A video has gone viral for exposing the dark side of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), shedding light on the poor living conditions of thousands of workers.
The video, shared by @FurkanGozukara on X, begins with a man saying, “Come with me as I explore the hidden side of Dubai that you never knew existed.”
The man filmed several laborers being dropped off at their building after a long day’s work.
Highlights
- A viral video reveals Dubai residential buildings with thousands of workers living in cramped rooms.
- Tanveer, an AC technician, shares a tiny room with five others, highlighting harsh conditions faced by 5,000 workers per complex.
- Human Rights Watch reports widespread human rights violations in the UAE, including wage theft and passport confiscation.
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“I’m following this fella to some labor camps so I can go to his house and see how these people live,” the content creator continues.
The video then cuts to a worker named Tanveer, an AC technician, who showcases his living conditions. As shown in the clip, Tanveer shares a small room without a private bathroom with five people.
“Is this one yours?” the man behind the camera asks, pointing to one of the bunk beds. “Oh, okay.”
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The man shows that Tanveer has a fan and an AC, which are necessary for summer temperatures that can reportedly reach 50°C (122°F).
Tanveer explains that there are 5,000 people living in similar precarious conditions in each complex.
The content creator then shows the public toilet, which Tanveer describes as an “all building toilet.”
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“If you look down there, you can see how many buildings there are,” the content creator says, capturing “blocks and blocks” of buildings where workers live. “Goes on forever, doesn’t it?”
At the end of the video, the man announces that he has received several donations for the workers in the block.
“So thanks to the help of a few people that donated and my good friend Hussein, we managed to source food packs for some of the locals that lived here,” he says. “We’ve got 150 boxes and we’re struggling to get people in line.”
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The man concludes the video by stressing the importance of being aware of one’s privileges, sharing, “It’s encounters like these that truly make you appreciate what you’ve been given.”
The video sparked hundreds of reactions, with one viewer writing, “Dubai - Double Life, Double Standards.”
A separate user highlighted the “hypocrisy” and inequality in residents’ living conditions, stating, “While all stuck tourists (who have money) get all expenses paid by the Dubai government, these people live in horrible conditions with an insanely low pay.”
“And never shown by paid influencers,” @FurkanGozukara replied.
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“Yup this is exactly what they don't want you to see, the ugliness. They treat the labor class like sh*t. Heck they treat all but the white skinned like 3rd class citizens,” shared someone else.
One person commented, “Go to section 8 housing in Baltimore. Looks similar but no AC.”
“These people are lucky to have a job. Their seller supports their whole family back in India,” another viewer shared.
Someone else said the city was “built on sl*very and low wages.”
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Dubai has emerged as a magnet for influencers, entrepreneurs, and millionaires, who are drawn by its tax-free income policies and luxury lifestyle.
The city is reportedly home to four million residents, about 90% of whom were not born in the UAE.
Khalid Ibrahim, Executive Director for Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GC4HR), previously told Bored Panda that the country ranks among the worst in terms of human rights.
Ibrahim said one of his colleagues was detained for protesting human rights violations and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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On their website, the human rights organization denounces “unlawful surveillance of private communications of human rights defenders” and states that non-citizens face the risk of deportation if they participate in online human rights advocacy.
A recent report by Human Rights Watch states that migrant workers in the UAE “face widespread ab*ses and exposure to dangerous heat-related health risks.”
These include wage theft, illegal recruitment fees, and passport confiscation, “which leave workers in situations that may amount to forced labor.”
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Employers hold disproportionate control over migrant workers under the kafala (sponsorship) system, preventing them from changing jobs without the employer’s consent, according to the organization.
Additionally, employers can file false “absconding” charges when laborers leave to escape poor working conditions, causing them to risk detention and deportation.
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Migrant workers play an indispensable role in the UAE workforce, yet the country still does not have a non-discriminatory minimum wage.
According to the report, domestic workers are even more vulnerable, being confined to homes or agency offices and subjected to wage theft and verbal, physical, and s*xual violence by employers.
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In 2024, a TikToker who goes by “Anna” called Dubai “the worst place I’ve ever lived,” sharing that she would never “forget the image of people ordering gold-covered steaks while immigrants worked in 43C heat right outside the window.”
“Animals, women, immigrants, and everybody else except rich men are treated like objects. Literal hell,” Anna denounced in a viral post.
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