Developers and officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are enlisting renowned museums, including the Louvre and the Guggenheim, as well as top architects such as Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel, to build cultural facilities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. But citing what it describes as the UAE’s poor record on preventing abusive labor conditions, the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has made several appeals for these cultural institutions to assure fair worker treatment. So far, it hasn’t received any pledges.

“We’ve had some vague responses, but they’ve been noncommittal and don’t address the basic issues of labor standards,” says Joe Stork, deputy director of HRW’s Middle East and North Africa Division.