[JURIST] Labor abuses persist in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) despite attempts at reform, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported [text] Tuesday. The report details the exploitation of migrant workers building a high-profile cultural complex in the UAE that includes branches of the Louvre and the Guggenheim museums. In the report, HRW acknowledged that governmental authorities have taken “positive steps” to improve working conditions for the migrant workers. However, it said some workers involved in the project still face abuses, including employers confiscating passports, withholding pay and benefits and housing workers in poor accommodations. The report also notes that those who go on strike to protest conditions face deportation. The government-backed Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) [corporate website], which is leading the project, rejected [AP report] the report’s “unfounded conclusions,” calling them “outdated and based on unknown methodologies.” “TDIC has always been open to engaging in a constructive dialogue around the employment of expatriate labor around the world,” the company said in a statement [press release]. “TDIC will continue to work closely with its partners and make enhancements where they can be done within its capacity.” HRW said it was unable to determine the full extent of the abuses because Emirati authorities blocked it from researching the issue openly and from interviewing workers on the job site. The group interviewed 113 current and former laborers who worked on the project for seven different contractors during 2013 and 2014. All those interviewed said employers held their passports and did not reimburse them for job recruiting fees they paid to work on the project. HRW urged institutions involved in the project, including the Louvre, Guggenheim and a satellite campus of New York University [official websites], to make their ongoing participation dependent on tougher enforcement of worker protections.

Domestic employment has traditionally gone un- or under-regulated in a number of countries. Last August Brazil enacted a law [JURIST report] regulating its own domestic employment policies. In April Amnesty International reported on the human rights abuses [JURIST report] faced by migrant domestic workers in Qatar. Last November HRW issued a letter [JURIST report] to the Labor Minister of Morocco, Abdeslam Seddiki, imploring the Moroccan government to revise a draft law before the Moroccan parliament regarding legal protections for domestic workers to comply with international standards.