The first allegations of labour rights abuses linked to Qatar’s unprecedented building binge for the Fifa World Cup in 2022 emerged in September 2013. Since then, pressure on the governments of Qatar – over worker conditions on World Cup infrastructure – and in the UAE – over Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island and the 2020 World Expo in Dubai – has been mounting.

Until now the construction industry has managed to avoid being at the centre of reporting on this issue, but in the past few weeks there have been signs that this is changing, with allegations of mistreatment by migrant workers connected to multinational firms running large-scale projects in the region.

Is the construction sector ready for this closer scrutiny? An analysis of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s outreach work to construction companies across the Gulf strongly suggests that they are not.

The outreach programme was designed to try to understand what action companies are taking to protect vulnerable migrant workers. The centre reaches out to businesses in different sectors to spotlight emerging or urgent issues where workers or communities are at risk from business activities and find out what action companies are taking to mitigate their impacts, for example Syrian refugees in Turkish garment factories and foreign investments in Myanmar. We frequently ask companies to respond to specific allegations of human rights abuse.

Normally, we get a response from about 75% of companies. In contrast, our construction outreach saw a 24% response rate – our lowest feedback for a survey so far. Of the 53 companies we have contacted regarding working conditions for migrant workers, only 12 have submitted completed questionnaires. Nine declined to respond.

For us, this highlights a worrying reluctance in the construction industry to engage on human rights. This is particularly concerning because the construction labour pool in the region is made up almost entirely of migrant workers.

Companies who responded have taken a significant positive step for transparency and accountability on migrant worker welfare, but it means that the majority of companies have effectively fallen at the first hurdle, not even disclosing what measures they have in place to meet local labour laws.

This is despite a growing expectation from governments for companies to demonstrate the steps they are taking to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains, brought by legislation such as the UK Modern Slavery Act. This week’s UN Asia regional forum on business and human rights in Doha will include sessions on the importance of human rights reporting and company disclosure.

One reason for the silence from some in the construction industry might be that sub-contracting chains involved in large development projects are lengthy and complex. Between the main contractor and the worker on the site there are project owners and developers, project managers, consultants, joint ventures, sub-contractors, facilities managers, manpower firms and recruitment agencies.

This enables companies to pass the buck when it comes to the rights of migrant workers. This attitude shone through in the feedback we received – a UAE-headquartered developer declined to respond to us because they “do not deal in construction”. Even in the case of companies with direct responsibility for workers, a culture of non-disclosure exists, with companies citing contractual confidentiality or internal policies that prevent them from divulging information on their projects.

Despite the growing indignation surrounding the lack of real action to deal with the abuses faced by migrant workers at the bottom of the recruitment chain, there persists a blind belief in many boardrooms of large construction firms that a policy commitment, or only using approved recruitment providers, or contractually obliging business partners to respect labour rights, is enough to ensure abuses don’t occur. There is still little proactive monitoring done to ensure that these measures translate to action.

Regardless of the difficulties and cost involved, not undertaking basic due diligence to protect migrant workers in business relationships is unacceptable. There needs to be a recognition that accountability for the welfare of labourers extends beyond main contractors to all those profiting from a construction project.

The handful of companies who have taken the lead in publicly committing to and upholding migrant workers’ rights stand in good stead as countries introduce mandatory human rights reporting and assign projects to companies based on their human rights performance. Scrutiny of the construction industry in the Gulf is only going to increase, and it’s in companies’ interests to start talking or face the reputational and legal consequences.

• Mariam Bhacker is a project manager for Gulf construction and migrant workers at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre