“'If I don't work, I go hungry': The migrant workers risking their lives to keep the Gulf running”

The day after the missiles struck the Gulf, a Bangladeshi delivery rider in Dubai was back on his bike. The roads were quieter than usual, but the tips were better.

But for a Pakistani rider who has spent four years working 12-hour shifts in the same city, there was never really a choice…

The worker is one of hundreds of thousands of cleaners, construction workers, drivers and security guards keeping the Gulf running as the region comes under attack by Iranian missiles…

But as missiles target the Gulf, the region’s vast population of migrant workers - who make up the majority of residents in countries such as Qatar and the UAE - are being left to fend for themselves, according to a human rights organisation with researchers embedded in the affected countries.

Mustafa Qadri, executive director of Equidem, told MEE that the organisation’s network of migrant worker investigators across the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan has documented widespread panic, psychological trauma and systematic exclusion from official safety measures…

MEE spoke to three delivery riders working for major platforms in the UAE, all of whom described continuing to work through the attacks with no instruction, support or choice…