ABSTRACT
Migration is one of the most obvious markers of the fact that the world is a highly unequal place, and that people are born into countries and communities with very different natural, economic, social, and political resources. While hydrocarbon resources in Qatar, the UAE, and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have allowed citizens to thrive financially, they have also drawn millions of migrants from less well-endowed parts of the world to come and seek better opportunities for themselves and their families. Within the human rights discourse, there have been historic variances in determining which bundle of rights ought to take center stage, with some scholars and practitioners emphasizing the primacy of civil and political rights, while others suggesting that economic, social, and cultural rights are to be the priority. There remain questions regarding whether these rights arise out of a moral universalism that applies to all states and societies, or whether context and history make such an universalism undesirable and unacceptable.
