International media coverage of the abusive and exploitative working conditions of workers employed on major construction projects in the Arab Gulf has raised questions about the operations of engineering and construction companies in the region.
Publicly available, comprehensive, and timely data on current construction projects could help map the employers of migrant construction workers, however such information is not easily accessible. Identifying this gap, Humanity United supported Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights to develop a methodology to track ongoing awards of construction contracts in the region.
Today, we jointly launched the Gulf Construction Tracker and a trends analysis with the aim of providing greater clarity on the types of projects awarded and the companies winning contracts across the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, starting from January to December 2017. The Tracker provides a central online database of new construction project awards likely to employ low-wage migrant workers in the six GCC countries.
Since 2012, Humanity United has worked with a variety of stakeholders and across numerous sectors to move toward meaningful change for migrant workers in the Arab Gulf region – including government agencies, multinational and local businesses, media, civil society organizations, migrant workers, and others.
We hope this tool allows civil society organizations, investors, businesses, and international and academic institutions seeking to improve the situation of migrant workers to gain a better understanding of the construction sector across the GCC countries so that these stakeholders are able to conduct more targeted research and advocacy.