Migrant workers in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries face additional risks to both their lives and their socioeconomic rights due to the current regional conflict, Human Rights Watch said today.
Migrant workers carry out jobs essential to the continued functioning of Gulf economies and services during the conflict, including delivering food and water, providing health care, and maintaining critical infrastructure. Yet some workers are unable to pay for everyday expenses due to loss of income, rising costs, and their lack of access to sufficient social services or social security.
"Millions of migrant workers employed across the Gulf countries are navigating threats to their physical safety and job security amid the conflict," said Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The conflict has brought new risks to migrant workers while also exposing the gaps in labor and other rights, including those enabled by the kafala (sponsorship) system."
Gulf states should take emergency measures to mitigate and where necessary compensate for income loss, Human Rights Watch said. The crisis also highlights the urgent need for more structural measures, including to ensure that all workers are paid at least a living wage, that their contracts are respected, and that they can access social security benefits.
Gulf states should also ensure that workers seeking to return to their home countries voluntarily have airfare support. or coordinate with country of origin governments and airlines to provide affordable flight options.
In March 2026, Human Rights Watch interviewed 38 Indian, Nepali, and Bangladeshi migrant workers based in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. They are drivers, delivery workers, security guards, chefs, and cleaners, among the millions of migrant workers working in essential jobs that keep hospitals, markets, and transportation functioning despite heightened risks. Human Rights Watch spoke to family members of Bangladeshis who were killed in Bahrain, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch wrote to all GCC countries to ask about these concerns, but none have 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 officialgovernmentreporting. 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 while descending from a ship's roof by shrapnel, which killed him instantly after finishing his night shift in Bahrain's Hidd industrial area.
Human Rights Watch has long called for mandatory life insurance policies so deceased workers' families are compensated, regardless of the cause, time and 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 workers Human Rights Watch interviewed who had been injured said they received adequate treatment at medical facilities.
While migrant workers acknowledged the effectiveness of Gulf air defense and warning systems in protecting their lives, workers also shared 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-base 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." When he receives alerts either from the government or his company's WhatsApp group, he reroutes or goes home.
While he can log out of the app that assigns him delivery orders if he feels unsafe working, he is required to meet his contractual obligation with the labor supplier company of working 12 hours a day and delivering at least 10 orders.
"This is a commission-based job," said a Kuwait-based taxi driver. We don't have salary. The number of rides has dropped." His daily earnings have been reduced by more than half and are not enough to cover his living and work-related expenses, including payments to the taxi owner, fuel, car maintenance, housing, and food.
Migrant workers based in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar reported increased food prices. They said that while bigger markets are under government scrutiny, low-paid workers generally shop from smaller shops including baqala (corner stores) that did not face the same level of government 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 current prices of food items that have doubled or tripled, including for vegetables.
Gulf state employers are required by domestic law to provide meals or food allowances to workers, in addition to wages. The amount is often inadequate even when there are no crises. For example, according to Qatari law, employers that do not provide food are required to provide a minimum allowance of 300 QAR (about US$82) every month, which has not been increased since 2021.
However, in some situations, migrant workers are compelled to cover their own food costs as well. This includes migrant workers who are undocumented, as well as workers who are on what are colloquially referred to as "free" (azad) visas, an arrangement in which companies or individuals sell their visa allocations to workers for profit.
A Bahrain-based unemployed Bangladeshi worker who is on "free visa" arrangement but struggling to find temporary jobs since the onset of the conflict 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 20,000 taka [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 who the person who took the video said, were waiting to be picked up by construction contractors for day-labor work.
A cab driver in Kuwait who pays 70 KD [about $226] every 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."
Gulf states should assess the anticipated adverse economic impact of the crisis on migrant workers and ensure through emergency measures that all workers can realize their economic, social and cultural rights, such as food and housing.
Human Rights Watch also spoke to workers who are facing reduced work or pay or compulsory unpaid leave despite having two-year employment contracts.
Three UAE-based hospitality workers said that hotel occupancy rates have significantly dropped, so companies tell employees to clear pending vacations, take unpaid leaves until further notice, or terminate contracts. 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."
A 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 said: "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." Human Rights Watch has documented that most workers across the Gulf pay exorbitant recruitment fees financed via informal loans.
Even some migrant workers who were paid during the first month of the crisis expressed concerns about their job and income security. One Bahrain-based supply company manager said that three of his corporate clients have already told him to cut the salaries by half for over 400 workers.
A Kuwait-based migrant worker said that the restaurant he works in has had 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 have an obligation to ensure that all workers, including migrant workers, in their countries are paid a fair wage and have access to social security to be able to realize their right to an adequate standard of living, including in times of crisis. Gulf states should also ensure that migrant worker communities are adequately informed about emergency plans and directions during times of crisis, including in workers' native languages.
Employers should uphold their contractual obligations despite the war, Human Rights Watch said. Businesses vulnerable to externalities in sectors like tourism should also activate contingency plans that acknowledge the inherent instability of the industry and protect workers during business downturns and not shift the burden entirely to the workers, who have families to feed and loans to repay.
Migrants unable to work as per the contract should continue to receive their contractually owed wages. Governments should prioritize supporting small and medium sized enterprises to ensure that they do not pass the business disruption costs to the lowest-paid migrant 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.
