Dubai's slave trade

Published by You on 6 April, 2009 - 16:50

I guess there is a reason why Muslims and Muslim nations like to concentrate and focus their hate on Israel. its because our own backyard is extremely fugly and an absolute disgrace.

Panorama will finally lift the finger on some of what happens to migrant workers in Dubai who are more or less treated as slaves, maybe even worse as Islam gave slaves some basic rights.

Its shocking that people such as Jamie Oliver who are known to promote good practices in the UK also endorse developments in such places.

And everyone else either does not know or just turns a blind eye to it all. I guess greed and easy money count for more than human rights and compassion.

You can currently watch Panorama: Slumdogs and Millionaires on .

Submitted by You on 6 April, 2009 - 16:54

Dubai: From riches to rags

...

The developments we investigated are both enthusiastically endorsed by a long line of celebrities, who allow themselves to be described as "ambassadors."

England footballer Michael Owen, cricketer Freddie Flintoff and golfer Sam Torrance endorse developments by the First Group in Dubai's Sports City.

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, golfers Greg Norman, Vijay Singh, and Sergio Garcia are all ambassadors for Jumeirah Golf Estates, which will be home to the $20M "Race to Dubai," the richest tournament in the golfing world.

The master developer of Jumeirah Golf Estates is a company called Leisurecorp, which owns Turnberry and has a stake in Troon.

'Like a prison sentence'

We looked hard for a single example of good practice on two different developments, interviewing dozens of workers employed by many different companies - some British, some owned by the Dubai government.

But I didn't find a single exception, not one worker who hadn't paid a visa fee, not one who was being well paid (the highest monthly salary I heard of was being paid to a skilled crane operator- approximately £220 ($327) a month), not one who could eat well or was free to go home if he chose to...

Read more @ or watch Panorama tonight @ 8.30pm

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"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Submitted by You on 6 April, 2009 - 16:58

And a , once again from Panorama.

...

So how was their health?

It was terrible. I was with this guy who had his finger cut and it was full of pus and it was rotting. And I asked him why haven't you done anything? He said if I go to the doctor he wants 50 dirhams from me, I don't have five dirhams to eat, how am I going to pay the doctor 50 dirhams? There were people who didn't have shoes to wear. They had blisters on their feet that were infected and pus was just going through. Of course they were weak, they were losing weight, they had aged so terribly in the three months since they had left India. They were sure they were just going to die over here and the people back home were not even going to see them. There was this date orchard next to their camp and the gardener had a heart so at the end of the day whatever dates used to fall off the tree he would give to them and that's what they were eating when I first saw them...

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"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Submitted by 1R4M on 6 April, 2009 - 19:04

well
what did u expect
dubai is a rich city
n seeing all those buildinsg
were u really expecting anything less
this happens everywhere
not just dubai
n its appalling

Submitted by You on 6 April, 2009 - 19:51

It doesn't happen everywhere.

In many developed countries there are protections against people being exploited as such. There are also some basic laws in Dubai too - but they are not implemented.

Being a rich city does not mean it has to have a seedy underbelly of shame, rather the opposite. They can afford to pay a fair wage but they choose not to.

Saying that, I assume it would be easier to exploit people if its the norm and you have the means to - those that don't will probably find it harder to accept such things.

EDIT - for those that may want to watch this "live", you can watch bbc one here:

—

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Submitted by You on 6 April, 2009 - 21:12

and I managed to miss the first ten minutes.

The bits I did see were pretty damning. I don't think this is coming onto the BBC iplayer for a few more days. suggests that it will be broadcast on BBC News channel on 9 April before making it to the iplayer.

—

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Submitted by musslima on 6 April, 2009 - 21:33

is it just dubai or does it happen in the whole of emirates?

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"to allah we belong and to him we return"

Submitted by You on 6 April, 2009 - 21:36

No idea. I think some areas of the Arab world (not just the emirates) are better than others, but overall, conditions are not good.

—

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

Submitted by Imaani on 6 April, 2009 - 21:50

I've just watched this and the living conditions of those workers were just awful. What I found really bad was the fact that they are not even paid their wages on time! :shock: That is just so wrong. I'm not really that surprised though... which is sad.

It seems the celebrities endorsing the stuff were unaware of the treatment of the workers, but they are now, and I'm glad the programme named them. The programme said Jamie Oliver had particularly asked about stuff like this before getting involved but was reassured that everything would be fine, and then later had his name removed as an ambassador after this programme, hopefully it will all be looked into and things will be significantly improved.

Treating employees like crap isn't new at all and it happens in varying degrees all over. Of course it is all about greed and very little conscience. Hopefully this exposure will lead to changes and people questioning things deeper.

And Michael Owen is a very crap actor indeed. He has two good reasons to be embarrassed now after the programme.

Submitted by You on 8 April, 2009 - 18:27

You wrote:
and I managed to miss the first ten minutes.

The bits I did see were pretty damning. I don't think this is coming onto the BBC iplayer for a few more days. suggests that it will be broadcast on BBC News channel on 9 April before making it to the iplayer.

You can now watch this online in the above link.

—

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

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