15, April 2020 Migrants left to die in Gulf Sates
The Gulf has always been a mecca for poor migrant workers. The local
Gulf “Brahmin” inhabitants have always eschewed blue collar jobs importing
migrants to do the heavy lifting.
Many migrants amassed substantial debts to recruiters and middlemen
before arriving. Many are desperately short of food and money and are bitter
their host countries treat them as an expendable underclass.
Gulf States like Qatar and Saudi Arabia have fired tens of thousands of
migrants and ordered a lockdown in overcrowded facilities raising fears of the
widespread of the coronavirus. If the migrants are lucky enough to escape the
virus they will certainly die of starvation.
According to recent statistics released by the CIA, migrants make up
more than 30% of Saudi Arabia’s 34 million citizens; more than 50% in Bahrain
and Oman and in Kuwait foreigners outnumber citizens by two-thirds. In Qatar
the number is a staggering nine to one.
It is extremely short sighted to deny them support. A hasty exit would
surely cause many of the Gulf States economies to collapse.
Equally guilty are their countries of origin who have failed to airlift
the migrants back home.
In a show of contempt for poor migrants, a prominent Kuwaiti actress
said on TV that they should be thrown out “into the desert.”
It is appalling that the US, Britain and other western counties who
have amassed $billions in arms sales to the Gulf States but show little concern
for the welfare of migrant communities.
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