Ahead of COP28, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a reporting to the exposure of UAE-based workers to escalating climate risks, especially extreme heat, which can cause chronic harms to health.

HRW interviewed 73 current and former UAE-based workers and 42 families of current migrant workers between May and September 2023 from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. 94 interviewees liv in or are from areas already facing the devastating consequences of the climate crisis and are especially exposed to floods, cyclones, salinisation of agricultural lands. Interviewees working in construction, cleaning, agriculture, animal herding and agriculture were often exposed to the UAE's extreme heat.

While the hazards of working in extreme hat are well-documented, HRW finds the UAE has failed to protect workers and relies on "arbitrary, pre-defined midday work bans in summer months" rather than risk-based standards, including the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature index or applying evidence-based guidelines to impose work stoppages in dangerous conditions. This is despite the fact the UAE's own Climate Risk Assessment recognises outdoor workers as among the most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses.

Workers told HRW researchers about the effects of extreme heat, saying that their clothing becomes so hot it burns, that they experienced nosebleeds, dizziness, vomiting and fainting, and that if they try to take a day off employers punish them by deducting wages or threatening to cancel visas.

While workers in the UAE reported various other forms of labour abuse including being charged exorbitant recruitment fees for their jobs, employers withholding passports and wage theft, they also said they could not support families in times of weather disasters. Only six workers were able to send extra financial support to families during events like floods, and were only able to do this by borrowing, cutting living costs or working over time - impacting future remittances they sent home.