"In the Gulf migrant workers bear the brunt of the pandemic," 1 Jun 2020

The dualities of the Gulf's social and economic systems are often oversimplified... but the pandemic has thrown these divides into stark relief...

Migrant workers are not only excluded from emergency financial protections (with some exception in Qatar) but abandoned wholesale. Our networks have seen a sharp rise in... workers with no money for food, who face eviction because they can not pay rent; workers forcibly isolated in crowded labour accommodation or quarantine facilities with no water; workers who are not receiving critical medical care...

States do not provide meaningful assistance and charities play a role only in extreme cases. Instead, workers depend on diaspora associations for relief.