A shocking new documentary from British broadcasting television network ITV has uncovered something truly appalling --
21,000 workers have died in Saudi Arabia while working on Vision 2030.
Another 100,000 workers have gone missing.Vision 2030 is a government program said to be for the advancement of the country economically, socially, and culturally. In reality,
Vision 2030 has been built on a foundation of human rights abuses, exploitation, and violence. Sign the petition demanding accountability from the civil engineering firms working in Saudi Arabia! Work must be halted and withheld to prevent more death and further abuse!There are many projects and initiatives that make up Vision 2030; one of the largest projects is NEOM, an urban and industrial development spanning nearly 30,000 square kilometers in Northwest Saudi Arabia projected to house 9 million people. Recently, plans for a stadium were included in The Line, NEOM's boasted 'city of the future,' in order to tee Saudi Arabia up to host the 2034 Fifa World Cup.
But all this advancement is shadowed by the cost -- in human life, dignity, and true progress.According to the ITV documentary, 21,000 workers have perished so far since Vision 2030 was announced – 2,000 from Nepal, 5,000 from Bangladesh, and 14,000 from India. Even before crews moved in to start work, a death and exile toll was deemed necessary by Saudi Arabia to clear the land for The Line of its occupants --
tens of thousands of Indigenous people mainly from the Huwaitat tribe were forcibly removed. One member of the tribe,
Abdulrahim Ahmed Al-Huwaiti, refused to leave his home and was therefore killed. A former senior intelligence officer disclosed to ITV that
Saudi authorities framed Al-Huwaiti with weapons so that they could justify killing him.The violence only continued from there. Workers
spoke to ITV about grueling 84-hour working weeks, far exceeding the legal maximum in Saudi Arabia, with no days off for multiple weeks in a row.
They described feeling like "trapped slaves." Workers said they are forced to drive for hours to and from NEOM, leaving little time for rest or sleep. Drivers are so exhausted from being overworked that many, many accidents have been reported.
Unsurprisingly, many workers suffer from extreme anxiety.Make no mistake:
anyone involved and supporting NEOM is complicit in these abuses, disappearances, and deaths. Many civil engineering firms from around the globe are confirmed to be working on these projects. They are: Jacobs, Aecom, Bechtel, Keller, AtkinsRéalis, Webuild, Systra, Egis, Turner & Townsend, Archirodon, and Deme. Each and every one of these firms must take action after news of these deaths and disappearances --
they cannot stand by while the people who carry out their plans and designs are treated as subhuman. Sign the petition asking that these 11 firms, and any others with work in Saudi Arabia, immediately pull out of the country and Vision 2030 in protest of workers' deaths!