As the commencement of this year’s Conference of the Parties (COP) draws ever closer, the host nation has faced intensifying scrutiny. We at impACT have consistently voiced our concern with a number of issues at COP28…. Concerns, however, also stem from the deplorable conditions that migrant workers have been faced with as they prepared for the November conference.

The conference this year will be held at the newly transformed “Expo City”, billed as the “human-centric city of the future”. It is the re-vamped site of Expo 2020, and is currently under renovation in preparation for this years Conference of the Parties. Migrant workers, accounting for approximately 90% of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) private workforce and forming a significant portion of the blue-collar workers, have played a pivotal role in preparing for COP28 “working day and night happily” according to the special projects director of Expo City.

In September, human rights research group FairSquare conducted a thorough investigation into the working conditions of migrant construction workers employed by the state over two days…

Whilst the ‘midday ban’ is touted as a crucial aspect of the authorities devotion to worker safety, it has inherent limitations and fails to fully account for the dangerous conditions faced by workers…