When Disney announced its plans in May to build a theme park resort in Abu Dhabi, the press release read like something out of one of Disney’s own movies, with CEO Bob Iger calling it “an oasis of extraordinary Disney entertainment” that would bring joy to families across the region. The release promised cutting-edge technology, immersive experiences and a celebration of both Disney’s heritage and Abu Dhabi’s “vibrant culture.”

But there’s a question the press release didn’t address: Who will actually build this magical kingdom, and under what conditions?

Anyone familiar with the United Arab Emirate’s construction industry already knows the likely answer. According to the 2023 Global Slavery Index, approximately 132,000 people are living in modern slavery in the UAE on any given day. The UAE ranks seventh globally and second in the Arab States region for the prevalence of modern slavery, with just over 13 people per thousand trapped in conditions of exploitation and forced labor.

The core of the problem is the nation’s kafala system. Under this sponsorship-based framework, migrant workers’ legal status is tied directly to their employers. Workers cannot change jobs, leave the country or access legal protections without employer permission. The system creates a steep power imbalance that prevents workers from reporting abuse or exploitation, according to the Human Rights Watch.

Nearly 90% of the UAE’s population consists of foreigners, according to a Harvard International Review article from 2022. Many are migrant workers from South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh who come seeking better economic opportunities. What they find instead is a system that treats them as disposable labor.

The typical experience goes something like this: Workers pay substantial recruitment fees to agencies that promise them jobs in the UAE. Emirati law prohibits employers from forcing workers to pay these fees, but enforcement is rare. The Emirati government “rarely investigated” violations of labor law, according to a 2019 U.S. State Department report. Many workers arrive there already deep in debt.

When they land at the airport, their passports are often confiscated immediately. Employers claim they need the documents to process visas or that they’re providing safekeeping. Either way, workers lose their ability to leave the country. Multiple human rights organizations report that workers then sign lengthy contracts, often in Arabic or English with little translation assistance, and are sent to crowded labor camps where up to 10 people share a single room.

The work itself is grueling. Construction workers regularly face 12-hour shifts, sometimes seven days a week, in extreme heat. Monthly wages range from 390 AED to 900 AED, roughly $106 to $250, according to research compiled by the Human Rights Research Center. The UAE has no minimum wage for migrant workers. Non-payment or delayed payment of wages is common, with some workers going months without receiving money they’ve already earned.

Workers have essentially no recourse when things go wrong. The UAE does not allow migrant workers to form unions. Strikes are prohibited. When workers do organize protests, they typically face arrest, contract termination and deportation. In 2013, dozens of employees of the construction firm Arabtec were deported after organizing a strike that police had to break up. In 2020, 500 workers at AMB-Hertel, the UAE branch of French firm Altrad, went on strike over unpaid wages. Some were laid off and never received their pay.

All of this has been well-documented for years. The question for Disney is whether or not its project will be any different.

History suggests it won’t. Major Western institutions have repeatedly promised ethical labor practices for UAE projects, only to see those promises crumble.

New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus is a prime example of this. NYU instituted special “labor protections” meant to ensure better conditions than those typically seen in the UAE. However, according to investigations by labor rights organizations, those protections were largely meaningless. The university said they didn’t apply to workers on short-term contracts, which accounted for roughly 10,000 of the 30,000 laborers involved in construction. For workers who were supposedly covered, NYU claimed it couldn’t verify that they had paid recruitment fees specifically for the NYU project rather than for an earlier job, so the university refused to reimburse them. Workers still had their passports confiscated and were still forced to pay recruitment fees.

The construction of the Louvre Abu Dhabi followed a similar pattern, according to a Vice article. Workers faced unpaid wages, arbitrary detentions and deportations. Some had to work for up to a year just to pay back recruitment fees. When workers went on strike, some were left unpaid and deported. Violent clashes erupted, resulting in hospitalizations and arrests. The British Museum, which has a partnership with the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi, attributed the clashes to “rival gangs of workers” and claimed to be unaware of any disputes regarding pay or working conditions, despite extensive documentation of the problems.

Most recently, workers building venues for Dubai Expo 2020 reported passport confiscations, withheld wages, forced long hours and poor living conditions, according to a 2022 report by the labor rights organization Equidem. The Expo took place just a few years ago. The abuses weren’t happening in some distant past before modern oversight existed. They happened at a high-profile international event that drew visitors from around the world.

Disney has stated it will provide “operational oversight” for the Abu Dhabi park, which will be built in partnership with leisure and entertainment company Miral. But we should ask what that actually means. Will Disney guarantee that no worker’s passport will be confiscated? Will it ensure that employers, not workers, pay all recruitment fees? Will it require a living wage? Will it allow independent monitoring of conditions? Will it permit workers to organize or file complaints without fear of retaliation? Will Disney walk away if these conditions aren’t met?

The announcement provided no specifics. The company’s press materials focused on the park’s location, its technological sophistication and the size of the market it will reach. Labor practices weren’t mentioned at all.

Even if Disney somehow manages to ensure ethical treatment of workers on its specific project, there’s a larger problem. Nearly everything in modern Abu Dhabi has been built by exploited migrant labor. The skyline Disney’s press release describes so admiringly, the luxury hotels and museums and shopping centers, all of it exists because of a system that treats vulnerable workers as disposable.

By choosing to invest billions in Abu Dhabi, Disney legitimizes that system. The company is saying that access to Middle Eastern markets outweighs concerns about how those markets were built. It’s saying that the exploitation of migrant workers is the cost of doing business, and Disney is willing to pay for it.

This creates a jarring contradiction with Disney’s brand. The company sells stories about heroes standing up to oppression and the importance of freedom and dignity. Parents take their children to Disney parks to celebrate these values. Yet those values, apparently, don’t extend to the workers who will build the park itself.

Picture a construction worker from Bangladesh who arrives in Abu Dhabi after paying recruitment fees he couldn’t afford. His passport is taken at the airport. He signs a contract he can’t read. He lives in a room with nine other men. He works 12-hour days in brutal heat. His wages are delayed for months. He can’t leave because his employer controls his visa status and he doesn’t have his passport anyway. He can’t complain because he’ll be deported. He spends more than a year just paying back his debt.

And he’s building a place where families will come to celebrate magic and wonder.

The UAE government has made some reforms. Recent changes officially prohibit employers from charging recruitment fees to workers and make it easier for workers to change jobs. But  the U.S. State Department’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report notes that  these reforms haven’t dismantled the kafala system. There’s still no minimum wage. Unions are still banned. Workers who leave jobs without completing their contracts can still be charged with “absconding,” which can lead to arrest and deportation. The fundamental power imbalance remains.

In a few years, Disney’s Abu Dhabi park will open. Families will visit. Children will meet their favorite characters. Social media will fill with photos of smiling faces in front of impressive architecture. And the workers who built it all will likely still be living in labor camps, still waiting for delayed wages, still unable to leave and still invisible to the tourists enjoying the magic they created.