GCC and Migration
An upheaval in GCC economies was seen during the late1970s, which was followed by a government-funded building spree, employing multinational companies to build urban infrastructure, airports, highways, and private housing. Most of the workers that these economies employed on first wave-construction projects used to live on the building sites. Migrants that returned home after working in GCC countries revealed the opportunities of working in GCC countries, and soon there was an influx of job seekers with millions of people looking for better opportunities. Despite the arid weather and poor working conditions, migrant workers flocked to the Middle East because of high wages which were at times three to ten times higher than what workers earned at home (Tallleister, 2013).
Migration Control
The sustainability of a country comes under pressure during the period of raging population growth as the resources can become scarce by trying to accommodate the needs as well as demands of the population. In these circumstances, demography correlates well with the policies of the state. Rapid labor force growth, as well as high oil prices, happen to be two dominant factors that contribute towards driving change in migration policies across GCC countries(Shediac & Samman, 2010). GCC countries strive to control migration following the example of the company Saudi Oger that laid off about ten thousand Indian workers who had not been paid for seven straight months, which prompted the Indian consulate to provide food camps. Saudi Aramco also cancelled as well as the delayed majority of its projects because of low oil prices (Mueller, 2006).
Nationalization programs are also widely used to reduce the number of expats in the GCC for example, the Saudi government plans on implementing the National Transformation Program that will reduce the employment of migrant workers in private as well as a public sector by 2020(Martin, 2017). The Saudi government plans to control migration through its Saudization or Nitaqat policy, which requires that all businesses have at least a 10% quota for Saudi Nationals(Peck, 2017). To further control migration, the Saudi government imposed the rule to shut down the private firms that did not hire Saudi nationals. The government also made sure that specific sectors were off-limits to migrant workers (Peck, 2017).
According to Martin (2017) some GCC countries might even impose income tax on migrant workers to make it rather expensive for them to work in the GCC countries. WhileJureidini (2019)asserts that the “Qatarization” or “Emiratization” is the policies by the Gulf States that indigenize the workforce in the market while reducing the dependency on migrant workers. Migration happens to be a fundamentally critical issue across the Gulf because the foreign population in GCC outnumbers the local population by 51 percent(Jason, 2017). While states like Saudi Arabia have imposed policies to manage the migration and influx of workers over the years, other states, like the UAE and Qatar, have not yet imposed such policies (Jason, 2017).
Countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, which have some of the highest number of expatriate migrant workers have imposed some drastic initiatives to control migration.
The government of Bahrain also kept visa trafficking in check and imposed severe regulations on entry to Bahrain. Gulf states like Bahrain have imposed high costs of hiring domestic workers from foreign markets. Another way migration can be controlled isthrough the imposition of limited quotas for firms that hire migrant workers (Fargues, 2006). For example, Kuwait has imposed a 35% quota for foreign workers in the government sector; meanwhile, the banking sector in UAE has also reserved the majority of the jobs for nationals. The strategy of taxing remittances will aid the GCC governments hit high with the decline of oil as well as gas prices as this strategy will target the remittance of migrant workers(Fargues, 2006).
The migrants are present in the GCC because there are employment opportunities, there are jobs that need to be filled, and there are not enough GCC nationals to fill these positions. Which is the reason why migrant workers come to work and live in the GCC. The reliance of migrant workers and the GCC countries is mutual. However, if the governments of the GCC want to control migration, they can implement several strategies. First, they can set quotas on the number of visas that are issued. This is a widely used tactic that has been used by many countries in the GCC to control migration. to individuals with the work related qualifications (Jureidini, 2017).The government of Bahrain also kept visa trafficking in check and imposed severe regulations on entry to Bahrain. Gulf states like Bahrain have imposed high costs of hiring domestic workers from foreign markets. Another way migration can be controlled isthrough the imposition of limited quotas for firms that hire migrant workers (Fargues, 2006). For example, Kuwait has imposed a 35% quota for foreign workers in the government sector; meanwhile, the banking sector in UAE has also reserved the majority of the jobs for nationals.
They can also increase taxes, which can discourage migrant workers from coming to the GCC. Although GCC countries do not have a policy regarding income taxes, however, UAE, as well as other countries in the GCC, have considered imposing a tax on foreign the remittance of foreign workers for raising revenues, which range from 3% in Oman to 5% in Kuwait. Abbott states that to control migration, UAE has raised taxes on all of the residents through value-added tax ranging from 3 to 5 percent, which will generate about three billion dollars (Abbott, 2019). The governments can also control migration by reforming their internal mobility laws. For example, Minister Resolution 764 has allowed foreign workers to switch their jobs continuously, which means that the transfer of knowledge and skills from one organization to the other will expandStricter work visa requirements can also be implemented such as requiring the qualifications to match the job position.
Security implications
The security implications such as environmental, societal, economic, political, and military stem from enhanced migration, which has the potential to amplify security concerns. This happens to be the main reason why migration trends, especially high migration towards a country has become a matter of immense international as well as domestic politics. For example, the increase of anti-immigrant policies leads to changes in laws by which a country is governed, as well as on the perception of the recruiters (Fargues, 2006). The correlation between security and migration, according to Jason, is challenging because security and migration are subjective concepts that are dependent on benefits (Jason, 2017). Governments these days wish to control the number of individuals passing through their territory, and their inability to do so forges a threat to national security.
Thus the increase in population through migration might further induce the to provide economic as well as social opportunities and services to their citizens that might, in turn, enhance threat to political regimes (Jureidini, 2019). This kind of political threats reduce a state’s organizational stability, in this sense, when the receiving states and the migrants have the same ideology, the ideology of the host country might pose as a threat to the home country of the migrants. On the other hand, when the ideology of migrants is different from that of the receiving state, then they might pose a serious threat to the stability of the receiving state (Perthes, 2015).
A case can certainly be made that migration can cause security implications for Gulf states by patterns of transnational crime such as human trafficking as well as smuggling, especially when children, as well as women, are involved. (Abbott, 2019).
As the number of migrant labor increases, the risks to security also increase. There are different types of securities that are associated with a country and impacted by influx of migrant workers. Security such as health security, physical security, border security, food security, environmental security. One example can be seen from the recent coronavirus pandemic, as the health security systems of the country are occupied and strained due to the focus on migrant workers who are infected with the virus. Physical security of people is also threatened with the flux of labor, as it becomes increasingly difficult to manage large numbers of people, therefore creating strain on the existing resources.
Language, identity, and culture: a security concern
Language, identity, and culture can be a security concern for the Gulf states in the sense that if societal security is taken as a sustainable pattern of ethnic and religious identity as well as custom, then the state-building process often aims at homogenizing the social identities of its citizens(Martin, 2017). Since cultural, religion, and language traditions happen to play their role in the general ideology of a state, they need to be protected as well as defended against the ideological, language, cultural imports from other states such as through the import of migrants (Martin, 2017). Thus for Middle Eastern countries, such as Iraq and Lebanon, that have to address religious as well as ethical issues in their nation-building process, trends in demography and population may aggravate societal as well as domestic threats to security. For example, the enhancement in population due to immigration might impact in a favorable manner an “unwanted” religious or ethnic community. Therefore, the patterns of the population might be a threat to national security in terms of language, culture, and religion. This happens to be the main reason why the Iraqi, as well as the Lebanese government, do not provide statistics about the composition of their population (Diamond, 2010).
When considering the long term implications of migration, it is immensely important to note that the creation of ethnic minorities within host countries happens to be the top concern for the receiving state. Receiving migrants within the country has a long-lasting social impact, specifically on language and cultural demographics (Myron, 1992). This is because it might turn homogenous societies into multicultural as well as multi-ethnic societies. An immense influx of migration can also cause a rise in societal concerns since they can be seen threatening the ideology of the nation-state due to differences in culture, religion, and language. Migrants are also perceived as being a challenge to the traditional meaning of citizenship as well as the duties and rights of the citizens to the nations.
It has been established that the migration has a substantial impact on the idealized homogeneity of a state as most countries. This is why migrants are a threat to the value systems and cultural norms of the receiving states. In terms of Gulf states, anti-immigrant and xenophobia enhances in times of unemployment and recession. Toleration to the cultural norms of other states reduces and leads to resentment within the citizens, which might lead to rebellion against the policies of the government (Ulrichsen, 2017).
Jureidini argues that among the social issues that Middle Eastern countries face, one major complication is the cultural conflict between Western immigrants and the nationals (Jureidini, 2019). The western migration contributes towards the workforce much needed for service and manufacturing industries. However, the demographic change due to immigrant communities poses issues for policymakers for the receiving country (Valenta, 2016).
Immigrant communities are seen as an additional cost on the service and infrastructural provision and pose an immense threat to the identity as well as national culture by altering the religious, linguistic, cultural, and ethnic components of the population of the host country. Economics is also a subject of imperative importance when migration is considered (Colombo, 2016). Even when a specific country willingly accepts the immigrants, the impact of such a move on the economy cannot be undermined. This is because immigration policies can have various impacts, such as recession or unemployment.
Bel-Air states that in recent years the topic of language, identity, and culture as a security concern for the Gulf states has taken on a rather sensitive political side. This is because the dependence of the migrant workers, as well as their penetration into the Gulf life, has led to the government and many media outlets to frame the issue as that of basic cultural threat and security (Bel-Air, 2018).Migration has become a major reason for populist surge in the host countries and the rise of nationalism leads to anti-immigration policies. These policies are often based on the projected as well as perceived negative influences that migrants pose a threat to the culture.Ideal examples of this can be seen in the West, where nationalists have opposed immigrants so much that they have resulted in terrorist attacks, such as the Christchurch Mosque shootings in which the individuals affected by the extreme act of violence were migrant and refugee communities.The white supremacist and extreme nationalist politics appeared to be at the core of the attack on the Muslim community in New Zealand.
The Countries are initiating heritage projects across the GCC to preserve culture, traditions and identity For example, Katara is a heritage project, Similarly Souq Waqif also serves as a solution to address security concerns related to nationalists and fear of losing the culture and traditions.
In the GCC there is a very real possibility that the influx of migrant workers can result in significant opposition from nationalists. There is a possibility that this can even result in region wide disputes. Nationalists in the GCC countries can also potentially take to the government to oppose the influx of migrants. MIn this sense, when the receiving states and the migrants have the same ideology, the ideology of the host country might pose as a threat to the home country of the migrants. On the other hand, when the ideology of migrants is different from that of the receiving state, then they might pose a serious threat to the stability of the receiving state (Perthes, 2015).
The rise of surveillance in the Gulf
The rapidly increasing crime rate as well as incidents of data thefts, growth of infrastructure, rising initiatives of IT spending by the government and enhanced security spending is boosting the growth of surveillance and security systems in the Gulf States.Government initiatives such as Dubai Vision 2021, Qatar National Vision 2030, and Saudi Vision 2030 are predicted to enhance the economic growth of many states in the Gulf region. This economic boom and development of infrastructure creates more avenues for surveillance and deployment of security systems.
There has been an increase in surveillance in the Gulf states where officials have voiced their pride in their ability to gather huge amount of data on migrant and foreign workforce present within their territory.Given the rapid changes that have taken place in recent years, as well as the inherent issues that come with an increase in population from different parts of the world, has resulted in rapid increase in government surveillance in the GCC.
The increase in crimes, terrorist activities combined with the advances in technology have made the GCC vulnerable for wrong activities. This has forced governments to increase surveillance to keep check on the people and ensure GCC continues to be known as the safest part of the world. Moreover, Africa is the main region where women, as well as young girls, are trafficked from war zones to the Gulf countries. According to the International Organization for Migration, human trafficking takes place from Ghana to Libya and Lebanon, where the domestic service is transferred to Saudi Arabia as well as Kuwait. Human trafficking from South Asia to the Gulf states is considered a serious issue within the region as the region has become the transit point. Young boys have particularly trafficked for dangerous as well as the violent pursuit of camel racing that hasbeen documented within Qatar(Martin, 2017). Also, extensive trafficking of children from Sudan, South Asia, Bangladesh, Yemen, Eritrea is noted for begging rings specifically in Saudi Arabia
In the Gulf states, the surveillance policy is less restrictive and less coercive. InQatar, the non-citizen residents are aware thatthe moment they set foot in the soil that their time in Qatar is bound and dependent on their work as well as the fact that their stake in the society is rather limited The Gulf states like Qatar often come under scrutiny for migrant worker policy in regards to the lack of full equality norms for migrant workers.
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