mafiwastafor workers' rights in the United Arab Emirates
Our complaint to the International Labour Organisation
Our Aims and People
Read about who we are and what we hope to achieve
Aims and People: Q&A 
When was Mafiwasta founded and by whom? It was set up in August 2004 by Nick McGeehan, a contractor working in the oilfields of ABu Dhabi for a state-run gas company. We are now based in Ireland.
What are the aims of Mafiwasta? We believe the government of the UAE should sign up to International Labour Organisation core conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining respectively. Ratification of those conventions means the UAE would have to introduce trade unions. It is the lack of unions which underpins the system of abuse and makes it impossible for workers to demand better conditions or to effectively register complaints.
How do you aim to achieve this? The ILO has a special committee called the Committee on Freedom of Association, which can investigate complaints and ask governments to take corrective measures if the complaint is upheld. In this manner we believe the introduction of trade unions can be expedited. In addition to channels of international law, we believe pressure can be brought to bear through the involvement of the international media, NGOs, international workers' rights organisations and multinational companies.
Multinational companies? Are you having a laugh? No, we remain hopeful of attracting support for our goals from companies who actually believe in their ethical codes of conduct.
To what extent have you been succesful? If success is to be measured on the difference we have made to the life of the average migrant worker, then we can probably make claim to have been the least successful pressure group in history. The issue, however, is beginning to attract media interest and we remain hopeful that our complaint to the ILO will bear fruit.
What do you say to the accusation that you're just another bunch of liberal do-gooders sticking your noses into other people's business? A fairly accurate description of who we are and what we're doing.
And what's with the name - Mafiwasta? Wasta is the Gulf Arabic for a man possessed of power and influence. Mafi is the quantifier 'no' as in 'yes, we have no tomatoes'.
All comments welcome at feedback@mafiwasta.com
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"Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labour in freedom."
Albert Einstein