Camp conditions in Bahrain questioned

Workers in the Diraz camp earn around US $159 (BHD60) a month, the standard wage for unskilled labourer in Bahrain. For this they work seven days a we

Kumar says MWPS has complained to the Northern Municipality about the Diraz camp’s condition and an inspector was sent to the site, but nothing was done.

“The inspector saw the conditions and they promised to improve them,” he says.

“But after that nothing happened because the building owner has some relatives in the municipality which they used to escape from the law.

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“Otherwise this building would have been demolished.”

Construction Week has made several visits and phone calls to the Northern Municipality regarding the issue, but no one was available for comment.

MWPS spokesperson Marietta Dias says it’s a typical result.

“They are always launching investigations but you never hear any results. They have not been conditioned to follow things up like governments in other countries,” she says.

“If anything is going to happen then someone has to take it up and follow it through with the appropriate government office, but this can take many visits.

“Basically unless you’re willing to be dogged about it then nothing is ever going to happen.”

Dias says organisations like MWPS and the embassies do their best to help migrant workers but suffer from a lack of manpower which relegates labour camps to the bottom of the priorities list.

“We should be campaigning for these people but for so many reasons we can’t,” she says.

“We have too much on our plate already without dealing with labour camps. It is a huge problem and who else will do it? – nobody.”

Under Bahraini law contractors are required to register any labour camp with the Ministry of Labour who will then carry out routine inspections and enforce the country’s comprehensive laws regarding adequate labour accommodation.