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The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The council's main headquarters is located in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution.
In law, an alien is any person who is not a citizen or a national of a specific country, although definitions and terminology differ to some degree depending upon the continent or region. More generally, however, the term "alien" is perceived as synonymous with foreign national.
Human rights in Kuwait are a topic of significant concern. Most notably, Kuwait's handling of the stateless Bedoon crisis has come under substantial criticism from international human rights organisations and the United Nations. Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region. Kuwait also faces significant criticism for the human rights violations against foreign nationals, women, and LGBT people. Although Kuwaiti law theoretically pledges to protect all human rights; the enforcement mechanisms designed to help protect human rights are very limited in Kuwait.
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Important political issues in the Kuwait include rights for immigrant workers, stateless people, gun control, and education reform. Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region. The Bedoon issue in Kuwait is largely sectarian. The Kuwaiti Bedoon crisis resembles the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar (Burma).
Migrant workers in Kuwait constitute a significant proportion of the population.
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Under normal circumstances, visitors to Kuwait must obtain a visa unless they come from one of the visa exempt countries or countries eligible for visa on arrival/eVisa. All visitors must hold a passport valid for 6 months.
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Migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council region involves the prevalence of migrant workers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Together, these six countries form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), established in 1981. The GCC cooperates on issues related to economy and politics, and the subject of migrant workers constitutes a substantial part of the council's collaboration. All of the GCC countries are dependent on migrant labor to bolster and stimulate economic growth and development, as the GCC countries possess an abundance of capital while the domestic labor capacity is low. Although migrant workers in the Persian Gulf region amount to no more than 10% of all migrants worldwide, they constitute a significant part of the populations of their host countries.
Bassma Al Jandaly is a journalist based in the United Arab Emirates; she worked as a community and crime correspondent at Dubai-based English-language newspaper Gulf News, and is known for her demonstrated interests in humanitarian causes.
The treatment of South Asian labourers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is an ongoing issue between members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations and the wealthy oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council. The current large number of migrants from South Asia to the Persian Gulf began in the 1960s, when the oil boom in the Gulf Arab countries resulted in migrant labourers. This further increased with the development of large mega-cities. With the growth of megacities of Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, the need for construction labourers grew. Migrants from Bhutan, Nepal, Iran, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Maldives were contracted to develop the mushrooming skyscrapers. Many of these migrants were brought into the GCC under the kafala system, a sponsor-based system used in the GCC, which is seen by many human rights groups as highly exploitative, since their passports are confiscated and they are forced to work in low-level conditions, within cramped living quarters, for a low salary, and sometimes even without their due pay; when exploitation is brought up or exposed by media or the labourers, their employers are rarely punished.
The Casablanca Protocol, formally the Protocol for the Treatment of Palestinians in Arab States, was a statement by the Arab League on 11 September 1965, made at the 1965 Arab League summit in Casablanca, Morocco. The statement, in five articles, sought to regularize the legal protections for Palestinian refugees residing in the countries of the Arab World.
References
- ↑ Stat Indicator – paci.gov
- ↑ "Kuwait extends residency permits for Syrians". UNHCR . 2 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
- ↑ "Kuwait extends residency permits for Syrians". gulfnews.com. 2 September 2015. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
- ↑ "Syrians, Yemenis no longer exempt from Kuwait deportation". gulfnews.com. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
- ↑ "Syrians deported from Kuwait, killed in Syria by Assad - Al-Qabas". orient-news.net. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- ↑ "GLMM - Gulf Labor Markets and Migration". gulfmigration.org. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- ↑ "No extension, renew, transfer, visit, work or family visa for Syrians". ARAB TIMES - KUWAIT NEWS. 2018-06-28. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
- ↑ Norman, Julie M. (23 September 2015). "Saudi Arabia doesn't 'do' refugees – it's time to change that". The Conversation. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- ↑ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Syrian in Gulf States". Refworld. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
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