from Expo City, was 42 degrees celsius on one day and 38 degrees celsius on the other...

Expo City is one of the most intensely surveilled zones of the UAE. In 2021, Dubai’s security regulator announced that 13,000 surveillance cameras were in place on the site, raising questions about why the alarm was not raised when workers were visibly outside working in extreme temperatures, during hours when all such work is banned by law...