Reports
COP30 Must Deliver a Just Transition for Workers
As states gather in Belém for COP30, Equidem urges world leaders to ensure that climate finance funds freedom, not abuse. Drawn from frontline investigations across renewable energy, data work, and care economies, this statement exposes how the green transition is being built on wage theft, forced labour, and unsafe conditions. Equidem sets out a roadmap…
Joint Civil Society Comments on the Draft Platform Work Convention
November 12, 2025 Equidem has joined civil society allies in submitting detailed comments to the ILO on the draft Convention and Recommendation on decent work in the platform economy (Brown Report). We welcome the Committee’s decision to move forward with binding standards but the current draft leaves too many gaps. We urge the adoption of a…
Scroll. Click. Suffer: The Hidden Human Cost of Content Moderation and Data Labelling
Launched on May 28, 2025, ‘Scroll. Click. Suffer.’ is Equidem’s in-depth investigation into the hidden workforce behind AI and social media—data labellers and content moderators. Based on interviews with 113 workers across Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, and The Philippines, the report exposes the extreme occupational, psychological, sexual, and economic harms faced by those moderating violent content…
Realising Decent Work in the Platform Economy: Addressing Intermediated Platform Employment in Food Delivery and Data Work
Launched in May 2025, this Equidem brief exposes the systemic abuse faced by food delivery riders and data workers—such as content moderators and data labellers—who are hired through third-party logistics (3PL) and outsourcing (BPO) firms. Drawing on interviews with over 200 workers across the Gulf, Africa, Latin America, and Asia, it reveals how global platforms…
Shattered Dreams, Hidden Trauma
The Systemic Abuse of East African Care Workers in the Gulf This briefing paper documents first-hand accounts of East African care workers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE,) exposing the systemic cycles of abuse they endure. It also sets out clear recommendations for governments, businesses, and investors to ensure these essential workers…
Rush to renewables: Toward migrant worker rights and a just energy transition in the Gulf
No region is immune to the reality of the climate crisis: extreme weather events, mass climate-induced migration, and direct consequences for the cultures, livelihoods, and lives of workers and communities In response, even the world’s most notorious petrostates have rightly joined the global effort to avert climate catastrophe Between 2013 and 2022, the Gulf Cooperation…
