if UAE were
100 people19 would be Emirati
23 would be other Arabs and Iranians
50 would be South Asian
8 would be Western Europeanbelief systems
(% of population)MuslimOther964DUBAI UAEpopulation per sq km
≈ 28 peopleentrap foreign workers with recruiting fees and false
contracts. The report lauded this positive commit-
ment, which addresses one of the country’s most
glaring human-rights problems – the abuse of mi-
grant construction workers. The living conditions
of such labourers remain a contentious issue. Keep
your eyes peeled when you are flying into the air-
port at Dubai and you may well spot the segregated
labour camps on the outskirts of the city. Many con-
sider the abolition of the sponsorship (kafala) sys-
tem (which basically strips workers of any rights) to
be key among needed changes. Kuwait announced
plans to scrap its kafala system in October 2011. It
remains to be seen whether the UAE will follow suit.
Arab Spring Fallout
The revolutionary wave of demonstrations (or Arab
Spring) that began on 18 December 2010 has led to
authorities in the UAE becoming a tad jittery about
any online dissent. In November 2011, authorities
blocked access to http://www.localnewsuae.com, a news
portal that features wide-ranging articles and blog
posts on local and international issues. Download-
ing social-networking sites, such as Facebook and
Twitter, is also still banned. However, if you have
these programs already loaded on your device, there
should be no problem. More recently, the online UAE
discussion forum uae hewar (www.uaehewar.net),
with its emphasis on freedom of expression and poli-
tics, was also blocked. ‘The UAE should take a long,
hard look at what happens to governments that sup-
press the rights of its citizens to speak out...’ com-
mented Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at
Human Rights Watch in a January 2011 press release.
The Future
According to statistics released by government
economists, there was a 1.8% increase in economic
growth during the first quarter of 2011 and unem-
ployment was at its lowest level, both solid indica-
tors of a steady economic recovery. Meanwhile,
Nakheel, the Dubai property developer behind the
Palm Jumeirah (which was forced to shelve plans
for additional islands due to massive debt), is keep-
ing environmentalists happy with its latest project,
building a string of artificial reefs off the city state’s
coast in a bid to attract more aquatic life. Tourism
has increased, with 30 new hotels opening in 2011
and a 9% rise in occupancy, and the emirate is appar-
ently on track to achieve the targets set in the Dubai
Strategic Plan for 2015. This involves well-publicised
initiatives such as boosting cruise tourism with the
opening of a new cruise terminal, launching Dubai
Green Tourism Awards for environmentally friendly
hotels, and establishing a new hotel classification
system with five-star properties being classified into
a further three categories: platinum, gold and silver.
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