For first time, Dubai Expo 2020 admits death of construction site workers

At least three workers died and 72 were seriously hurt while building Dubai's Expo 2020 site over a six-year construction period, officials said in a statement.

The release of the figures came amid ongoing criticism from rights groups and the European Parliament about conditions for laborers, often from South Asia, at the site.

It is the first time that Dubai's Expo has released figures on construction-related casualties.

The $7 billion (€6 billion) world fair was delayed for a year due to the pandemic but opened on Friday. It is hoping to draw millions of visitors to the site on the outskirts of the major city in the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai Expo defends its safety record

Dubai's Expo defended its record, saying that the frequency of accidents was lower than Britain's.

The accident frequency rate, a calculation used to measure incidents over a set amount of time worked, was 0.03, compared to 0.07 in the construction industry in Britain as recorded by the UK Health and Safety Executive, the statement said.

It said that more than 200,000 workers constructed the site and collectively worked around 247 million hours.

"We have established world-class policies, standards and processes that protect and support the health, safety, and wellbeing of everyone involved in Expo 2020 Dubai," the statement said.

The statement did not explain the circumstances under which the workers died or were injured.

Conflicting numbers

Inconsistent numbers were provided about worker deaths on Saturday, news agency AP reported.

Initially, Dubai's Expo 2020 spokesperson Sconaid McGeachin said that five workers had died. Later, this number was revised down to three.

In a later statement, Expo apologized for the "inaccuracy" in the figures.

Expo boycott amid UAE's migrant safety record

In a resolution last month, the European Parliament urged member states not to take part in Expo. It cited "inhumane practices" against foreign workers and "systematic persecution" of human rights defenders.

Ahead of Expo, businesses and construction companies were "coercing workers into signing untranslated documents, confiscating their passports, exposing them to extreme working hours in unsafe weather conditions and providing them with unsanitary housing," the parliament's resolution said.

Rights groups have long criticized the country for such practices. Laborers in the UAE are barred from unionization and have few protections, leaving them open to exploitation.

The UAE rejected the non-binding resolution as "factually incorrect."

McGeachin acknowledged that authorities were aware of cases involving contractors "withholding passports," engaging in suspect "recruitment practices" and violating workplace safety codes.

She added that organizers had taken steps to clamp down on such cases, without elaborating on what these steps were.

France opted out of the boycott, denying it was part of the resolution.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited the Expo on Saturday, saying its relationship with the UAE was "a strategic one."