NEOM—Reports documented forced labor, wage theft, and deaths from heat exposure among migrant workers at NEOM megaproject
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (October 2025) and Human Rights Watch (December 2024) documented severe labor abuses at Saudi Arabia's NEOM megaproject. 53% of 34 interviewed workers experienced 5+ ILO-defined forced labor indicators including wage theft, 84-hour work weeks, recruitment fee scams, and passport confiscation. Workers died from heat exposure. An estimated 21,000 migrant workers have died across Saudi Vision 2030 projects. HRW titled its report 'Die First, and I'll Pay You Later.'
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supply Chain Ethics | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Worker Rights | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.590 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.59)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (1 signal)
Human Rights Watch report 'Die First, and I'll Pay You Later' documented forced labor and deaths at Saudi giga-projects
HRW documented widespread forced labor indicators among NEOM workers including wage theft, 84-hour weeks, passport confiscation, recruitment fee scams, and deaths from heat exposure. BHRRC separately found 53% of interviewed workers experienced 5+ ILO forced labor indicators.