Argument: The Gulf states are themselves not bastions of freedom

Syrians are leaving Syria as a result of a civil war born out of the Arab Spring, it was an attempt to gain more freedom within a dictatorship. [1] Such a population is unlikely to wish to move to a country where freedoms are often restricted. All the countries of the Gulf are monarchies, often with only the barest touch of democracy electing rubber stamp parliaments. Organisations such as Human Rights Watch have highlighted the violence which many migrants suffer and large numbers are exploited. [2]

[1] Ali, Jasim, ‘Gulf states need to aim higher on freedom parameter’, Gulf News, 4 September 2015, http://gulfnews.com/business/analysis/gulf-states-need-to-aim-higher-on-freedom-parameter-1.1578190

[2] Begum, Rothna, ‘Gulf States Fail to Protect Domestic Workers From Serious Violence’, hrw.org, 16 October 2015, https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/10/16/gulf-states-fail-protect-domestic-workers-serious-violence

Candidate 1: "Refugees can’t be choosers in a situation where their country has been destroyed. A survey conducted among refugees arriving in Germany showed that around 68% of the people fled just to save themselves from the imminent threat. [1] The Gulf States may not be a model of democracy and human rights but migrants would be considerably safer than in Syria.

[1] Von Martin, ‘Survey amongst Syrian refugees in Germany – Backgrounds’, adopt a revolution, 7 October 2015, https://www.adoptrevolution.org/en/survey-amongst-syrian-refugees-in-germany-backgrounds/"
Candidate 2: "The affinity as a result of joint linguistic and cultural ties between Syrians and the gulf may be of little use if the refugees are heavily restricted in where they live or can do. If they are put into camps with little contact with the outside world the refugees could simply be cut off from this social network. Syria’s neighbours have generally been unwilling to integrate refugee populations; Jordan has had Palestinian refugees for almost half a century yet nearly 370,000 are still in refugee camps. [1]

[1] ‘Where we work; Jordan’ United Nations Relief and Works Agency, 1 July 2014, http://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/jordan"
Candidate 3: "Moral responsibility is not about comparisons if it were then what about those European countries that have not been open armed like in Hungary they have made it illegal to help Syrian refugees [1] . Riot police in Hungary have used teargas and water cannon to send them off. [2] Saudi Arabia has been doing enough to account for its moral responsibility; it has given residency to 100,000 Syrians. [3]

[1] Frayer, Lauren, ‘Risking Arrest, Thousands of Hungarians offer help to refugees’, NPR, 29 September 2015, http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/29/444447532/risking-arrest-thousands-of-hungarians-offer-help-to-refugees

[2] Weaver, Matthew, and Siddique, Haroon, ‘Refugee crisis: Hungary uses teargas and water cannon at Serbia border – as it happened’, theguardian.com, 16 September 2015, www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/sep/16/first-refugees-head-for-croatia-after-hungarys-border-crackdown-live-updates

[3] The Guardian, ‘Saudi Arabia says criticism of Syria refugee response ‘false and misleading’, 12 September 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/12/saudi-arabia-says-reports-of-its-syrian-refugee-response-false-and-misleading"
Candidate 4: "Unfortunately the refugee crisis is not happening at a good time economically for the Gulf. Oil prices have slumped. As a result there is a turbulent economy with many losing their jobs. [1] There is high levels of competition for those jobs that do exist and in the gulf people often get their jobs through influence (Wasta, as it is known in gulf countries) of acquaintances/friends, which would serve to shut refugees out of the jobs market.

[1] Reuters, ‘FGB announces 100 job cuts in UAE’, Gulf News, 24 November 2015, http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/banking/fgb-announces-100-job-cuts-in-uae-1.1625342"
Candidate 5: "Taking in refugees is not the only thing that countries can contribute in combating the Syria refugee crisis. Gulf countries are known to have donated a total of around £589m in addition to other aid they have delivered. This is vital to make the camps that have sprung up along Syria’s borders liveable."
Candidate 6: "The incidents that occurred in Europe were involving native Europeans themselves, although they did travel to and back from Syria.

Just like Europe could have home grown terrorists, the same likeliness applies to the gulf states. In fact statistics even show that one of the highest number of recruits for Daesh has been those from Saudi Arabia. [1]

[1] The Economist, ‘It ain’t half hot here, mum’, 28 August 2014, http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21614226-why-and-how-westerners-go-fight-syria-and-iraq-it-aint-half-hot-here-mum"
Candidate 7: "The effort to fund and arm the rebels has not shown any result, it’s been over 4 years and yet nothing has solved the problem. Rather the situation has got steadily worse with moderate opposition first losing out to Daesh, and then to Assad since Russian air support tipped the balance. Arming rebel groups simply helps to perpetuate the civil war and ensure that refugees cannot return home."

Refugees can’t be choosers in a situation where their country has been destroyed. A survey conducted among refugees arriving in Germany showed that around 68% of the people fled just to save themselves from the imminent threat. [1] The Gulf States may not be a model of democracy and human rights but migrants would be considerably safer than in Syria.

[1] Von Martin, ‘Survey amongst Syrian refugees in Germany – Backgrounds’, adopt a revolution, 7 October 2015, https://www.adoptrevolution.org/en/survey-amongst-syrian-refugees-in-germany-backgrounds/
