More than 130 artists have said they will boycott the Guggenheim museum in Abu Dhabi over what they say is exploitation of foreign workers, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

Saadiyat Island, a $27 billion art and culture project, is planned to house spin-offs of the Louvre Museum in Paris and New York's Guggenheim in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.   

The artists will refuse to cooperate with the project until the Guggenheim and the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) guarantee enforcement mechanisms to reimburse workers for recruitment fees paid, and make findings about working conditions public.

The artists include Allan Sekula, Doris Bittar and Silvia Kolbowski.

"This leading group of artists is making clear that they will not showcase their work in a museum built by abused workers, and that the steps taken to date by Guggenheim and TDIC are inadequate," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"If the Guggenheim and TDIC fail to address the artists' concerns, the museum may become better known for exhibiting labour violations than art."

The new 450,000-sq foot Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi, the world's largest, and designed by architect Frank Gehry, will house a contemporary collection focusing on Middle Eastern art.

Citing Human Rights Watch reports on the UAE, the artists said the migrant workers were left deeply indebted, poorly paid, and unable to defend their rights or quit their jobs.

The Solomon R Guggenheim museum in New York was not immediately available to comment.   

The tourism company said in a statement: "TDIC can confirm that the company has a long standing and deep commitment to protecting workers' rights and fully respects and supports the artists' role in campaigning for this issue."

In February last year, New York University imposed strict labour standards for construction of its Abu Dhabi campus, limiting work hours, letting workers keep their passports and absorbing recruitment costs often borne by labourers. - Reuters