According to an ITV documentary aired last Sunday (27 October), Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia, an estimated 21,000 workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh have lost their lives since 2016 working on Saudis so-called giga projects.Projects that make up Saudi 2030 Vision include NEOM and the Line, the countrys flagship scheme, as well as developments in the second biggest Saudi city, Jeddah, and preparations for the 2034 World Cup, which FIFA is set to award to the country next month.In a statement to the AJ, human-rights charity Amnesty International said it was vital that architecture firms considering operating in Saudi Arabia are doing proper due diligence to ensure theyre not contributing to labour exploitation and other human rights abuses.AdvertisementThe organisations head of labour rights and sport, Steve Cockburn, said the enormity of the Saudi 2030 Vision projects meant they would inevitably rely on a huge workforce of migrant workers who face significant risks of exploitation and even death.Baker-Brown, an RIBA councillor, architect, academic, and runner-up in this years RIBA presidential election, wrote on LinkedIn: To all the RIBAmembers working on this project, could you please tell me what it will take for you to resign from this project or tell me why this article is not true.In the ITV documentary, workers testified about 16-hour work days and poor working conditions on The Line, a 170km-long linear city, which reportedly has a 140,000-strong migrant workforce.The programme, which did not make direct links between specific schemes and worker deaths, also cited a doubling of executions in the country since 2015, under the rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the figurehead of Saudi's pivot to development.It is understood that five people have so far been given death sentences for refusing to leave their homes to make way for The Line, and that 50 people had been arrested for similar reasons.AdvertisementIn 2023, the United Nations said it was alarmed at the risk of execution of tribe members it claimed had been arrested for opposing The Lines construction. Human rights organisation ALQST said at least one person, Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, has been killed for protesting against the displacement of tribal villages for NEOM in 2020.In May, Heatherwick Studio founder Thomas Heatherwick and RIBA vice-president Valerie Vaughan-Dickdefended appearing at a UK-Saudi trade show advertising work on The Line and NEOM after the BBC published claims that Saudi authorities had issued a kill order in 2020 for clearing land in al-Khuraybah to make way for The Line.The AJ contacted Heatherwick Studio for comment over the latest reporting but did not receive a response.The RIBA said the latest reports of worker death were serious and concerning and referred to the institutions Code of Professional Conduct and Code of Practice about architects impact on the environment and society.Chapter 14 of the RIBA code states that members shall have proper concern and due regard for the effect that their professional activities and completed projects may have on users, the local community and society.The RIBA added: We wholly agree that practices working internationally should ensure that they are upholding universal principles on human rights, labour, and anti-corruption within their projects and through their supply chains.RIBA exists to promote the highest standards in the built environment to champion architecture and support the transfer of knowledge and skills worldwide.Wherever our members are working, our Code of Professional Conduct and Code of Practice outline core member responsibilities, including considering the impact of any professional activity on the environment and society.RIBA president-elect Chris Williamson, co-founder of WW+P, which has worked on the rail link within the Line project, told the AJ that the allegations made by ITV were extremely serious.He said: I would like to see [the issues] investigated further because all RIBA members, wherever they work, are required to uphold universal principles on human rights and working conditions within their projects and throughout their supply chains.The AJ has reported on the names of dozens of other UK architecture firms involved in the Saudi 2030 Vision. They includes Foster + Partners' role on a 2km-tall tower, at least one Red Sea resort and a new major airport. However, the practice did not comment when asked about the ITV report.Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is reportedly working in the country on a 330m-tall tower as part of the Trojena ski resort. The practice did not respond to a request for comment.Populous, which is behind designs for around a quarter of the dozen stadiums for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, declined to comment when approached by the AJ. And AtkinsRealis, which is behind a 400-tall cube skyscraper in Riyadh, did not respond to a request for comment.NEOM told ITV: We are assessing the claims made in this programme, and where required, will take appropriate action. We require all contractors and subcontractors to comply with NEOMs Code of Conduct, based on the laws of Saudi Arabia and the policies of the International Labour Organization, and they are subject to frequent inspections of their workers' living and working conditions.Saudi Arabian press have also reported that the countrys National Council for Occupational Safety had strongly refuted claims suggesting a rise in worker fatalities due to poor working conditions in the country.According to a statement issued on Friday, and reported by the Saudi Gazette, the council confirmed that Saudi Arabias work-related fatality rate stood at 1.12 per 100,000 workers, claiming it was one of the lowest rates globally.CommentCharlie Edmonds, Future Architects FrontThe trafficking, forced labour and deaths of construction workers are not unprecedented considerations for architects to make. In 2014, Zaha Hadid claimed I have nothing to do with the workers when asked about the deaths of migrants involved in her office's Al Wakrah stadium in Qatar. Ten years later, ZHA, now led by Patrik Schumacher, along with numerous other architecture practices, is contributing to NEOM: a development project with comparable working conditions.It has been over two years since three members of the Huwaitat tribe were sentenced to death for protesting the construction of The Line on their ancestral land. In this context, architects working on NEOM cannot claim ignorance and must be considered complicit.Many architects have made efforts to defend working on these projects. A recent example was attempted by RIBA president-Elect Chris Williamson. But it is long overdue for the wider profession to reject hollow deflections and work towards holding complicit firms accountable.For the architecture profession to retain any shred of credibility, our institutions must boycott and sever ties with the practices that continue their involvement in NEOM. They must not be welcome in universities, they must not be considered for awards, and they must be made to understand that the violation of human rights anywhere in the world will not be tolerated.In the same way that theFinch vs Surrey County Council Casedemonstrated the necessity to assess ecological impacts throughout entire supply chains, architects must embrace and build upon initiatives like the BDS Movement when accepting work or procuring services.Without concerted action, the profession risks further enabling modern slavery, state-sanctioned murder and crimes against humanity. And for what?