Saudi Arabia/GCC States: Ratify Migrant Rights Treaty
(New York, April 11, 2003) -- Millions of migrants who work in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries lack real legal protection, Human Rights Watch said today. In letters to the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- Human Rights Watch strongly urged their leaders to endorse the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

Nearly ten million foreigners, most of them unskilled and semi-skilled migrants, work in the GCC states. Some 5.5 million are employed in Saudi Arabia, where foreigners comprise one-third of the population. In Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, non-citizens are in the majority and total about 4.4 million people.