We’ve all seen it. It’s inescapable. Every time we turn on the TV, open Instagram, or stroll down the street to a cafe: the 'Fly Emirates' jerseys on every football player, the incessant promotion of Dubai chocolate in every storefront, the scores of influencers and models posting on social media about how incredible their lives are after moving to the ‘luxurious' paradise that is Dubai. But this image of the city is completely manufactured. In reality, the money for these sponsorships and promotion comes from industries funded by a glorified slave system, the gold for their (allegedly) gold-plated chocolate bars from foreign paramilitary groups, and the influencer posting about her lavish lifestyle will never disclose details of the degrading sex acts she performed in exchange for the money to stay in Dubai. While the United Arab Emirates is by no means the only country with an unethical government, it crucial in the age of social media — which has allowed the country to promote and control their image better than ever — that we remain aware of what Dubai is and isn’t. A city where (some) rich tourists might have a decent vacation? Sure. But a paradise? For the vast majority of people — especially queer people, poor people, women, and migrants — absolutely not.  

While Dubai itself is full of air-conditioned buildings, it’s still in the middle of a desert — a desert where the caste of working-class migrants works for long hours in the sun, building luxury hotels, repairing roads, and altogether performing the physical labour the city relies on to provide its upper class and tourists with a lavish lifestyle. It is a well-documented practice in the Gulf States — including the UAE — to recruit impoverished people from other countries, mainly in South Asia, with the promise of economic opportunity. The state can then force these migrants to perform hard physical labour for many years, and for little to no pay, before they can return home. Due to a lack of protection from the extreme heat and poor conditions, many suffer from debilitating health problems. This practice is enabled by the labour sponsorship system in the Gulf states known as kafala, which gives employers control over their workers’ legal statuses, therefore enabling abuse and exploitation with no rights awarded to the migrants so they can fight back. Wage theft is thus extremely common, as are high recruitment fees; many workers pay their entire family’s savings just to be allowed to start work, where most earn less than AED5000 (about £1030) a month. 

Not only is this system practiced in the UAE, but it is also essentially what the country is built on: 88% of the UAE’s population is made up of migrant workers, the majority of whom come from South Asia and Africa. This exploited class is quite literally the majority of the population. The entire country — from oil rigs to fancy hotels — runs on a system which is barely distinguishable from slave labour. 

In addition to the migrants being forced into hard labour, who are mostly men, women from South Asian and African countries are regularly lured into migrating to the UAE only to be trafficked into prostitution. Although technically illegal, prostitution is a huge industry in Dubai, with sex-workers — mainly poor migrants — allegedly making up about 2% of the city’s population. Authorities turn a blind eye to the practice because it helps attract tourists, even when it has deadly consequences for its victims. One specific trafficking ring — recently uncovered by the BBC — has been connected to the deaths of multiple Ugandan migrant women who 'fell out' of windows after expressing desires to leave the country. 

Additionally, it’s an open secret in Dubai that the reason so many young, pretty influencers can afford such lavish vacations to the city is that they’re recruited by wealthy sheikhs to perform a number of degrading sex acts in exchange for money. I strongly urge you not to look into the DubaiPortaPotty hashtag. 

Of course, if these women influencers aren’t being forced into performing sexual acts like the others, it’s arguably not unethical; however, it does cast a different light on the image of Dubai portrayed on social media. Sure, there’s luxurious experiences to be had — but at a price.  

The UAE also has an extremely poor record in regard to civil rights. Although (according to Instagram and TikTok) there seem to be countless female influencers flocking to move there, women in the UAE face a number legal restrictions. They are unable to work or marry without the permission of a male guardian, have no access to legal abortions, and are rarely granted the ability to divorce their husbands. Until very recently, the legal system allowed domestic abuse under the guise of 'discipline', and the new regulations outlawing this discipline are inconsistently followed, with little action taken to prosecute perpetrators. Sex before marriage is illegal, and women are subject to most of the repercussions, as charges are only brought if a man reports it. Women reporting rape to the police have even been charged with illicit sex and prosecuted. All of these laws apply to tourists as well as citizens. 

Additionally, while national statistics about it are not public, the only available study — from 2011 — found that 34% of women in the country had undergone female genital mutation. While this is not necessarily a risk for tourists, it’s a further demonstration of the normalization of the abuse of women in the country. 

Queer people should be advised against travel to the UAE, too. Homosexual activity is illegal in the UAE and punishable by imprisonment, involuntary medical treatments like hormonal therapy, or admission to a psychological detention center — where beatings, forced rectal examinations, and other torture have occurred. The law applies not only to sodomy, which is punishable by up to 14 years of prison time, but to any type of public display of affection. While this means PDA is actually illegal for everyone, it is particularly reinforced against gay couples. Tourists are, again, no exception to the law; in 2017, a British vacationer was detained for three months, sentenced to a month in prison, and made to pay over £30,000 in fines and legal fees for allegedly accidentally touching another man’s hip when walking past him. Cross-dressing is also criminalized, and there are no legal or medical recognitions or protections for transgender individuals. Sexuality and gender identity are illegal topics of discussion in schools and are subject to government censorship in online spaces.  

In addition to its questionable laws around indentured servitude and civil rights, the UAE has also been accused by Sudan of actively funding the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group in their genocide of the Masalit ethnic group. The RSF controls the most gold-rich areas of Sudan, and the UAE uses this gold in their development of luxury goods; thus, the UAE government has been allegedly providing them with weapons, military funding, and arms training in exchange for the precious metal. Over the past three years, the RSF has killed tens of thousands of Sudanese civilians and displaced millions more. The UAE has denied these allegations, but evidence of the arms flow from the UAE to Sudan has been found and reported on by a number of independent journalists. 

Of course, all of this is a critique of the UAE government, not its people. Additionally, the UAE is far from the only country to have unethical laws or practice human rights abuses. It is not the only country to exploit impoverished immigrants and profit off of their indentured servitude, criminalize queerness and restrict women’s autonomy, or (allegedly) fund a genocide. As an American, I’m the first to condemn my own country’s government for its similar abuses. No country is exempt from criticism, and no government is completely innocent. These issues are not unique to the UAE. 

The difference lies in the UAE’s incessant self-promotion of Dubai as an idyllic paradise. They spend exorbitant amounts of money every year on developing lavish hotels, spas, and clubs, and even more on tourism promotion, in order to paint it as the ultimate influencer destination while actively covering up its human rights abuses. The official UAE tourism strategy, recently made public, is to make the UAE a top global travel destination by 2031, thus increasing the tourism sector’s contribution to the national GDP by AED 27 billion (£5.6 million) per year. If you’re considering visiting the UAE, think about where that money is going. By supporting its tourism industry, you’re helping the government fund the enforcement of policies that you (hopefully) don’t agree with. It’s also crucial to remain aware of the potential dangers of traveling or moving to the UAE, especially for women, queer people, and working-class people. Do not visit expecting an idyllic paradise. Keep an eye out for propaganda and be careful not to break any laws. And maybe reconsider whether you want your money to fund a government so intent on covering up its own abuses.