A/HRC/14/43/Add.3 discriminated against with regard to citizenship or naturalization, and to pay due attention to possible barriers to naturalization that may exist for long-term or permanent residents”. 30. Moreover, upon reception of reports indicating that the policy on the granting of citizenship differs significantly according to the Emirate in which the individuals reside, the Special Rapporteur would like to call for a full harmonization of the policy in this area in the seven Emirates. While there is of course no easy solution to these delicate issues, it is more than ever urgent and necessary to hold an open debate on the definition of the national identity, as well as on the granting of citizenship and related rights. B. Construction and domestic workers 31. The rationale of the free market economy in the United Arab Emirates has to a large extent determined the employment areas in which certain foreign communities work and has therefore determined their social status. The Special Rapporteur was for instance informed that a large majority of construction workers come from South Asia. He was also told that most domestic workers usually come from South Asia, South-East Asia, and also from certain African countries. Managerial positions are however most often held by Western expatriates. This has led to a situation where wages and other benefits of employment mirror the national or ethnic origin of each individual. It was for instance alleged that a maid from the Philippines would earn more than a maid from Ethiopia or Sri Lanka, who would in turn earn more than a Bangladeshi maid. 32. While these economic differences between national or ethnic groups do not stem from a deliberate governmental policy, some representatives of civil society are nonetheless of the view that this economic differentiation is backed up by a range of practices affecting particular groups among unskilled foreign workers and therefore affecting particular ethnic or national groups. Thus, during the preparatory stages of his mission, the Special Rapporteur received numerous allegations of human rights abuses and violations suffered by unskilled foreign workers, in particular by construction and domestic workers who constitute the large majority within this category. 33. While the mandate of the Special Rapporteur does not specifically relate to foreign workers, it is nonetheless concerned with discrimination on the grounds of colour, descent, national or ethnic origin preventing individuals to enjoy, inter alia, the right to equal treatment before the tribunals and all other organs administering justice; the right to leave any country, including one’s own, and to return to one’s country; the rights to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment, to equal pay for equal work, to just and favourable remuneration; the right to form and join trade unions; the right to housing; as well as the right to public health, medical care, social security and social services. As a consequence, the living and working conditions of construction and domestic workers, which constituted major issues of concern during the Universal Periodic Review and the examination of the seventeenth periodic report submitted by the United Arab Emirates to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, were also raised in nearly all meetings held by the Special Rapporteur during his mission. 34. Virtually all the Special Rapporteur’s interlocutors, including governmental officials and representatives of civil society, suggested that the situation had much improved in recent years. The Special Rapporteur was indeed provided with numerous examples of commendable initiatives taken by the Government in order to address the manifold and long-standing human rights violations suffered by construction and domestic workers in their daily life. These include the setting up of accessible channels for foreign workers to submit complaints to the Ministry of Labour; language and financial assistance to file lawsuits in court; the setting up of the “Wages Protection System” enabling private sector 10 GE.10-12576