Human Rights Watch has called for governments and participants at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to acknowledge risks to migrant workers in the emirate, who are exposed to some of the worst imapcts of the climate crisis. HRW contrasts the heat participants were exposed to at the conference with the conditions migrant workers contend with on a daily basis, often occupying outdoor roles or working in physically demanding jobs like construction.

HRW has released a questions and answers documents on migrant workers abuses in the UAE and COP28, that outlines the risks migrants are exposed to, that abuses have already been documented in connection with the conference, where the gaps in safeguards for workers are (despite labour protections on paper), and how migrant workers in the UAE from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal are among those most at risk of the climate crisis in their home countries.