A Saudi government-backed rights group will investigate alleged abuse of foreign workers in the country after an international report charged that they are treated like slaves.

A spokesman for the National Human Rights Association (NHRA) in Riyadh told the daily Arab News on Friday that the group had not received any of the complaints cited in a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch.

But he did not rule out that abuses might have occurred.

"[We] look forward to seeing the full report and getting to know the people who have been aggrieved and the parties who caused the harm in order to take up their cases," Bandar al-Hajjar, NHRA's spokesman, told the English-language newspaper.

"We think we, in the kingdom, are closer and in a better position to follow up such complaints and seek to redress them."

Report

In a report released in London on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said: "Migrant workers in the purportedly modern society that the kingdom has become continue to suffer extreme forms of labour exploitation that sometimes rise to slavery-like conditions."

The Saudi embassy in Washington, however, said the report "grossly exaggerated" the experiences of a few of the more than six million foreigners working in the kingdom. It added that the Gulf Arab state had effective labour laws to protect all workers.

NHRA member Suhaila Hammad also called the report an exaggeration.

"There might have been individual cases but they don't reflect the majority. Otherwise, there would not be a lot of foreign workers working in the kingdom," she told Arab News.

Hajjar acknowledged that some abuse may occur because there are problems "such as exploitation and rape anywhere in the world".