Abu Dhabi’s tourism developer said on Wednesday it remained “deeply committed” to safeguarding worker welfare following a new report on conditions on its Saadiyat Island.
Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) issued a statement saying it “fully supports and respects the important role human rights organisations play”, and would cooperate to address “issues of concern as they become evident”.
Earlier on Wednesday, the UAE was commended for improveming conditions for foreign labourers working on the construction of the $27bn Saadiyat Island project, but was urged to do more.
“Emirati developers and their international partners have stepped up to the plate on Saadiyat Island to start to protect workers, but they will need to do more to curtail the abuses,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said as part of an 85-page progress report.
In response, TDIC said it was pleased to see worker welfare improvements acknowledge but added that it believed some of the HRW findings were “outdated and inaccurate”, as the report cites interviews conducted between October 2010 and January 2011.
“Moreover, the company believes the methodology HRW has used in the report is flawed; we call into question the small sample of workers interviewed, as well as the limited number of contractors these workers represent,” TDIC added in the statement.
“TDIC therefore firmly believes that this report is not an accurate reflection of the current situation on Saadiyat.”
The company said it shared HRW’s concern on the subject of labour recruitment fees which, it admitted, “continues to be a challenge”.
“This practice mainly occurs in the worker’s country of origin, making it an extremely difficult problem to address from the UAE,” TDIC added.
TDIC said it was “extremely pleased with the community spirit that continues to flourish at the Saadiyat Construction Village” which houses up to 20,000 workers employed by contractors during the construction of Saadiyat island.
In May 2011 TDIC appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as an independent auditor to monitor its contractors’ and subcontractors’ performance in the area of worker welfare on Saadiyat.
The first report will be shared with the public later this year, TDIC said.
HRW had previously accused Abu Dhabi authorities of turning a blind eye to the conditions workers, who mainly come from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries.
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