"UN investigates claims of Gulf state abuse of migrant workers", 29 Nov 2014

The United Nations is investigating the abuse of migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates, where the British Museum and other major western museums, including the Guggenheim, are involved in a multibillion-pound cultural hub.

The move, by the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO), comes after a complaint brought by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which warned that migrants doing construction and domestic work were with “alarming frequency … trapped in exploitative practices that may amount to forced labour”.

Human Rights Watch and the ITUC said the investigation meant that western institutions would no longer be able to rely on local assurances that the thousands of migrant workers in Abu Dhabi were being well treated. Many are employed on Saadiyat, the site of a £17bn ($27bn) complex of museums and luxury resorts...