Cameron Sinclair: The refugees of boom-and-bust

15,119 views ・ 2009-11-13

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:18
A few years ago, my eyes were opened
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to the dark side of the construction industry.
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In 2006, young Qatari students
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took me to go and see the migrant worker camps.
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And since then I've followed the unfolding issue of worker rights.
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00:34
In the last six months, more than 300 skyscrapers
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in the UAE have been put on hold or canceled.
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Behind the headlines that lay behind these buildings
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is the fate of the often-indentured construction worker.
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1.1 million of them.
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00:48
Mainly Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan
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and Nepalese, these laborers risk everything
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to make money for their families back home.
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They pay a middle-man thousands of dollars to be there.
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00:58
And when they arrive, they find themselves in labor camps with no water,
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no air conditioning, and their passports taken away.
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01:06
While it's easy to point the finger at local officials and higher authorities,
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99 percent of these people are hired by the private sector,
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and so therefore we're equally, if not more, accountable.
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01:17
Groups like Buildsafe UAE have emerged,
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01:20
but the numbers are simply overwhelming.
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01:22
In August 2008,
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UAE public officials noted
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that 40 percent of the country's 1,098 labor camps
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had violated minimum health and fire safety regulations.
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01:33
And last summer, more than 10,000 workers
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protested for the non-payment of wages,
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for the poor quality of food, and inadequate housing.
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01:42
And then the financial collapse happened.
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01:45
When the contractors have gone bust,
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as they've been overleveraged like everyone else,
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the difference is everything goes missing,
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documentation, passports,
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and tickets home for these workers.
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Currently, right now, thousands of workers are abandoned.
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02:00
There is no way back home.
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02:02
And there is no way, and no proof of arrival.
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02:05
These are the boom-and-bust refugees.
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02:08
The question is, as a building professional,
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02:11
as an architect, an engineer, as a developer,
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if you know this is going on,
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02:15
as we go to the sights every single week,
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02:18
are you complacent or complicit
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02:20
in the human rights violations?
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02:22
So let's forget your environmental footprint.
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02:25
Let's think about your ethical footprint.
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02:27
What good is it
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to build a zero-carbon, energy efficient complex,
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when the labor producing this architectural gem
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is unethical at best?
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02:39
Now, recently I've been told I've been taking the high road.
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02:41
But, quite frankly, on this issue,
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there is no other road.
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02:45
So let's not forget who is really paying the price of this financial collapse.
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02:49
And that as we worry about our next job in the office,
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the next design that we can get, to keep our workers.
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02:56
Let's not forget these men, who are truly dying to work.
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02:59
Thank you.
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03:01
(Applause)
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