Mussafah camp, home to New York University Abu Dhabi workers (image courtesy Gulf Labor)
A United Nations body is investigating the alleged abuse of laborers on Saadiyat Island in the United Arab Emirates, site of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Louvre Abu Dhabi projects, among other museum and cultural developments, the Guardian reported. The decision, made by the UN’s International Labor Organization (ILO), follows allegations of “exploitative practices that may amount to forced labour” presented by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) earlier this year.
The ITUC accused the United Arab Emirates — a 30-year member of the ILO recently appointed to the agency’s governing board — of violating safeguards against labor abuse, particularly targeting the visa-sponsorship kafala system driving the payment of recruitment fees to individual sponsors, who may in turn illegally garnish wages or withhold passports.
“The ITUC complaint drew on the report we issued that documented Gulf Labor’s research trip to the UAE labor camps earlier this year, and we also provided additional documentation in response to an ITUC request,” Andrew Ross, a professor of sociology at New York University (NYU) and member of Gulf Labor, told Hyperallergic, referring to a May 2014 report published by the group, which has been critical of the Guggenheim’s relationship to the alleged labor violations. Ross continued:
At our last meeting, several months ago, with the museum director [Richard Armstrong], we urged that the Guggenheim petition the Abu Dhabi authorities to (re)invite the ILO to the UAE to sit down and negotiate reforms to the kafala system. Gulf Labor believes that the ILO is the appropriate body to do so, and the museum has a stakeholder’s right to petition for this to happen. We have not heard from the museum since.
A number of journalistic and NGO investigations have joined Gulf Labor in finding instances of labor abuse on Saadiyat Island, including a front-page New York Times story about NYU Abu Dhabi earlier this year and a Guardian report last year on the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC). A Human Rights Watch report “expected to support the findings” — per the Guardian — is due in January.
A TDIC spokesperson told the Guardian the organization would “co-operate with all relevant entities [about] worker welfare.” A video released on November 27 on an apparently independent website was circulated by the TDIC Twitter account on November 30, the day after the Guardian announced the ILO investigation. The 15-minute-long video purports to present the “untold story of Saadiyat workers,” and paints a flattering picture of TDIC labor conditions.
The Latest
Did You Know These Museums Were Free for New Yorkers?
The “Free Admission” campaign is advocating to make ticket pricing information more transparent to visitors, who may be confused or misled by institutions’ language.
AI Images Visualizing Trump’s Arrest Send Internet Into a Frenzy
The pictures, created using Midjourney, depict the former president’s greatest fantasy: being dragged away by police in front of the cameras.
Haggerty Museum of Art Presents Tomás Saraceno in Dialogue With Dr. Somesh Roy
The artist and researcher will explore soot’s effects on climate change and public health in this online conversation.
Some AI Artworks Now Eligible for Copyright
New guidance from the US Copyright Office sets some policies around AI-generated images.
NYC Hispanic Society Workers to Strike Indefinitely
One worker said the museum’s “skeletal” workforce bars the institution from functioning to its potential.
McKnight Visual Artist Fellows Discussion Series at the Minneapolis Institute of Art
The series features 2021 Fellows David Bowen, Mara Duvra, Rotem Tamir, Ben Moren, and Dyani White Hawk in conversation with renowned curators and critics.
In Search of Inclusive South Asian Futurisms
We have been dangerously siloed for far too long by colonial constructs of race, nation, and time that separate, divide, and deny us our very being.
What Do Shtreimels and Cowboy Hats Have in Common?
A chance meeting on the subway introduced photographer Francesca Magnani to the multicultural world of Brooklyn milliner Richard Faison.
Nevada Museum of Art Presents Adaline Kent: The Click of Authenticity
For the first time in nearly 60 years, the innovative yet under-recognized artist is the subject of a retrospective exhibition. On view in Reno, Nevada.
Richard Hull Completes the Picture
Once known for his abstracted portraits, the Chicago artist is now exploring new directions.
You Too Can Have Your Art on a Postage Stamp
The process isn’t complicated, and thousands of people submit themselves for the talent pool every year.
The Public Theater in NYC Presents Plays for the Plague Year
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’s theatrical concert chronicles the 2020 lockdown and the hope and perseverance that emerged from it.
Bobby Wilson Combats Indigenous Stereotypes Through Humor
The artist-performer’s career undulates, ever so gracefully, across multiple mediums and registers of generational pain, healing laughter, and Indigenous joy.
Rare 19th-Century Silhouette Album’s Secrets Unlocked
Traveling portrait artist William Bache’s album depicts famous figures like Thomas Jefferson as well as people whose identity was previously unknown.