Big fat weddings weigh down Qatari grooms

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/2013325960553179

Doha, Qatar – The Gulf state of Qatar is among the wealthiest countries in the world. But despite the affluence, increasingly extravagant weddings in Qatar are making it difficult for men, who pay for the celebrations, to foot the bill.

Jamal Qassim said he spent 450,000 Qatari riyals ($123,600) on his wedding. He worked and saved for nine years to pay for it. “I didn’t even travel once outside of Qatar. I was saving and saving. I didn’t buy myself a fancy car.” He said he now regrets paying that much. At the end of 2012, he was in the process of getting a divorce.

Marriage rates in Qatar have declined markedly over the last three years, which Qatar government statistics attribute to the high cost of marriage, as well as the advancing educational status of women and their rising participation in the work force.

Figures also show Qatari women are having their first child at a later age and having fewer children overall. Divorce rates have risen since 2001. And local press reports say a quarter of marriageable Qatari women remain single. These are worrying trends for a country where nationals are already heavily outnumbered by migrants.

Accordingly, Qatar has been taking measures to ensure “the continuity of cohesive families and large households”, which it sees as “crucial to the national vision”, according to Qatar’s National Development Strategy Report. As part of that strategy, last week Qatar Charity launched Zawaj, a marriage programme, which will offer pre-marital counselling and financial assistance to Qatari couples.

The couples may also be provided with free wedding tents “in a bid to reduce marriage expenses and help preserve the institution of marriage”, according to Qatar’s national news agency.

The moves by Qatar Charity to reach out to prospective couples follow those of the Qatari government, which decided late last year to begin construction of a number of wedding halls to bring down the costs of getting married. They will be free for Qataris to use.

Small weddings ‘not an option’

The halls will give Qataris more options to control the prices of weddings, said Hassan Al-Ibrahim, a Qatari commentator. Qatar is a small country where the nationals all know each other, he noted. “People are expecting you to invite them to your wedding. They are expecting you to invite them to your brother’s wedding or your sister’s wedding … It is not an option to say, ‘I want to have a small wedding.’ Because if you wanted to have a small wedding, people might be insulted.”

Qassim said his bride-to-be’s family “kept insisting on a big wedding, and when I tried to make it between families, they threatened to cancel the wedding”, after he had already sent out a few invitations.

Traditional weddings are expensive, and have become more so due to inflation and the growing consumer culture in Qatar. Due to a limited number of wedding halls, renting one costs roughly 30,000-150,000 riyals ($8,240-$41,200). Qatari men are also expected to give their brides-to-be a marriage gift, or mahr, which is usually accompanied by jewelry. The groom must foot the bills for two wedding celebrations, his and his wife’s, as the parties are gender-segregated affairs.

Banks in Qatar even make marriage loans available for nationals – Doha Bank, for instance, offers “attractive” interest rates with a repayment period of up to 60 months. Banks in other Gulf countries have similar loans.

Lavish affairs

For middle- and lower-class Qatari men, getting married can mean incurring debt, which can strain a marriage before it even begins. The men’s wedding ceremonies are often very affordable, said Fadi Attieh of La Noce, a wedding and events company in Doha. The men greet each other, eat and leave. There is often little entertainment. But the women’s weddings, Attieh explained, are often held to show how much more “Disney-like, crazy, something out of a dream wedding” it can be.

The women’s ceremonies can cost anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 Qatari riyals ($10,987 to $27,466), with average weddings starting at 100,000 and rising to 250,000 ($68,666), according to an informal study in 2006 on Qatari marriages. Prices are likely to have risen since then, with the largest weddings now costing into the millions of riyals.

For the costs of nuptials in Qatar to be lower, female weddings would need to be more modest, said Attieh, who last year travelled to Milan to place a special order for a wedding. For another marriage reception, the hall was reserved six days in advance to prepare for the setup.

Soon-to-be-divorced Qassim agreed, saying young women “cannot make a small wedding because they are afraid that other people will think that they are poor or something”.

Marriage fund

The trend is not unique to Qatar. A 2012 survey by the United Arab Emirates Marriage Fund found that 87 percent of respondents blamed the high costs of marriage for low marriage rates in the UAE. As in Qatar, divorce rates in the Emirates are up – in Dubai, it increased by 25.6 percent last year, according to the Dubai Statistics Center.

For more than 20 years, the UAE has been trying to tackle the issue: for instance, in 1992 a marriage fund was launched to help nationals get married to other Emiratis. Given the high costs of weddings, Emirati men often married non-nationals because of the lower costs. In 2012, the fund gave grants amounting to $3.32m to more than 3,300 citizens and organised five mass weddings for 224 grooms.

“Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight and the [wedding] competition goes on”, said Jane Bristol-Rhys, an anthropology professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. But given the new wealth in the region and the limited number of celebrations without strict “religious overtones” and “dos and don’ts”, she explained, it is understandable that people enjoy such affairs.

Olivier Dolz, a wedding planner in the Emirates, said he spent a few million dirhams on a royal wedding in Abu Dhabi. The affair took three months of preparation, 72 hours on-site setting everything up and 150 to 200 people on the ground to pull it all off. “The wedding is 600 [to] 4,000 people, then you have flowers, extravagance, you have singers.” For a wedding in Dubai, the budget for the entertainment alone was several million dirhams for six performers.

Four young, attractive and yet-to-be-married Qatari girls told Al Jazeera they consider weddings to be a “once-in-a-lifetime” event, and they want theirs to be special.

One of the girls, Aziza, said coming from a large family means that a large wedding is required. She estimated that on her mother’s side of the family, she would probably need to invite at least 100 relatives, and about 250 on her father’s side.

However, the four said they would value the man they are marrying over the extravagance of the parties. “I just want to have a happy ending,” Aisha said.

Qatar tackles barriers to women at work

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fe7bd492-2745-11e2-abcb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2PNXcSn43

Qatari women may know what careers they want, but they remain hindered by traditional values and preconceptions in male-dominated industries.

More Qatari women have university degrees than men, yet female participation in the workforce is only about 35 per cent, well below national percentages in developed countries.

This striking imbalance, which is reflected in other Gulf countries, is the focus of concern for the Qatar International Business Women Association. The organisation recently held its third annual forum in Doha, in which representatives from 12 Arab countries, and private companies, participated.

Wael Sawan, executive vice-president of Shell Qatar, was on the panel of the opening session, which included four men and one woman – an irony apparently lost on many in the room. “In the last three years, we have moved as a leadership team in Qatar Shell from no women representation to two,” Mr Sawan says. “We have a long, long way to go to remove some of the systemic inequalities.”

Qatar wants to reduce cultural barriers that block women’s professional advancement and increase the number of women in leadership positions by 30 per cent. In 2009, only 3 per cent of employed women were in a leadership post, according to government figures.

The same phenomenon is at work in other Gulf countries, where women’s hunger for education has not yet been reflected in representation in leading positions in government and business. Women in Saudi Arabia represent 57 per cent of university graduates but account for only 12 per cent of the workforce. In the United Arab Emirates, only 28 per cent of the national labour force are women.

The extent to which Qatari women work is linked directly to the support they receive in balancing their professional and family duties, according to a government report. The government has said it would improve support by expanding childcare facilities and family-friendly business practices.

Qatar has laws relating to working women, such as those that regulate maternity leave, retirement benefits and gender equality at work. However, “traditional views about appropriate avenues for women’s employment (educational, administrative or clerical) prevail, despite the new opportunities created by Qatar’s economic development,” says the country’s National Development Strategy report.

“It is not about equality in the workplace,” says Reem al-Darwish, a business student. “It is also about what a family deems professionally acceptable for their daughter. Many families are close-minded; they don’t want their daughters to work in mixed [gender] areas.”

Sarah al-Mana, another student, says that while Qatari women may have achieved a great deal of equality in places of employment, no “man is going to stay at home and take care of the family while his wife works – as is the case in some countries”.

Although women remain absent from the leadership ranks, the views of working women in the Gulf region are changing. “Our mothers were housekeepers,” says Basmah Omair, a Saudi businesswoman, who lobbies for gender equality opportunities. But now women have limitless job opportunities in many fields, though they might be different from one country to another, she adds.

But Ms Omair did not forget to stress the traditional view on male and female equality in her region. “We don’t want to exchange roles to make the man in the home . . . what the woman wants and needs is equilibrium.

Doha rolls out private school vouchers

Doha rolls out private school vouchers

Doha rolls out private school vouchers

As Qatar seeks to move ahead with reform of its social services, it is expanding its voucher system for private schooling.

Nationals who send their children to private schools should now receive a government voucher to pay for it, according the Supreme Education Council, which made the announcement over the summer.

 In Qatar there are government-run schools and a private sector made up of international, community and private Arab schools.

Vouchers were previously authorised for the independent schools, which are government-funded but have operational autonomy. But the scheme has been extended to 32 private schools.

The vouchers cover a maximum 28,000 Qatari riyals ($7,700) per year, paid for by the government.

The expansion is the latest move in Doha’s struggle to improve its education system, which is well below international (and national target) standards. About 5 per cent of students meet national maths standards, as defined by the Qatar Comprehensive Educational Assessment. In science they fare slightly better.

Like almost everything in Qatar, formal education is relatively new. The first boys’ school opened in the 1940s and a girls’ school opened in the middle of the following decade.

At the time, much of the population was illiterate. Bit by bit, without a coherent structure, the system grew until the turn of the century when education was re-evaluated. It was found that 13 per cent of secondary students were failing end-of-year examinations, according to government figures.

The current independent school model, developed with consultants from the Rand Corporation, decentralised control, creating publicly funded but independently operated schools, The system is about a decade old.

Michael Romanowski, a professor and co-ordinator of the masters degree programme in education and educational leadership at Qatar university, says increasing the number of schools eligible for vouchers might improve education by increasing competition. But there are more pressing problems, such as the lack of qualified teachers, he says.

Some parents and teachers have interpreted the voucher expansion as a sign that attempts to reform state schools are falling behind. The money spent has not brought schools up to par, the theory goes, so the government is pushing funding towards vouchers to pay for private schooling.

Competition for admission to private (and the best independent) schools is fierce. And amid an influx of families moving to the country at a time of economic boom, that competition is increasing. Most of the desirable private schools have lengthy waiting lists.

Amanda, an expatriate with three children at private school, says the expanded voucher system will have little tangible effect in one of the world’s wealthiest countries.

“Qataris have the means, and have had vouchers in the past, so it shouldn’t make a drastic difference,” she says.

Instead, for Amanda and others like her, quality is the main concern. Hamad and Maryam, a Qatari couple with three children at private school, will now receive QR28,000 per child per year. While they appreciate the vouchers, they say cost was not the overriding factor. Rather, their concern is that their children receive good English-language education.

 

Qatar rolls out universal healthcare plan

Qatar rolls out universal healthcare plan

Qatar rolls out universal healthcare plan

By Jenifer Fenton in Doha

©AP

Uregent attention: A more pressing need than insurance reform remains the staffing of qualified healthcare professionals

When Qatar opened its first hospital in 1957, few could have imagined the surging demand that would be placed on the country’s fledgling healthcare system in the coming decades.

More than half a century later, Qatar is now rolling out an even more ambitious first: a scheme to introduce a universal healthcare system, driven by private insurance providers, by 2014.

 The new national strategy mandates insurance coverage as compulsory for all Qatari citizens, expatriates and even tourists visiting the country. Insurance plans will be valid at any service provider in Qatar, including the private facilities that represent more than 65 per cent of all the country’s healthcare providers.

“The government is trying to control the costs by having this insurance scheme,” says Khalid al-Mughesib, a Qatari national who helped establish and manage Al Koot, an insurance company owned by Qatar Petroleum. “It was an open cost before.”

Qatar’s health expenditure of just more than 12bn Qatari riyals ($3.3bn) last year was up by 27 per cent over 2010, according to figures released in June by the country’s Supreme Council of Health. Almost 85 per cent of that increase in spending was paid for by the government.

The burden of healthcare costs under the new system will shift from the government to mainly private hands. It is expected that the state will cover the cost of premiums for its citizens, with employers to be responsible for expatriate employees, who outnumber nationals by roughly six to one. Observers say the shift will be reflected in the cost of doing business for the expat-dependent private sector, particularly in companies employing large numbers of low-wage workers.

But the overall affect for such employers may be limited. “The construction business has an unimaginable profit margin in the [Gulf] region because of the cheap labour,” says Jad Bitar, a health principal at the consultancy Booz and Company. “Adding a couple of hundred dollars a year … to give [labourers] basic rights, I don’t think it is a big cost or major impact.”

A big winner in the system is expected to be the country’s private health insurance market, which is relatively young but predicted to grow significantly as the planned reforms, which include mandatory insurance, are implemented.

The number of residents in Qatar who have medical insurance is very low, says Mr Mughesib, who launched the private insurance company. He estimates only 10-20 per cent of those in the country are insured, a figure Booz & Company’s Mr Bitar says is probably accurate. “Imagine if 100 per cent are insured,” Mr Mughesib says. “Even for Qatar, which is small country … insurance companies will be making good money.”

According to Mr Bitar, “demand is going to spike up because you’ve introduced insurance and we know that the supply is not there.”

Al Khaleej Takaful Group Co, a private insurance company, has grown by some 30 to 40 per cent in the last year, according to Rolando Calixtro, the head of it’s medical department. The company is currently developing private group insurance plans primarily to cover blue-collar workers, with a focus on the construction industry. Per-person annual costs will run between 700-900 Qatari riyals, depending on the plan purchased.

But Qatar should be wary of the dangers of introducing mandatory private medical insurance plans with very limited capability for regulatory oversight, Mr Bitar says. The country runs the risk of introducing a “vicious cycle of interaction between the insurance and the provider, where providers try to scam the insurance and insurance [companies] are always trying to underpay the provider,” he says. “That is a dynamic that does not exist in a public system.”

The country’s 2011 healthcare expenditure breaks down to just more than 7,000 riyals per person, according to government numbers. If the numbers are adjusted to reflect Qatar’s unique demographics – a population that skews towards young, expatriate and male – that average exceeds many high-income western countries, the government figures claim.

Expatriate men tend to be healthy, due in part to mandatory health screenings required to gain residency. Low-paid labourers, excluding domestic workers, account for roughly half of the people living in Qatar, and they rarely use healthcare services, according to the Supreme Council for Health. Demand for old-age care is almost non-existent, as expatriates travel home when they reach retirement age and most Qatari families provide the care for their kin.

But before the government can fully implement its insurance scheme, it will need to unify its regulatory framework, create national standards for medical professionals, introduce patient billing systems, build a database of pricing plans and hire a workforce to handle the claims.

Mr Bitar does not think Qatar can pull off a compulsory health insurance plan in such a short time. “Introducing it gradually is a smart idea,” he says, “but 2014 is a couple of years, it is not going to happen.” Gulf neighbours, including Saudi Arabia and Dubai, have struggled for years with their respective insurance plans, he adds.

A more pressing need than insurance reform remains the staffing of qualified healthcare professionals. As much as 95 per cent of the healthcare workforce is made up of expatriates, who come from countries with differing regulatory and educational standards, resulting in an inconsistent quality of care. Turnover is high, with healthcare workers staying only a few years.

Rebecca Lee, a British citizen who was not provided with health insurance, knows this all too well. She visited a Qatari government health centre with a swollen abdomen, fairly severe pain and slight vaginal bleeding. The doctor there failed to spot an emergency situation and advised her to come back next week.

Mrs Lee went to a private hospital instead. “I was three months pregnant, the [fallopian] tube had ruptured and I had quite severe internal bleeding, I’d lost approximately a litre of blood,” she says.

The care at the private facility was excellent, but far too expensive for her budget. “I just didn’t have that sort of money, not even on our credit cards,” she says. Under the proposed insurance scheme, Mrs Lee should have been covered.

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Qatar cuts down on lessons in English

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c7a87610-c9ac-11e1-bf00-00144feabdc0.html

For some Qatar University students who finished courses at the end of June, a big change awaits when they return for the next semester: they will no longer be taught in English.
Qatar’s Supreme Education Council issued a decree this year that “Arabic should be the official teaching language at Qatar University” and “accordingly, the university should take all necessary procedures for that end”.
The change comes as Qatar, like its Gulf neighbours, works to reconcile two opposing aims emanating from its society and rulers: to preserve the country’s culture amid a flood of expatriate residents while preparing Qataris to compete in the global economy.
The move was highly controversial at Qatar University, the country’s largest, where before the decree, new students were placed in a foundation programme to learn crucial skills such as English and mathematics. Following the decree, students can bypass the programme and be directly admitted in Arabic-language courses.

Qatar University has examined the language of instruction before. In 2004, its law department looked at what the job market would require from its graduates as well as available legal course material.
“The Qatari economy was booming. Job contracts and negotiations required people who understood Qatari law but spoke English,” says Hassan al-Sayed, a prominent Qatari legal expert who teaches at the university. When he looked at available course material, the majority was in English. “So it did not make sense to teach in Arabic.”
But when it came to Qatari constitutional, civil and criminal law, the university opted to continue teaching in Arabic because there were sufficient resources to do so, and because it matched the needs of the job market, Mr Sayed says. Before the decree, about 40 per cent of the law courses, excluding Islamic law, were taught in English.
Courses that will make the switch to Arabic when classes resume include business and economics as well as media and international affairs. The faculty of law has begun the transition. In some subjects such as engineering and science, where English is the de-facto global language, tuition will not change.
The education decree was seen by some as an affirmation of Qatari culture, but others have concerns that it will impair graduates’ abilities to navigate successfully the job market. The Supreme Education Council did not say why the measure was being pushed through, and it did not answer queries for this article.
Qatar University says the institution “has always been a leader in promoting Arabic language as the cornerstone of preserving our culture and heritage”, but English continues to be a requirement for graduation. “Our commitment has always been, and will continue to be, to quality education. This is not contingent on the language of instruction.”
The increase of English as the de facto language of business in Qatar at the expense of Arabic is a cause of concern in the country, where young people often struggle to gain full literacy in written Arabic, according to government figures.
“English is the business language today in the world. Anywhere in the world, whenever you want to conduct business it is going to be in English,” says Sheikh Nasser bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, the chairman of NBA Holdings, a diversified group that runs an executive recruitment service among other businesses.
When Sheikh Nasser is hiring business professionals, he wants them to speak English. But, he says: “English is the second language here in Qatar. It is not the first language. Holding on to the heritage and holding on to the mother language is very important.” For professions related to law or to the arts and culture, someone who does not speak English would still be considered for appropriate positions, Mr Thani says.
Despite the government spending almost $18,000 a year per student, “higher education still falls short of its goals”, according to the Qatar National Development Strategy report, which says Qatari graduates are often not prepared to participate in the workforce.
A similar challenge exists across the Gulf. In its latest Global Competitiveness Report, the World Economic Forum listed an inadequately educated workforce as the third-largest obstacle to doing business in Qatar; and named education among the top four obstacles for all Gulf Co-operation Council states other than Kuwait.
In the United Arab Emirates, where like Qatar citizens are outnumbered by an expatriate majority, the government has also taken steps to encourage a stronger focus on Arabic in higher education. In April Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the UAE prime minister, announced several initiatives to promote Arabic, including a project to encourage its use in science and technology research.
“Our national identity is integrally linked to the Arabic language,” Sheikh Mohammed said in launching the plan. “Promoting the language will enable our future generations to connect with our roots, society and values more effectively.”
Abdulaziz Almalki, a 26-year-old Qatari student, struggled when he first studied engineering at Northwestern University in Education City. At the time, he was far from fluent in English. But Mr Almalki says he knew if he wanted to succeed at his job, working for Dolphin Energy, a gas company, that he must master the foreign tongue.
“At work, everything is in English,” he says. “The moment we walk into work, everyone speaks it – the Filipinos, the Indians and me.”

QATAR: WHERE’S THE TRUST?

http://www.arabist.net/blog/2012/7/7/qatar-wheres-the-trust.html

Jenifer Fenton sent in this dispatch from Doha, looking at the results of a recent survey and asking wider questions about the future of migration and expat communities in the Gulf.

Qataris have little trust in Western expatriates, was the headline many in Qatar took away from newly published research.

On a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 representing no trust and 10 complete trust, Qataris gave Western expatriates a 3.6, the lowest trust rating of any group excluding migrant laborers. Qataris trust other nationals (rating of 8); and Arab expatriates to a lesser degree (6.1), according to the report From Fareej To Metropolis.

“What Qataris have expressed is not different from what other people have expressed in other countries… We tend to trust and like people who are like us regardless of who we are,” said Darwish Al Emadi, Director of the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University which published the report. “British trust British people more than they trust non-British.”

However, white-collar respondents displayed high trust in Qataris (7.4). Migrant workers did as well.

Al Emadi’s research also found that “The more you interact with people, the more you trust them.”

Segregated Ghetto

But in Qatar there is the limited interaction between the country’s population groups, which includes nationals, white-collar workers mainly from the Arab and Western worlds, and laborers from South and Southeast Asia. The three groups live in parallel worlds divided by invisible barriers.

“Although we all live in the same community we are living in ghettos, social ghettos,” Al Emadi said. “The interaction between Qataris and all types of expats, even the Arab expats, is really just related to the work place. We hardly ever interact at the house level.”

The lack of interactions between nationals and white-collar workers seems more acute in Doha than in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates because the segregation of housing is perhaps more pronounced. Neighborhoods in Qatar “largely define and structure social interaction,” according to the report.

The wealthier tier of expatriates lives in employer-provided or employer-supported housing likely to be villas and apartments. “Qataris tend to live in neighborhoods with detached high-fenced housing in predominately Qatari neighborhoods where extended family members tend to live.” This is their desire. About 97 percent of Qataris preferred having other Qataris as neighbors; less than one percent indicated a preference for low-paid migrant workers in their neighborhoods. Laborers live in migrant camps mainly located outside of the city center. Late last year Qatar banned labor accommodations in residential areas.

UAE Zayed University anthropologist Jane Bristol-Rhys agreed that Qatar’s neighborhoods are more segregated than many in the Emirates, but she objected to assumptions that these invisible boundaries are put there purposefully in either country.

“These places are melting pots. There are over 200 nationalities in the Emirates in addition to Emiratis. Are people going to tend to socialize in groups where they work? Yes. But Interaction is not necessarily limited to nationality groups,” according to Bristol-Rhys, who has spent almost a decade interviewing foreign workers and Emiratis about the issue.

Limited Social Arenas

There are limited, although growing, areas for social interaction outside of work. Majlis, a social meeting usually sex-segregated, is the main leisure activity of Qataris, according to the SESRI report. Unsurprisingly expatriates do not report majlis in the list of preferred social activities. Rather they are involved in schools, charities, clubs and sports.

The segregation between the sexes restricts inter-mingling. During a meal at a Qataris home, the men and women would normally dine separately. This is “something you are not used to and probably something that you don’t want to do,” said Al Emadi. “We don’t want to do it your way either. At the end of the day both parties don’t like to give in on what they think is the right way of interaction. So they end up having their own separate things.”

Qatari women are also restricted in their relationships with men. It would “not be comfortable, not be acceptable,” to “hang-out” with men outside of a work or a school environment, said Muna Mohammed, a young professional Qatari woman. Her two friends agreed. The three said, however, that they have more foreign friends and acquaintances than their parents or older generations do.

Social interaction between low-paid migrant workers and other groups are near non-existent. On meager salaries, they cannot afford leisure coffees, movies or even taxi rides into town. Even if they could muster-up the money, most work very long hours with few days off a month. Bachelors are also banned from Qatar’s malls on certain days because of “family-only days” policies.

However Bristol-Rhys said it is not clear that a great number of these migrant workers, who often come from small villages, even want to socialize with other groups.

Qataris and migrant workers, who are from different countries but whose circumstances are relatively similar, are fairly homogenous group; while the third social group of “professional” workers contains many subgroups from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

Often there is limited interaction between these subgroups, between Arab and Western expatriates, according to Al Emadi. “We…tend to interact with people who are like us. Who speak our language, who behave like us, have more of our values and so on.”

Bristol-Rhys is not sure she agreed that we like people who are like us and said there are other contributing factors that may increase isolation. “Some people are not good cultural travelers. Even though they may have a job working here (UAE), it may not suit their personality to want to get to know another language or culture or even to interact.”

A Minority In Their Country

Because of rapid growth and development Qatar and the other Gulf countries have a large migrant population. Some 1.8 million people live in Qatar, but only a few hundred thousand are citizens. The country has the highest global ration of migrants to citizens, according to the World Bank. The UAE ranks third. All of the Gulf countries are in the [top 30] (http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1199807908806/Top10.pdf).

Twenty-five percent of respondents answered yes to “Are there too many expats in the UAE?” in a recent (unscientific) poll on The National’s website (screenshot).

Debates about “too many foreigners,” “price of modernizing” and “preservation of national culture” are of course nothing new. Khalid Al Ameri, an Emirati commentator, wrote:

You can only imagine how strange it must be for people who have a hard time integrating into their own society. It would be frustrating for anyone, in his or her home country, to see the presence of indigenous culture dwindle.

It is also true that Qatar and the UAE need foreign workers to develop their countries. There are simply not enough nationals to do it. “We don’t have the knowledge, we don’t have the numbers,” Qatar University’s Al Emadi said. It would be difficult to operate a single sector in the country without migrant workers. “If we wanted to run the hospital by ourselves, just Qataris, we probably could not do it. We don’t have enough nurses. We don’t have enough doctors.”

Lowly-paid migrant workers are not exclusive to the developing Gulf countries. “It seems like every country in the world has a population they don’t want to talk about that does the dirty work,” Bristol-Rhys said. There were successive waves of migrant groups to the United States who did the “crap” jobs no one else wanted to do – the Irish, the Jews and of course not forgetting enslaved blacks. “This is not uniquely a Gulf problem it just seems so just because of the sheer magnitude of it – because these (migrant) populations seriously outnumber the citizens.”

There is the argument that migrants to the U.S. and Europe can eventually become citizens of the nations in which they work, and this is something unlikely to happen in the Gulf anytime soon – if ever.

Path to citizenship?

If Qatar were to open up a greater path to citizenship, which is severely restricted and almost 100 percent hereditary, Qatari nationals feel they would become a minority with minority rights in their own country, Al Emadi said. Now Qataris are clearly the minority, but they are the ones with the greatest rights.

But migration to Gulf countries is done for different reasons than to the U.S. or Europe. “Are we beginning with the premise that all expatriates want to have Qatari or Emirati passport?,” Bristol-Rhys asked. Most people move to these countries to improve their lives at home, to put their children through schools, to buy a home or to fatten their pension funds. “Everyone who comes here knows this is not a place for immigration. This is not a place you would migrate to become a citizen.”

Cover-up campaign hits Gulf streets

Cover-up campaign hits Gulf streets

Activists in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates encourage expatriates to dress modestly and respect local culture.   Jenifer Fenton Last Modified: 14 Jun 2012 14:34

 

The ‘One Of Us’ campaign aims to educate expatriates living in Qatar about wearing appropriate dress

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. That is the message of two campaigns started by local women in the Gulf countries of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Najla Al Mahmoud is a Qatari behind the “One of Us” public awareness push, which hopes to educate expatriates about appropriate dress. Specifically, she wants people – men and women – in her country to cover up between the shoulders and the knees. During the summer “the scene of exposed flesh increases”, Al Mahmoud said. “We are offended by this… but we are sure that people don’t know and we are sure that people will respect this. Why wouldn’t they? We want to educate them.” Most local women in Qatar and the UAE wear an abaya, a black garment that covers most of the body. The men wear the kandura, which tends to be ankle-length and a shade of white. The “UAE Dress Code” campaign, started by locals Hanan Al Rayes and Asma Al Muhairi, began out of disgust at the sight of foreigners dressed in what they deemed to be inappropriate attire, according to media reports. “Whether you like it or not, this country has its own culture that shd be respected & protected by its own people,” read one of their recent tweets. Call for dress code Hamad Al Rahoumi, a member of the UAE Federal National Council (FNC), does not think public awareness alone is enough because there are people who are aware of cultural norms, but choose to ignore them. Al Rahoumi has suggested legally enforcing a dress code, but the law would act more as a deterrent than to punish people. “Just because the law is there a lot of people will stop (dressing immodestly)… it is like a policeman standing next to a stop light everyone will (drive) properly… He doesn’t have to give anyone a ticket.” He added that the seven emirates have different rules regarding attire, and a federal law is needed to make a dress code in the UAE consistent.     Most local women in Qatar and the UAE wear an abaya, a black garment that covers most of the body, while men wear the kandura [Getty Images] Another member of the advisory FNC body, Noura Al Kaabi, said via email that “proper awareness campaigns would be more ideal”. While the awareness campaigns are not focussed on creating dress code laws, they are about respecting cultural norms. But modesty and taste are subjective and without clear laws, what is acceptable attire is often left to the discretion of the wearer. Article 30 of the UAE Constitution says, “Freedom of opinion and expressing it verbally, in writing or by other means of expression shall be guaranteed within the limits of the law.” But to what extent does “other means” cover clothing – or lack of it? There are also no laws that explicitly spell out the do’s and don’ts of dressing in Qatar. Article No. 398 of the Qatari Criminal Act states that one can be fined 300 Qatari riyals (about $82) for acts of public indecency equivalent to urinating or bathing in public. The only constitutional article that addresses the issue is Article 57, which states: “The respect of the Constitution, compliance with the laws issued by Public Authority, abiding by public order and morality, observing national traditions and established customs is a duty of all who reside in the State of Qatar or enter its territory.” Laws are not needed, and the constitutional article is enough for everyone, said Hassan Al Sayed, a prominent Qatari legal expert. “Just respect the culture in Qatar.” Khalid Al Ameri, an Emirati columnist and blogger, agrees. Enforcing laws pertaining to clothes could prove difficult and arbitrary. For example, a woman may choose to wear shorts and a baggy T-shirt and find herself in violation of a hypothetical law, whereas another “girl might come wearing tight stuff that reveals more than it covers, but complies with the dress code”, said Al Ameri, who wrote recently on the topic. Enforcement and punishment would also depend on the actual officer or official to pass judgement, which is not desired, he added. Public indecency laws, of course, are not unique to the Arab world. Western countries also have rules for covering up, and there are different rules for the sexes. Women in western countries cannot walk around topless, one expatriate commented. It is not so much a matter of what clothes one wears, but where one wears them, said Al Ameri. “You couldn’t wear a short shirt in a mall, but you could maybe wear a short shirt in a private club or private restaurant where it complies with the dress code.” Divided opinion On social media and Qatari networking sites, some foreign women who have both applauded and denounced the modesty movement said they think time would be better spent campaigning to enforce laws that could save lives, for example fining people who smoke in areas where lighting up is banned, or requiring the use of seat belts. Others have suggested that stores in the Gulf could sell more “local-friendly” dresses, skirts and the like. The high-end clothing stores on the Pearl in Doha, Qatar, do not generally stock many clothes that would be considered acceptable women’s wear in public spaces in the country. Trying to find a shop that sells a dress that has both sleeves and a hem that hits below the knees proved difficult. The same could be said for many of the clothes for sale at the H&M in the local Qatari malls. “This is so bad,” said Al Mahmoud, who is also trying to raise awareness at clothing stores by asking that their advertisements and window displays be culturally appropriate. Shopping in one of the world’s largest complexes, the Dubai Mall, presents the same irony – see-through blouses, plunging necklines, and near waist-high skirt slits are prevalent. Pants and blouses, of course, are an option. “We want Qatar to be a place for everyone. Something in the middle. Not too extreme and not too loose.” - Najla Al Mahmoud There have been calls of hypocrisy, noting that many Muslims vehemently opposed the veil bans in France and Belgium. Comments onQatar Living, an online community website, run the gamut, with some stating that people should be allowed to wear what they want in public be it in Qatar or Belgium. But others believe that if people do not like the local laws or norms in the Gulf or Europe, then “they should go back to where they came from… In their country, it’s their rules.” Qatari Al Mahmoud said one could not compare Gulf campaigns to legal moves in Europe. “We are not interfering with religion… We are not banning a certain attire,” she said. “Modesty doesn’t have a religion or a country… We are not singling people out or being racists to one nationality or one religion. It’s for everyone.” The Gulf should not go the route of some European countries that penalise some people for their clothing choices, said Emirati Al Ameri. The Emirates has grown “as a country and we have become one of the most popular places for expats to go because we have been a tolerant society and because we have taken an approach of educating rather than punishing people that come”. A simple dress code is better. “When you have a dress code and somebody doesn’t abide by it, they are excluded.” The choice becomes theirs. If someone goes to a restaurant and does not wear the appropriate attire, they will be refused entry. “I believe that is a more effective way than by punishing.” Nora, a Muslim expat from the United Kingdom who teaches in Qatar, said “our ‘uniform’ tells men ‘approach with caution’”. And, while one cannot control the actions of disrespectful men, “one can control how we dress, so we do”, added Nora, who did not want her last name used. That is not to say that a woman dressed immodestly is extending an invitation. “Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.” All those contacted for this article agreed that disrespecting someone who is dressed disrespectfully is not acceptable. “We want Qatar to be a place for everyone. Something in the middle. Not too extreme and not too loose,” Al Mahmoud said. UAE FNC member Al Rahoumi agreed. “We don’t want them to cover their face… (but), I don’t want to see the underwear… It is not suitable.” Whether you like the campaigns or not, outfits that might fly elsewhere will likely not pass in the Gulf anytime soon, despite the number of foreign residents who live in these countries. A Qatari resident from the United States also does not think that any pushback from offended Western women would change local norms, and that foreigners should just adhere to the culture. “What’s the big deal? Cover the knees, shoulders and (chest),” said Cena McLatchy. “It’s not like they are asking you to go to prayer five times a day, or slaughter a lamb at Eid.”

UAE continues crackdown on activists

By Jenifer Fenton | Aljazeera – Sat, May 26, 2012

Doha, Qatar - In the past year, the United Arab Emirates has cracked down on dissenting voices in the country. Fifteen peaceful political activists are currently detained; all but two are members of the Reform and Social Guidance Association [al-Islah], which advocates for reform and for “adhering to Islamic principles”.  

Rights groups have called the arrests arbitrary. “These actions are reflective of a government that does not respect the rights of its citizens to freedom of association and expression,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a press release .

The chairman of al-Islah, Sultan bin Kayed al-Qasimi, the cousin of the ruler of the northern emirate Ras al-Khaimah, is among those held.

Al-Islah has been active in the UAE for decades, and as many as 20,000 people living in the Emirates could be associated with them. They have reportedly adopted the thinking of the Muslim Brotherhood, but are not officially linked to them.

The activists have not been violent or aggressive in their demands for political reform, which they see as a basic right, according to prominent UAE rights activist Ahmed Mansoor, who was found guilty in 2011 of insulting the Emirati leadership but later pardoned. UAE authorities “are taking preemptive measures to shut down any possible calls for reform, especially from this group because it is the most organised group in the UAE”, said Mansoor, who is not a member of al Islah.

The UAE government is nervous about groups that use Islam for political reasons, according to Sultan al-Qassemi, an Emirati commentator on Arab affairs. “I think to a degree the society is weary of them,” he said. ”It’s not just the fact that they’re Islamists. The whole country is Islamic.” He also noted that political Islamists were the most organised group in the UAE, but “they never really come out with a political mantra – they are very ambiguous”.

Some of the homes of the detained men, like that of Ahmed al-Tabour al-Nuaimi, have been searched, according to the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR). On the day of his arrest, from 10pm until 3am, inspectors from the security services of Ras al-Khaimah raided the family dwelling. 

Al-Nuaimi was among 133 Emiratis who signed a petition in 2011 to President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan and the supreme council of the seven emirates, asking for the country to have direct elections. The group also asked that the Federal National Council (FNC)  be granted legislative powers; the body is currently only an advisory one.

FNC elections were held in autumn 2011, but not all Emiratis were allowed to vote; only about 130,000 voters – reportedly handpicked by the seven emirs - could cast a ballot. They were also only voting for 20 FNC members. The other 20 members were appointed by the state.

Empowering the parliament is something the government must do, said al-Qassemi. “So that the parliament is a force to be reckoned with, it is a force that brings people together, it is a force that deals with political movement in the country.” But the government is very cautious, and “they will not empower the parliament so long as the Islamists are willing to grab at opportunities”, he said.

Others being held include a former judge, Ahmed al-Zaabi. Then there are six men whom the UAE stripped of their citizenship in late 2011. The six are all reportedly members of al-Islah, and most were naturalised in the 1970s. The UAE’s move to revoke their nationality was in response to “acts posing a threat to the state’s security and safety”, according to the state news agency.

They were arrested after they refused to seek another nationality. Another detained activist, Ahmed Ghaith al-Suwaidi, was also told he was losing his citizenship, according to GFHR. The men’s identity papers have been confiscated, leaving them essentially stateless, as the men are not dual nationals. Their lawyers are challenging the government’s actions.

Al-Zaabi was granted bail, but has not been released. It is believed that he is being held by UAE state security, according to Mansoor. One of the other men, Saleh Al Dhufairi, who was active on Twitter, was arrested for “provoking strife”, says GCHR. Al-Dhufairi’s comments on Twitter were critical of the UAE’s move to arrest and deport Syrians who had peacefully protested in front of the Syrian consulate in Dubai, according to Human Rights Watch.

Independent political activity in the Emirates is highly restricted, and is essentially banned in practice. Since the start of the Arab uprisings, Emirati authorities have paid great attention to citizens and organisations calling for political reforms and freedom of expression. 

The UAE is a federation of seven states, which makes for a “very sensitive mechanism of power”, al-Qassemi said. “Some rulers are more conservative than others and some of them are more… liberal. … It is a very difficult country to manage.”

The first action taken by the government was in April 2011, when the government dissolved the elected board of the Jurists’ Association, a prominent civil rights organisation, and the Teachers’ Association. The boards of both were replaced with state appointees. ”Any active organisation in the UAE, if it really does a good job and works well, they [the UAE authorities] shut it down or they dismantle it and bring in their own people,” Mansoor said.

Mansoor is one of the UAE5, a reference to the five Emiratis accused of and found guilty of “publicly insutling” the country’s leadership. The proceedings against the men were heavily criticised by international rights groups. Amnesty called the UAE5 “prisoners of conscience”. The men were pardoned by the president for reasons that are not clear. Mansoor is free, but he is not allowed to work and does not have his passport.

Ahmed Abdulkhaeq, one of the UAE5, has been rearrested. Abdulkhaeq is not a member of al Islah and he has not been active in political debate recently, according to Mansoor. He called his family on Thursday to tell them that UAE officials planned to deport him to the Comoros islands, off Madagascar.

Earlier this year, UAE authorities also shut down two international organisations, the National Democratic Institute – linked to the US – and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, linked to Germany. Both promote political debate.

In the runup to the FNC elections, rulers in the Emirates urged UAE citizens to take part in broad and active political engagement. But in practice, they are making only gradual - if any – real changes.

“They really don’t want to go on the democracy fast track. They are taking this step by step. That is very frustrating to many of us,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an respected Emirati professor of political science.

The arrest of so many activists at one time is unusual in the UAE, he added. “But stability is important, probably more important than anything else.” The rulers do not want to tamper with stability. “They think democracy is divisive, and it sure is. And they don’t want to take the chance.”

Qataris adopt debt as a luxury accessory

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4848c0e-9db8-11e1-838c-00144feabdc0.html

May 14, 2012 5:26 pm

Qataris adopt debt as a luxury accessory By Jenifer Fenton in Doha

“I never saved in my life,” says Ghazi, a Qatari businessman.

Since he began working 35 years ago, he has been in debt. He owes a lot of money, not for one loan but for “three company loans and a bank loan, personal loans, car loans – three car loans”, he says.

Ghazi is not alone. Seventy-five per cent of Qatari families

are in debt, most owing in excess of QR250,000 ($68,600), according to a 2011 Qatar National Development Strategy report. Some of this can be

attributed to the country’s most economically disadvantaged families struggling to make ends meet, but the report gave another reason for the indebtedness: Qataris are living beyond their means, in a “prevailing culture of extravagance and conspicuous consumption”.

While attracting global attention in recent years for its audacious international investments, Qatar is also experiencing another byproduct of rapid economic booms, as its citizens take on increasing debt.

The story is a familiar one across the Gulf, where extravagant living and a penchant for luxury have become as synonymous with the region as its desert environment. But as the fallout from personal and corporate debt crises from Kuwait City to Dubai shows, this spending can be as leveraged as it is lavish.

With his debts mounting, Ghazi, who manages a weddings business, plans to invest in property, and recently bought his daughter a Mini Cooper car. Doha’s streets hum with a growing fleet of expensive new cars, which some say are another indicator of the ballooning loan books at local banks.

“In Qatar, don’t judge by the car,” says Mohammed al-Qahtani, a former bank employee. While flashy possessions can turn heads, thanks to a culture of debt they are often not indicative of a person’s true financial status, he says, particularly in the case of young men. “The ones who travel, who don’t care about the plastic,” he says. “Young people, they go for show.”

Last year Qatari authorities tried to raise awareness about the depth of the problem, with a campaign titled “Debt is Disgraceful”, during which donations were collected to help pay money owed by debtors in prison or others threatened with criminal charges.

In a 2008 US diplomatic cable, released by WikiLeaks, one prominent Qatari royal is quoted as telling embassy officials that debt is creating “enormous societal pressure” affecting family life and increasing demands on the government, by creating a “welfare syndrome” where citizens think they can spend freely and be bailed out by relatives and the government.

Such bailouts have precedents in the region. In January, the United Arab Emirates announced a fund, worth more than $500m, that would help pay off the debts of about 7,000 low-income citizens. And since bailing out retail investors who made huge losses in a stock market crash in the early 1980s, Kuwait’s government has come under frequent pressure to clear the debts of its citizens. A 2010 bill passed by the country’s parliament required the state to pay an estimated $24bn of personal debts, but was rejected by the

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cabinet.

Mr Qahtani has three big loans outstanding. The first two were for QR244,000, with which he made what he considers entrepreneurial investments. “I bought business buggies, sand cars … toys from Ireland,” he says. Then there is a loan “that is between me and my wife. I owe her QR130,000.”

For Qatari citizens, personal loans are now capped at QR2m, with a repayment period of six years. Often little or no collateral is required. A citizen can typically borrow 72-times the total of their basic monthly salary, which, in a country where entry-level office workers often expect salaries of QR18,000, means big loans are for the taking.

All that is required for a Qatari to access such a loan is a statement from their employer certifying basic monthly salary.

Sarah, Mr Qahtani’s American wife, says she is still learning how to navigate the “competition of the bling” that has become part of Qatari culture. Delayed gratification through working, waiting and saving is not the norm, she says. “You just go get it.” The Qahtanis have three children and are expecting a fourth.

Although indebted, her family’s expenses are low. The rent for their house is covered by her husband’s employer, and Qatar has no income or sales taxes and provides free healthcare and education.

The state, while generous, hopes its awareness campaigns will encourage a change in local attitudes toward debt and spending. But such changes are easier said than done in a country where booming state energy wealth is flowing into citizens pockets at an increasing rate. In 2011, the government announced that salaries for its Qatari employees would increase 60 per cent, a rise that was quickly matched by many private-sector employers.

Mr Qahtani, who says he is more financially responsible than his eight siblings and many of those he works with, remembers the timing of the pay rise well. “Everyone in my work, they got a car,” he says.

Kuwait Rehab Centre for Gitmo Prisoners Impressive

http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/04/12/kuwait-rehab-centre-for-gitmo-prisoners-impressive/

On May 6, 2012, Fawzi Al-Odah will be celebrating his 35th birthday inside a cell in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In June, Fayiz Al-Kandari will do the same. They were in their early 20s when they first arrived. No one knows if and when they will ever leave. They are among the few dozen Guantanamo prisoners the US has decided should be indefinitely detained. The US has accused them of being members of Al-Qaeda. They maintain they were in Afghanistan for charitable reasons. However, the US has not, according to WikiLeaks cables, produced “hard” evidence against the Kuwaiti prisoners who have been jailed in Guantanamo. Twelve Kuwaitis in total were sent to the prison, Al-Odah and Al-Kandari are the only two who remain.

The government of Kuwait has raised the detention of its citizens at every senior US-bilateral meeting in recent years, according to WikiLeaks cables from the US embassy in Kuwait. The US government asked Kuwait to build a rehabilitation centre that could hold former prisoners as a condition for repatriation. Kuwait has done this. Kuwait began planning the centre almost four years ago, following talks between then Prime Minister Nasser Al-Sabah and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, according to WikiLeaks cables.

Kuwait consulted with the Saudi Interior Ministry and based their centre on rehabilitation programs operating in their Gulf neighbour. Early in 2009, a committee representing 10 Kuwait ministries, including the Ministries of Interior and Health, was formed to oversee the construction and management of the rehabilitation centre. The remaining two Guantanamo prisoners could, by law, be required to remain in the rehabilitation centre for six months without charge, upon their return to Kuwait. “The rehabilitation of  detainees would be carried out simultaneously with the legal proceedings against them, so that by the end of the initial six-month period, Kuwaiti courts would be ready to sentence the detainees if necessary,” according to WikiLeaks cables citing Kuwait Major General Musaed Al-Ghuwainim, who was Assistant Undersecretary for Correctional Institutions.

If Al-Odah and Al-Kandari were released from the centre in Kuwait without charge, they would be monitored.  The men would not be able to leave the country. But before the two remaining prisoners could leave the rehabilitation centre, the Kuwaiti committee would have to unanimously agree that Al-Odah and Al-Kandari were mentally stable and not a danger to the security of Kuwait.
While being treated at the centre, the men’s families would be allowed to visit them and medical care would be made available, according to officials at the facility. The rehabilitation centre, which is located inside a prison, includes a sleeping area, dining area, library, sitting room, bathroom, and indoor and outdoor recreational areas.

The US reported that the facility was adequate. The name of the former US Ambassador in Kuwait Deborah Jones is at the bottom of a WikiLeaks cable that states, “I toured the…facility on June 18 (2009) and found a rather impressive physical plant…backed by a program of psychological and religious counselling aimed at restoring detainees to a state of ‘normalcy’ within six months.” The former US administration asked as precursors to releasing prisoners back to Kuwait that the Gulf nation declare that it wants its citizens back; that they build a rehabilitation centre and staff it the way the Americans want it staffed; and that Kuwait monitors former prisoners, according to Lt Col Barry Wingard, a military lawyer representing Al-Kandari.

The “Kuwait government has done everything in its power to try to secure the return of the final two…and the United States has basically just turned a blind eye and said no,” Wingard said. “You have a rehabilitation centre, multi-million dollars, sitting there empty with staffs that are ready, willing and able to take the (men), but the United States keeps talking…but it is not living up to its side of the bargain.”

By Jenifer Fenton