Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Neom project, central to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 economic plan, symbolizes the Kingdom’s drive to position itself as a forward-looking, green energy and technological hub. However, beneath this futuristic vision lies a troubling reality: migrant workers engaged in Neom and associated renewable energy projects face systemic violations and exploitative conditions amounting to severe dehumanisation.
A landmark October 2025 report titled Migrant workers powering Saudi Arabia’s energy transition, released by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, reveals allegations from 34 workers from Nepal, Bangladesh, and other South Asian countries employed in nine major renewable projects, including the Neom Green Hydrogen Project, Al Kahfah, Sudair, Muwayh, and Saad 2 Solar PV Projects. The report paints a grim picture of labor rights abuses and exploitation beneath the megaprojects driving Saudi Arabia’s green ambitions.
Systemic Labor Rights Violations and Worker Testimonies
Workers interviewed reported being treated as mere machines rather than humans. The report states,
“These abuses create conditions of alarming dehumanisation, where workers are treated as ‘machines’, not humans, and are denied basic human rights.”
Common complaints include excessive working hours in temperatures exceeding 50°C, unpaid or underpaid wages, coercive recruitment practices that drown workers in unpayable debts, and restrictions on movement.
For example, a Nepali worker recounted to investigators,
“A dust storm was blowing, and work should have been stopped…”
highlighting reckless disregard for worker safety amid hazardous environmental conditions. Another worker described a death on site from suspected heatstroke, underscoring dangerously unsafe conditions.
These workers typically pay exorbitant recruitment fees—over $1,000—while receiving wages far lower than promised. One disclosed to Human Rights Watch,
“I was promised SAR 1,200 [$320] basic salary, but I am paid SAR 800 [$213].”
Additional grievances included being misled about job roles, with some promised indoor positions but forced into hazardous outdoor labor with no recourse.
Multiple migrants revealed wage-related abuses, with overtime payments implemented irregularly and often withholdings violating Saudi labor laws. Importantly, Saudi Arabia legally mandates overtime pay after 8 hours; however, some labor supply companies pay only after 10 hours or inconsistently. Wage theft practices grossly undermine worker livelihoods and breach national protections.
Corporate and Financial Accountability
Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects involve prominent companies such as ACWA Power, Air Products, Saudi Aramco, and large contractors like Larsen and Toubro and PowerChina. Financing for these projects comes from major international banks including Standard Chartered, HSBC, and JPMorgan Chase, highlighting a troubling nexus between global finance and labor abuses concealed behind lucrative development schemes.
While these firms have lauded their participation as pivotal to Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy transition, their human rights records reveal a dissonance. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s findings emphasize that “as Saudi Arabia positions itself as a leader in the green economy, migrant workers – who are the backbone of their renewable energy projects – are being exploited and dehumanised.”
Historical and Structural Context of Abuses
Reports from late 2024 by ALQST for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch had already documented severe abuses tied to labor exploitation, lack of safety measures, forced displacement of indigenous communities, and participation in the Saudi state’s broader political consolidation under the Crown Prince.
The Neom project, with its centerpiece “The Line” and other futuristic urban layouts, has been marred by worker deaths, unsafe conditions, and disregard for labor rights. One worker shared a stark account:
“They promised me an indoor waiter job, but I am working as an outside construction laborer.”
Another described being charged over $1,200 in recruitment fees leading to debt bondage.
The systemic nature of this exploitation arises within broader Saudi labor market dynamics marked by the now officially dismantled but persistently applied kafala sponsorship system, which binds workers to employers, often facilitating restrictions on movement, unfair dismissal, and withheld payments. Despite 2021 reforms purporting to end kafala,
“The word has been removed from the law, but it still exists in practice,”
explains Hind Ben Ammar, executive secretary of the Arab Trade Union Confederation.
Wider Human Rights and Social Implications
The plight of migrant workers surfaces alongside Saudi Arabia’s pursuit of soft power and global prestige through hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup and projecting itself as a green energy leader. However, the extensive exploitation contradicts these narratives. International human rights organizations and sporting bodies have condemned FIFA’s award of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia without adequate consultation with human rights groups aware of these abuses.
Migrant workers, who constitute over half the Saudi labor force, face discrimination, wage disparities, hazardous working conditions, and limited access to healthcare. Their deaths and systemic abuse have led to thousands of preventable fatalities and illnesses. One documentary estimated 21,000 migrant worker deaths linked to such projects in Saudi Arabia, with many more missing.
The Role of International Solidarity and Investor Responsibility
Catriona Fraser of Business & Human Rights Resource Centre underscores the urgent need for greater transparency and accountability, stating,
“The green energy transition in Saudi Arabia must not be built on exploitation and dehumanisation of migrant workers.”
Global investors and corporations financing these projects must implement rigorous human rights due diligence and remedy mechanisms.
International solidarity advocates insist that ethical investment frameworks, rooted in respect for labor rights and international law, can challenge exploitative practices. Multinational banks financing the projects face growing pressure to adopt binding human rights criteria tied to their lending and investment decisions.
Reconciling Ambition with Human Dignity
Saudi Arabia’s Neom and giga-projects represent technological and economic ambitions to leapfrog into a sustainable future, yet they are shadowed by an ongoing human rights crisis at their foundation. The severe exploitation of migrant workers—ranging from forced labor conditions, wage theft, unsafe workplaces, and dehumanizing treatment—reveals systemic failures that threaten to undermine the Kingdom’s claims of progress.
Effective reform requires not only legal enforcement within Saudi Arabia but also international oversight, investor engagement, and continued civil society advocacy. As one worker lamented,
“Who do I blame? The company? The recruiter? Or my fate?”,
highlighting the entrenched vulnerability of countless laborers powering Saudi Arabia’s green dreams.
