Migrant Crisis: Cash-rich Gulf countries criticised for lukewarm response

Amman, Sept 7: Six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) being criticised for their lukewarm response towards Syrian refugees.

According to reports, by the end of August, over 4 million Syrians left their homeland in search of better life but few of them have been accommodated by the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

They put their lives in danger to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have donated billions to help refugees, but are facing criticism for their lukewarm response to welcome migrants.

The criticism has not come from West, but within the Gulf region itself.

"#Welcoming_Syria's_refugees_is_a_Gulf_duty" and other hashtags were circulated by social media users to voice their disgust with the perceived inaction of GCC states.

"The Gulf countries have to be ashamed when they see Europe's doors open to Syrian refugees, while they close before us," a Syrian refuges was quoted as saying by media.

An influx of Syrian refugees has swamped Europe this summer, with Germany alone expecting 800,000 new asylum applications this year and efforts under way to organise the relocations of tens of thousands more.

But in the oil-rich Gulf, GCC states have been absent from talk of helping with the refugee crisis.

"Tragically, the cash-rich Gulf countries have not yet issued a statement on the crisis -- much less come up with a strategy to help the migrants, who are overwhelmingly Muslim," Gulf Times wrote in a recent editorial.

OneIndia News