Dubai Expo 2020 offers conflicting figures on worker deaths – KIRO 7 news Seattle

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – (AP) – Expo 2020 Dubai presented conflicting figures on Saturday on the number of workers killed on site during the construction of the huge world fair, first five, then three.

The Expo has refused for months to publicly provide figures on construction-related casualties in the run-up to the $ 7 billion fairground rising from the desert outside Dubai, the reputation of the city ​​abroad and attracted millions of visitors.

Expo officials did not immediately explain their inconsistent statements, which come as the event and the UAE as a whole have long been criticized by human rights activists for the mistreatment of migrant workers low wages that keep the country’s economy going.

When asked to provide a worker fatality count at a press conference on Saturday morning, spokesman Sconaid McGeachin said “we have had five fatalities now”, adding that “you know, this is obviously a tragedy that anyone would die “.

But just after 5 p.m. on Saturday and hours after an Associated Press report quoted McGeachin, the Expo released a statement that read: “Sadly, there have been three work-related fatalities (and) 72 injuries. serious to this day. ” When questioned by the PA, officials declined to immediately explain the gap between a senior Expo official and their own written statements.

Expo said its 200,000 workers who built the site worked more than 240 million hours in its construction. He was previously had not previously provided aggregate statistics on worker deaths, injuries or coronavirus infections despite repeated requests from the AP and other journalists.

The admission comes after the European Parliament last month urged countries not to participate in the Expo, citing the UAE’s “inhumane practices against foreign workers” which it said worsened during the pandemic. Ahead of the Expo, companies and construction firms “force workers to sign untranslated documents, confiscate their passports, expose them to extreme working hours in dangerous weather conditions and provide them with unsanitary housing.” , indicates the resolution.

McGeachin also acknowledged that authorities were aware of cases involving contractors “withholding passports” and engaging in suspicious “recruiting practices” and workplace safety violations at the site.

“We have taken steps to make sure these have been resolved and have been very involved in cases about it,” she said, without further details.

Workers in the UAE are not allowed to organize and have little protection, often working long hours for minimal pay and living in unsanitary conditions.

Dubai’s scorching heat in early fall proved dangerous even for those who visit the site on the day it opens on Friday, with tourists passing out in humid weather at 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

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