Dubai’s child labor complicity

by Juliane Kippenberg May 1, 2013

written by Juliane Kippenberg May 1, 2013

Dubai confirmed its position as an international trade hub for gold in April. At a precious metals conference in the city, the United Arab Emirates’ government announced that the gold traded in the country in 2012 exceeded $70 billion, more than a quarter of the world’s global gold demand that year. Gold refiners and traders like Dubai as a tax-free, business-friendly, well-functioning location. I recently had a chance to see for myself — I met with gold companies at Dubai’s Gold Souk as well as Jumeirah Lakes Free Trade Zone, where shiny skyscrapers in extraordinary shapes house some of Dubai’s precious metals companies. The wealth of Dubai’s gold companies contrasts sharply with the poor conditions under which some of the gold is being mined. According to the International Labor Organization, more than 1 million children work in mining globally. In mining areas across Africa, Asia, and Latin America children as

Juliane Kippenberg

Juliane Kippenberg is an Associate Director in the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, where she has worked since 1999. She specializes in human rights research and advocacy on issues like sexual violence in armed conflict, child labor, and environmental health. Kippenberg has conducted extensive research on abuses in mining and global supply chains, especially in the DRC, Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, Zambia, and the Philippines. She holds a master’s degree in human rights from the University of London and graduate degrees in African history and French from the University of Hamburg.

Dubai’s child labor complicity

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