Rights group urges end to labour abuses in UAE

DUBAI, Mar 29 (Reuters) The United States and the European Union should not sign free trade deals with the United Arab Emirates until it ends its mistreatment of foreign workers, Human Rights Watch (HRW) today said.

The U S-based rights watchdog group said the government of the wealthy oil-producing Gulf state was turning a blind eye to non-payment of wages, lack of medical care and squalid housing for workers, who are mainly from the Indian subcontinent.

Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the UAE and the Gulf region's trading hub, is undergoing a massive building boom. Employers are often accused of failing to pay promised wages to building workers, and strikes and sometimes violent protests have erupted.

''One of the world's largest construction booms is feeding off of workers in Dubai, but they're treated as less than human,'' Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's West Asia and North Africa director, said in a statement.

''It is no surprise that some workers have started rioting in protest. What's surprising is that the government of the UAE is doing nothing to solve the problem.'' Foreigners, including middle and high-income executives, form about 85 percent of the UAE's four million population. They are the driving force behind its rapid development into an economy that attracts more than 120,000 new expatriates a year.

The United States has been urging the UAE and other Gulf Arab states to amend laws to conform to the International Labour Organisation's standards in order to qualify for a proposed bilateral free trade pact.

The UAE government has vowed to set up unions for workers, penalise firms that do not pay their employees on time and crack down on abuses. It is also amending its labour law.

REUTERS SY HT1502