Migrant workers across Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are facing increased threats to their lives and socioeconomic rights due to the ongoing regional conflict, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday.
These workers perform essential jobs that keep Gulf economies and services functioning during the crisis, including delivering food and water, providing health care, and maintaining critical infrastructure.
Yet many are struggling to cover daily expenses because of lost income, rising costs, and limited access to social services or social security, the HRW said.
Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, said, “Millions of migrant workers employed across the Gulf countries are navigating threats to their physical safety and job security amid the conflict.”
“The conflict has brought new risks to migrant workers while also exposing the gaps in labour and other rights, including those enabled by the kafala (sponsorship) system.”
HRW urged Gulf states to adopt emergency measures to mitigate and, where necessary, compensate for income loss. The organization also called for structural reforms to guarantee that all workers receive at least a living wage, that contracts are respected, and that social security benefits are accessible.
Authorities should also ensure that workers wishing to return home voluntarily receive airfare support, or coordinate with origin-country governments and airlines to provide affordable flight options, HRW said.
In March 2026, HRW interviewed 38 migrant workers from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The workers included drivers, delivery staff, security guards, chefs, and cleaners—part of the millions who sustain hospitals, markets, and transportation systems despite heightened risks. HRW also spoke to relatives of Bangladeshi workers who were killed in Bahrain, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch said it had written to all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to raise concerns about migrant workers’ safety and rights, but none had provided substantive responses.
“My job is at a hospital, so the work has not stopped,” said a worker at a Qatar hospital. “Sometimes explosions come at night, sometimes during the day. Many thoughts keep running through my mind about what might happen … I have left my child back home.”
As of March 25, conflict-related deaths in Gulf countries have included migrant workers, among them a Pakistani driver, a Nepali security guard, and a Bangladeshi water-tanker driver, according to media and official government reporting. Others have been injured.
Saleh Ahmed, a Bangladeshi national, was killed in Ajman, UAE, after debris from an attack struck his cab in a water tank truck, piercing it and fatally injuring him, family members said. Another Bangladeshi, A.M. Tarek, was struck on the head by shrapnel while descending from a ship’s roof in Bahrain’s Hidd industrial area, killing him instantly after finishing his night shift.
The HRW has long called for mandatory life insurance policies to ensure families of deceased workers are compensated regardless of the cause, time, or place of death.
One injured worker who narrowly escaped death said, “It feels like God saved me.… Otherwise, I would have died like a stray dog.… I feel angry because innocent workers like us are suffering for no reason.” The two injured workers interviewed by HRW said they received adequate treatment at medical facilities.
While migrant workers acknowledged the effectiveness of Gulf air defense and warning systems, they also expressed deep fears about the current security environment. One UAE-based migrant community leader said: “On one hand, migrants are working in fear. On the other, there is constant anxiety about losing jobs.”
“I’m afraid every time I go out to work,” said a Qatar-based delivery worker. “There’s no way of knowing where the next missile will land. But I go anyway.… People like me, we are thinking about one thing and one thing only: how to make the next 10 riyals.”
He explained that when alerts arrive from the government or his company’s WhatsApp group, he reroutes or returns home.
Although he can log out of the app assigning delivery orders if he feels unsafe, he is contractually required to work 12 hours a day and complete at least 10 deliveries.
“This is a commission-based job,” said a Kuwait-based taxi driver. “We don’t have salary. The number of rides has dropped.” He said his daily earnings have been cut by more than half, leaving him unable to cover living and work-related expenses such as payments to the taxi owner, fuel, car maintenance, housing, and food.
Migrant workers in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar also reported rising food prices. While larger markets are under government scrutiny, low-paid workers often shop at smaller corner stores, or baqala, which face less oversight.
One Kuwait-based worker said, “What we used to spend for two months of food supplies won’t even last for one month now.” Workers listed vegetables and other staples among items whose prices had doubled or tripled.
Gulf state employers are required by domestic law to provide meals or food allowances to workers in addition to wages. Yet the amount is often inadequate even in normal times. For example, under Qatari law, employers who do not provide food must give a minimum allowance of 300 QAR (about US$82) per month, a figure that has not been raised since 2021.
In practice, some migrant workers are forced to cover their own food costs. This includes undocumented workers and those on so-called “free” visas, an arrangement in which companies or individuals sell visa allocations to workers for profit.
A Bahrain-based unemployed Bangladeshi worker on a “free visa” who has struggled to find temporary jobs since the conflict began said: “Sometimes I do not even have enough food to eat. Even if it is risky, I have to go out and look for work just to arrange food … but I cannot find any work. So far, I have already brought about Tk20,000 [about $163] from home to survive. I do not know how long this can continue or how long this conflict will last.”
Human Rights Watch analyzed and geolocated a video shared directly with researchers showing scores of people gathered on a street in Bahrain, waiting to be picked up by construction contractors for day-labor work.
A cab driver in Kuwait who pays 70 KD [about $226] each month to his sponsor under the “free visa” arrangement said, “My income has fallen to one-fifth of what it was and does not cover basic costs … Today, I drove for four hours and did not earn anything.”
Human Rights Watch urged Gulf states to assess the economic impact of the crisis on migrant workers and adopt emergency measures to safeguard their economic, social, and cultural rights, including food and housing.
HRW also spoke to workers facing reduced work, pay cuts, or compulsory unpaid leave despite holding two-year contracts.
Three UAE-based hospitality workers said hotel occupancy rates had dropped sharply, prompting companies to order staff to clear pending vacations, take unpaid leave until further notice, or face contract termination.
One UAE-based chef who still has his job said, “We are down to 3-4 staff from 25-30. Workers on unpaid leave until further notice unable to return home are provided company accommodation, but they must pay for their own food.”
Another worker on unpaid leave said: “We don’t receive salary or benefits. The employer is encouraging us to go home but we have to pay for the ticket ourselves and prices are extremely high.”
An Abu Dhabi-based chef from Nepal added: “To lose a job after taking recruitment loans to come here is sad. People pay 300,000-400,000 Nepali Rupees [about $2,000-2,686] for these jobs.” HRW has documented that most Gulf workers’ pay exorbitant recruitment fees, often financed through informal loans.
Even those who were paid during the first month of the crisis expressed concern about job and income security. A Bahrain-based supply company manager said three of his corporate clients had already ordered him to cut salaries by half for more than 400 workers.
A Kuwait-based restaurant worker described a sharp fall in customers and take-home orders: “Staff are working reduced hours and taking pay cuts accordingly. The airport is closed so going home is not an option. The option of traveling via Saudi Arabia is not affordable as ticket prices have skyrocketed.”
Under international human rights law, governments must ensure that all workers, including migrants, are paid a fair wage and have access to social security to secure an adequate standard of living, even in times of crisis. Gulf states should also ensure migrant communities are properly informed about emergency plans and directions in their native languages.
Employers must uphold contractual obligations despite the war, HRW said. Businesses in vulnerable sectors such as tourism should activate contingency plans that protect workers during downturns rather than shifting the burden entirely onto them.
Migrants unable to work under contract should continue to receive their owed wages. Governments should prioritize support for small and medium-sized enterprises to prevent disruption costs from being passed to the lowest-paid workers.
“Governments and employers should take concrete steps to protect workers caught in the crossfire thousands of miles from home and who despite significant risks are doing essential jobs across the Gulf,” Page said.
