Trapped in Paradise: The Untold Story of Modern-Day Slavery in Dubai
Dubai appears beautiful on the surface, but the deeper you dig, the more crimes and dark stories you can find.
Imagine a city shimmering in the desert sun, where skyscrapers reach impossibly high into the clouds, and luxury flows like champagne at a Gatsby party. That’s Dubai, a playground for the rich and famous, a land of luxuries that seems almost too good to be real, where every day feels like living in a dream made of gold. But beneath all the glitz and glamour lies a harsh reality, as harsh as the midday sun reflected off those mirrored skyscrapers.
On the outside, Dubai looks like a perfect place with lots of opportunities, promising a life of luxury and success, but the city’s success comes at a heavy price, paid not in dirhams or dollars, but in human lives. The towering structures, the extravagant malls, the theme parks that defy gravity — all these are built on the backs of an unseen workforce, men and women lured by promises of a better life, only to find themselves trapped in a modern-day slavery.
Despite the glossy image portrayed on postcards and travel brochures, it is, in reality, one of the worst places to work — a “fools paradise” and a notorious hub for slavery and human trafficking. Under the beautiful surface of this desert city, there is a cruel and deadly system involving recruitment, abduction, deception, kidnapping, and the defrauding of human beings.
And mind you, this isn’t just an issue in the UAE; it’s the same in nearly all rich Arab countries in the Middle East, from Oman to Qatar or elsewhere. Wealthy sheikhs, their pockets filled with petrodollars, turn a blind eye to the blood on their marble floors and the sweat that powers their air-conditioned palaces.
The glitzy tourism videos, photos, and ads you come across on Instagram and other social media platforms are simply a marketing gimmick to lure you into this super expensive, “artificial city” in the midst of a desert where no natural life flourishes. Most of these mega skyscrapers are actually empty, by the way.
“Dubai is like a city designed by a 6-year-old with an unlimited budget — Las Vegas without the showgirls, gambling, or Elvis. It’s a financial Disneyland without the fun, a holiday resort with the worst climate in the world. It boils. It’s humid. And the constant wind is full of sand.”
The Arabs went from living in the 18th Century to the 21st in just one generation. They may live in glass skyscrapers & drive luxury cars, but most are mentally stuck as primitive desert settlers, continuing to view foreign workers as their slaves. If you really think that things have changed, then look up how many people have died building the 2022 FIFA world cup stadium in Qatar.
Human trafficking, also known as modern-day slavery, can take many forms, including forced labor — which is what we see in the United Arab Emirates. More than 88.5% of UAE residents are foreign workers, with South Asian migrants constituting 42.5% of the UAE’s workforce. These migrants, often hailing from illiterate and impoverished rural communities in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, respond to advertisements offering $300 a month, along with food and accommodation, in exchange for manual labor from 9 to 5, five days a week
Eager to move to Dubai and start earning money to send back to their families, they take out loans of up to $3,000 from unscrupulous recruitment agencies to pay the exorbitant ‘visa fees’ (which are actually illegal — recruitment agencies are supposed to cover these fees) and board flights to Dubai, excited for a new life in the glitzy emirate.
However, when they touch down the airport, the narrative takes a different turn. They are taken to filthy towns on the outskirts, where 45 men share one outdoor bathroom, and 10 or more people sleep in a room. Their passports are confiscated, and they are informed that they will be working 14-hour days, six or seven days a week, under the scorching desert sun.
The treatment of migrant workers worsens as time passes. Unfortunately, not only do they have to endure horrible living conditions, but the agreed-upon wages will never be given. Wages are frequently withheld for months on end to ensure the worker doesn’t quit. The workers quickly realizes that it will be years before they can even start to pay off their mounting debts to recruiters, let alone begin sending money home.
Without both money and their passports, these workers have no means to return home to their families. In dangerous working conditions, often without proper safety equipments, they are forced to continue working in the 50-degree heat.
The Human Cost of the Kafala System
Part of what enables slavery to happen in Dubai is the barbaric ‘Kafala’ system. Kafala, meaning ‘sponsorship’ in Arabic, designates a sponsor as a kafeel, and it is a system prevalent in Gulf countries, where private citizens and companies assume the responsibility and oversight of workers, unlike in other countries where the government typically plays this role.
Under the Kafala system, workers not only need permission from their employer if they wish to change jobs but are also required to work a minimum of two years for the same person or company, facilitating wage suppression by limiting competition. Moreover, the worker’s exit visa is controlled by their kafeel, preventing them from leaving the country without their employer’s permission.
This in itself exposes the system to abuse and exploitation, with migrant workers being at the total mercy of their employers (particularly in the case of vulnerable domestic workers), but in addition to that, the Kafala system provides no protection for the workers. The Kafala system also does not allow workers to dispute employers nonperformance of contracts, nor does it allow them to escape a potentially abusive situation. If a worker is caught trying to escape their employer, then they are returned straight back to the same employer.
The roots of Arab elitism depicted here are embedded in the long-standing rule of a monarchy that rejects the concepts of human rights and democracy for its citizens. Furthermore, many Arabs consider themselves superior to other Muslims, especially those from Pakistan or India, which explains why they treat them as such.
To make matters worse, your worth in this city is determined by your nationality, as if your passport is a measure of humanity. Dubai is a harsh and unforgiving landscape with savage rules, where the value of your work is only as high as the emblem on your passport. Consider the stark contrast in salaries: Americans and Europeans reap double, or more, than their counterparts from third-world countries, all while performing the same job in the same company. The rich in Dubai are incredibly greedy, and they are aware that they can exploit people from the third world without facing regulations.
The Hidden Camp
These desperate laborers flock to UAE, dreaming of a better future, only to be met with the harsh reality that nothing is more soul-crushing than the illusory ‘paradise’ in the heart of the desert. They work tirelessly until they collapse under terrible conditions, earning as little as $100 per month while their bosses wipe their bottoms with $100 bills. Then, in the evening, they are taken to a hidden location in Dubai known as ‘Sonapur.’ Sonapur is where the poor migrant workers, mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa, and China, are housed, and there is no family residence there.
Below are photos taken by an Iranian photographer from the ‘Sonapur camp,’ depicting the horror and dark side of this city — the stressful lives of South Asian workers.
Treatment of Workers in the Middle East
Numerous Asian and African workers are constantly compelled to endure this inhumane treatment. Physical beatings, sexual assault, and rape are common for domestic “workers,” who are forced to sleep on counters, cupboards, and balconies like animals.
Expats who enjoy high incomes will likely never encounter the hidden hardships, where the struggles of laborers are shielded from mainstream media. The promise of good jobs and better wages also baits many women into investing in travelling to the Middle East. While some fortunate ones return with earnings, many end up paying for job placements only to be trafficked as slaves or forced into the life of sex workers.
Kasthuri Munirathinam, an Indian maid in Saudi Arabia, had her right arm chopped off by her employer for trying to flee her abusive work conditions.
Ariyawathi, a Sri Lankan domestic worker in Saudi Arabia, had 13 nails and 11 needles hammered into her body by her employers. The body of Joanna Demafelis, a Filipina domestic worker, was found stuffed in a freezer in Kuwait by a Lebanese man and Syrian woman.
It’s disgusting that many people deny such things. I’m aware that slavery still exists in some parts of the world, and incidents of forced labor or child labor happen, even in countries like India. However, here we are not talking about a third-world country; we’re discussing how one of the wealthiest countries in the world treats its migrant workers. So, it’s not because the country lacks resources that they’re treating these individuals poorly. It’s sheer greed that enables people, including labor recruiters from India or elsewhere in the Middle East, to exploit these vulnerable populations.
Dubai’s Cultural Void
Everything in the Middle East is trying to mimic the Western style of life while attempting to keep these ‘Islamist morals’ in check. There are always news reports of people getting arrested for a random peck, hug, or kiss.
Dubai is an example of what money can’t buy; a culture of its own. There’s not much to see in there except empty, tall, glossy buildings, super expensive hotels, express highways, hot seas, and a whole lot of desert wasteland — all packaged with marketing gimmicks to lure you in. There’s no culture; not a single thing is indigenous. This was a civilization that was bought wholesale.
Many Arab kids are fat and spoiled beyond reason; they are titanically rude and arrogant. This is a generation of kids who expect to never seriously work but do expect secure jobs. Dubai suffers from gigantism, a national inferiority complex that has to make everything bigger and biggest. Not a single local Emirati has had to lift a finger to make it happen. Of course, they have lifted a finger to call the waiter, taxi, or replace a simple light bulb. Emiratis are born retired. The local Emiratis have become a minority in their own country, yet the majority of workers, especially South Asians, lack basic human rights.
Then there are the white mercenaries (mostly Brits) who come here for tax-free salaries to do managerial and entrepreneurial jobs, parasites and sycophants for cash. For them, money is the driving force and validation. They came to be young, single, greedy, and insincere. None of them are very clever. So they live lives that revolve around drink and porn sex and pool parties and barbecues with a lot of hysterical laughing and theme nights, karaoke, and slobbery, regretful coupling.
Not to mention, these expats are on the short term and don’t expect to put down roots there, have children there, or grow old there. Everyone’s on a visa dependent on a job. The Middle East doesn’t grant citizenship to non-Arabs, not even to Muslims.
The job security is also very shaky and doesn’t come with any guarantees. Even if you’ve been born there, and your family has been around for three generations, there’s no pathway to citizenship. The risk of deportation hangs over everyone’s head, and it can happen at any time.
Construction-Centric Economy and Culture of Excess
Dubai thrives primarily on its construction-focused economy, where the most successful ventures revolve around real estate, construction, and tourism — nothing more, really. However, the scene is sketchy, full of fraudulent deals, broker deceptions, and various other dubious activities. It feels like there are more construction and real estate broker companies than there are people in the city. Many buildings stand incomplete, abandoned by contractors after facing huge losses.
Everywhere you turn, the government seems to relentlessly exploit the environment, treating it as nothing more than a commodity for commercial gain. The moment you step out of the airport, the reality of the desert is cunningly masked. They’ve transformed it by planting grass, trees, and flora as if to defy the very essence of its arid nature. Every day, you see workers out in the sweltering heat laying out sprinklers, cutting grass and mowing these hundreds of yards of land. It’s insane.
Dubai is the parable of what money makes when it has no purpose but its own multiplication and grandeur. When the culture that holds it is too frail to contain it. ‘Dubai is a place that doesn’t just know the price of everything and the value of nothing but makes everything worthless’. The answer to everything in Dubai is money. As the hot night envelops the city, the motorways roar with the thunderous engines of Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghinis. The fat boys are befuddled and stupefied by sports cars they race around nowhere roads, going nowhere.
The Gulf is the proof of Carnegie’s warning about wealth: “There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else.”
Sources and further reading:
