The government’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF), has provided £5.24bn in a combination of loans and guarantees in the past three years to overseas energy and infrastructure projects linked to labour abuses and environmental damage.
Since 2019, UKEF has allocated money to projects with the potential to cause “significant adverse environmental and/or social impacts” in countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Oil refineries, power stations, and a large-scale liquified natural gas (LGN) project are among the high-risk “Category A projects”, to receive funding recently.
Despite recommendations to mitigate labour abuses, six migrant workers employed on Middle Eastern projects backed by UKEF have revealed low pay, safety hazards, excessive working hours, and the denial of freedom of movement as persistent issues.
“UKEF financing is very specific and usually funds very big, very damaging infrastructure projects,” said Daniel Willis, policy and campaigns manager at campaign group Global Justice Now. “Human rights considerations are an afterthought, and due diligence seems to be approached as if it is just a box to tick.”
A review of an oil refinery upgrade programme in Kuwait shows that UKEF knew of worker issues before it provided a $179m (£135m) support package in 2019. Employees and contractors were commonly working more than the maximum overtime hours allowed by legislation, and 87% of workers surveyed had not received an employment contract.
About 90% of workers at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) had also been charged illicit recruitment fees to secure their jobs. Some were living in sub-standard accommodation with no air-conditioning, despite summer temperatures reaching 54C in Kuwait, the review said.
Gulam Siddique who recently worked as an inspector at KNPC’s refineries, told the Guardian lower-skilled labourers were not treated well. “They are treated as slaves, working 12 hours a day in direct sunlight,” said Siddique. “There are health risks for those guys, from the gases released at the plant.”
Several of the UK-backed projects are based in Middle Eastern countries, where the labourers’ freedom of movement is controlled under the kafala sponsorship system, which has been deemed abusive and exploitative by Human Rights Watch.
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