At the 42nd Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit that was held in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Tuesday, 14 December, the GCC leaders affirmed their commitment to move ahead in unity and solidarity, reflecting the deep-rooted brotherly relationship, the shared objectives, and common destiny of the GCC, and out of a deep sense of responsibility towards citizens of the six-nation bloc.
Reading out the final communique at the conclusion of the annual summit, the
GCC Secretary-General Nayef al-Hajraf stated that in realization of the noble visions and aspirations for the prosperity of the GCC member countries, the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council agreed to a number of principles and policies for upgrading the strategic cooperation and integrating economic development of the six countries.
On the security level, the communique emphasized the GCC member states’ commitment to collective action against all threats and challenges, noting that any attack against any of the member states is an attack on all of them, and that “any danger that threatens one of them threatens all of them”. The communique also affirmed the importance of accurate, complete and continuous implementation of the vision of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which calls for unity, solidarity, and stability among GCC states.
The communique noted that King Salman’s vision supports economic unity, joint defense and security system, and coordinating stances to enhance GCC solidarity and stability; preserving their interests and avoiding regional and international conflicts; meeting the aspirations of GCC citizens, and enhancing the regional and international role of GCC, by unifying political stances and developing political partnerships at the regional and international levels.
Since the establishment of the GCC in1981, the six-nation bloc has been working cohesively for the most part, though on occasion at odds with each other, in a bid to further the interests of the people and countries in the bloc. The 41st Summit of the Supreme Council of the GCC states, held in early January of this year in the Saudi city of Al-Ula, saw an end to the blockade of Qatar by its immediate neighbors, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The more than three years of rift among the brotherly GCC states had threatened the heart of unity among them.
The spirit of rapprochement achieved at the Al-Ula Summit was very much in evidence at the 42nd Summit. The GCC leaders sought to build on the consensus arrived at Al-Ula and to forge ahead in their collective action to promote coordination, collaboration and integration among the GCC states, with a view to realizing the noble aims for which the GCC was founded in 1981.
The Summit held at the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, was presided over by the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who represented His Highness King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia. The gathering brought together their Royal Highnesses, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain; Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, representing His Highness the Amir of Kuwait; Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs Fahad Bin Mahmoud Al-Saeed, representing Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman; the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani; and the Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, representing His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan of UAE.
Saudi Arabia’s leadership and the success of the 42nd Summit were lauded by the media and political analysts who saw it as a revival of the march by GCC states towards their eventual transformation to a ‘union’. Though it may be contrary to the general euphoria surrounding the summit, nevertheless it bears saying that it was both astonishing and dismaying to note that in the midst of addressing various issues that confront the six-nation bloc, repeated GCC summits have ignored what could be the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’ — the large migrant population living and working in these countries.
Over the past many decades migrants have been a significant population of most GCC countries and have impacted, for good or bad, the social, cultural, political, financial and economic aspects of life in these states. They have contributed immensely to the growth and development of the six-nation bloc and to its continued progress.
Migrants also continue to contribute with their knowledge, experience, networks, and skills to build stronger, more resilient communities in the GCC. Despite these widely acknowledged contributions, so many of them continue to face extensive stigmatization, racism, xenophobia and discrimination in their daily lives while living and working in the GCC states. Migrant women face additional gender-based inequalities, while many of those working in domestic services confront heightened risk from violence, and with only limited options to complain or seek support.
Meaningful and impactful decisions taken at the leadership level of GCC could go a long way to alleviate and ameliorate the situation of migrants living and working in the GCC, and encourage them to further contribute in molding the social, cultural and economic landscape of both the GCC states and their countries of origin. It is a win-win opportunity that has sadly been missed or ignored by repeated GCC Summits.
According to the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic Affairs (UNDESA), in 2019 there were 35 million international migrants in the GCC states, of whom 31 percent were women. The majority of these workers were from Asia, with a sizable number also coming from other Arab states, especially Egypt, and increasingly from African countries.
The region is a strong magnet globally for migrant workers, and the numbers have increased substantially in recent years. Figures show that migrants in the six-nation GCC bloc currently account for over 10 percent of all migrants globally, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hosting respectively the third and fifth largest migrant populations in the world. Foreign nationals also make up the majority of the population in Bahrain and Kuwait, and account for more than 80 percent of the population in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
In addition, the proportion of expatriates in the employed population in GCC countries is among the highest in the world and ranges from 56 to 93 percent for individual countries. Many of these migrants are low-skilled workers engaged in various sectors such as construction, hospitality, agriculture and retailing or as domestic service providers. All of these workers contribute substantially to the development of their host nations, and in the process send valuable remittances back home to their families and communities.
Remittance records from the World Bank show that in recent years migrants in the region have remitted around US$125 billion annually to their home countries. In 2020, the top two source countries for remittance outflows in the region were the United Arab Emirates ($43 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($35 billion) The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have consistently ranked second and third globally in terms of remittance outflow, after the United States, while Kuwait and Qatar ranked eighth and tenth respectively.
So it is indeed surprising that the GCC states, which seek to address numerous issues impinging their countries and people, have consistently avoided or evaded addressing the impact of the large cohort of migrants in their population. Repeated summits have stressed the need to strengthen collective security and stability, and expressed keenness to embrace digitalization, globalization, and sustainable development. They have also committed to being responsive and responsible partners in achieving global goals, and have attempted to alleviate and mitigate the social and economic costs arising from global issues such as climate change and the pandemic.
In the middle of all this attentiveness to ambitious goals and targets at the local, regional and international level, it is quite disheartening to note that the GCC states have consistently ignored the migrants, who form a crucial cog in the wheel of their growth and progress, and are often integral to achieving global targets and finding sustainable solutions to many of the challenges confronting these states.
Globally, movement of people across borders and within their own countries is determined by a broad range of factors. Some of these migrations are voluntary, while others are forced to move as a result of economic challenges and the increased magnitude and frequency of disasters, extreme poverty and conflict. Approximately 281 million people were international migrants in 2020, representing 3.6 percent of the global population.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), is the first inter-governmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, covering all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner. The GCC states were among the 164 countries that adopted the GCM when it was put to vote at the UN session held in Marrakech, Morocco, on 10 December 2018.
The GCM provides the opportunity and guidance to realize the potential of migrant mobility around the world and seize the opportunities presented by them. Though the GCC states have endorsed the GCM enthusiastically, it remains a compact, and not a treaty, which makes it legally non-binding on the states that adopted it. The downside to the GCM is that it does not need to be implemented in its full letter and spirit. Consequently, the challenges migrants face in pursuing a safe and decent life and work in the GCC states, can be blithely overlooked by policymakers.
Analysts and experts on international migration agree that migrants currently do not pose any serious threat to the security and stability of the GCC states, but ignoring the presence of this large cohort of the population — and the challenges they pose, and they face — forever is not a viable or preferable policy that the GCC should be pursuing over the long-term.
It is true that the authorities have plenty of options to thwart even the slightest signs of a migrant threat to their stability, including both legal and illegal means, such as judicial detentions and deportation based on the law, as well as administrative and summary arrests and deportations that are illegal and often infringe on international law and the human rights of migrants. However, these legal limitations have not bothered policymakers, or hampered security officials in the region from implementing such measures in the past.
Despite the challenges posed to their safety and well being from systemic discriminations, illegal subjugations, and xenophobic attitudes that border on outright racism, migrants have continued to flow into the region each year seeking a life and livelihood in the lucrative GCC states. At the moment, the influx of migrants is considered largely in terms of the demographic imbalance they create, or in rare instances from a security angle. However, if left unresolved, the festering migrant problems could morph over time into economic, social and cultural risks that most GCC countries are ill-equipped to tackle effectively or sustainably.
Given the continued dependence of most GCC states on migrants, sooner or later they will have to determine how to effectively engage with the migrants in a more proactive and compassionate manner. The only serious regional discussion in this regard has been at the annual Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD). Since its inception in 2008, the ADD has served as a forum of cooperation and consultation between Asian countries of labor origin and destination, with the aim of improving the governance of labor along the Asia-Gulf corridor.
The three pillars of effective governance central to guiding the programs initiated by the ADD are, ensuring the protection of migrant workers; empowering workers to fulfil their goals and aspirations; and affording workers the opportunity to benefit equitably from the outcomes of temporary labor migration. These principles form the core of the ADD’s commitment to facilitating safe, orderly and regular temporary labor migration between countries of origin and destination, as mandated by the GCM.
The ADD includes the six GCC states and the twelve Member States of the Colombo Process (CP) from where Asian migrants originate, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the International Organization of Migration (IOM), which serves as the Secretariat of the CP. The sixth iteration of the ministerial consultation of ADD, which was held in late 27 October 2021in Dubai concluded with a joint declaration by the attending ministers and heads of delegations from the 16 countries, with the exception of Afghanistan and China.
The declaration announced the launch of a joint program to explore several priorities such as enabling and improving access to justice for temporary contractual workers; facilitating and enhancing skills mobility between and among countries of origin and destination in response to changing employment landscapes; addressing COVID-19 challenges; integrating gender into employment promotion policies; and fostering international, intra-regional and inter-regional cooperation on migration governance. Currently, working closely with the ADD remains the best option for both migrant origin countries and the GCC states, so as to protect the rights and ensure the well-being of migrants and their families.
In this regard, it is prophetic to listen to the words of the UN Secretary General António Guterres, delivered ahead of this year’s International Migrants Day (IMD) on Saturday, 18 December. Pointing out migrants have enriched societies everywhere and have often been on the frontlines of the pandemic response as scientists, health care professionals and essential workers, the UN Chief said, “Solidarity with migrants has never been more urgent. We need more effective international cooperation and a more compassionate approach to migration.”
