New York Times edition pulled in UAE over labour rights criticism

The International New York Times (INYT) was not printed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday after local distributors deemed a story about labour rights in the Gulf state “too sensitive”, according to reporters and a spokesperson for the INYT.

In an email to subscribers, INYT said printing and distribution partners at the Khaleej Times had taken the decision. 

The story deemed “too sensitive” was about the treatment of workers who are building the Abu Dhabi campus of the New York University (NYU). The Times described “grim” labour conditions for the 6,000 workers, who complained of high-recruitment fees, poor living standards and severe crackdowns on strikes.

After the story was published a spokesperson for NYU, John Beckman, issued an apology to any workers who had been mistreated.

“To any worker who was not treated in line with the standards we set and whose circumstances went undetected and unremedied, we offer our apologies,” Beckman said in an emailed statement.

The UAE, along with their fellow Gulf States Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have been criticised by human-rights groups for labour laws that are based on a kafala (sponsorship) system. Human Rights Watch have described the system as “forced labour”, with employees tied to a local sponsor who are responsible for their legal and visa status.

The UAE government say they have moved to improve labour conditions by opening channels for complaints to be made.

“There are several channels, such as courts and the Ministry of Labour for workers to express their grievances,” Abdul Ghaffar Hussein, chairman of the government operated Emirates Human Rights Association, told Bloomberg News.

A spokesperson for the INYT confirmed the decision taken by the Khaleej Times not to publish Tuesday’s newspaper.

“We’ve been in touch with our local printer to express our profound disappointment in this decision, which we understand was based on their objection to this one particular article,” Eileen Murphy told Al-Jazeera America. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this has happened in the UAE,” she added.

The Khaleej Times is a daily newspaper published in the UAE and is 30 percent owned by the government of Dubai, which is headed by the emirate’s ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum who also acts as the country’s prime minister and vice-president.

Despite being a hub for many offices of international media outlets, the UAE is rated poorly by rights groups for local press freedoms. The Gulf State was ranked in 118^th place in the 2014 Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders.