(Beirut) – The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) governments have intensified restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly amid ongoing conflict and economic turmoil, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. These latest measures exacerbate existing restrictions on migrant workers’ ability to raise concerns about working conditions in an already repressive environment for migrant workers and trade unions.
“The conflict in the Gulf region has spawned a new level of surveillance of migrant workers’ communications, undermining their ability to raise concerns about labor abuses and dangerous working conditions,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Government arrests and barrages of warnings have created a climate of fear that is causing migrant workers to self-censor their private communications as well as online.”
Human Rights Watch in March 2026 interviewed 38 Indian, Nepali, and Bangladeshi migrant workers based in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) about the impact of armed conflict in the region on their physical and economic security.
Many workers were particularly worried about their ability to speak out on issues they faced with human rights organizations and media, even under conditions of anonymity.
In April, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch spoke with 15 migrant workers and worker community leaders in Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait from Nepal, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana, India, and the Philippines, including follow-up conversations with five workers interviewed in March.
During the regional conflict, Gulf countries have clamped down on free expression. In May, Amnesty International documented that more than 1,000 people have been arrested by GCC states in a crackdown to suppress information around the conflict, including sharing online content or expressing views related to the US-Israeli war with Iran and Iran’s attacks on Gulf states. GCC governments, embassies, and employers have also issued repeated warnings against “spreading rumors” or sharing conflict-related content on social media, which has added to a pervasive climate of fear and self-censorship among migrant workers.
Several migrant workers and community leaders, including those in Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, and Qatar, described random police checks of residents’ mobile phones during the conflict.
One Kuwait-based restaurant worker said that on his commute in April 2026, police randomly checked phones of workers, including his own. He said that people have been fined up to 1,000 Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) (about US$3,200) and even jailed if the authorities uncover videos or photos of attacks. “My salary is just KD150 [$485] per month,” he said. “I don’t post anything.” A migrant community leader in Qatar described routine inspections for photos or videos related to attack sites, while a UAE-based worker said police scroll through phones during random checks.
One worker from Bangladesh said in April, “We have been told by the company not to post on social media. If the police catch us, the company has said they won’t be accountable.… People are scared even to speak up. If a company does not provide work, people should not be afraid to say so.”
A worker from Nepal said that before he left the UAE for his vacation, his company warned him to delete all videos and pictures from his phone.
The atmosphere of fear is further hampering the ability of human rights organizations to conduct research. “Before I say anything else, I need you [referring to the Human Rights Watch researcher] to understand something,” a Qatar-based migrant said. “Talking to you like this—even this conversation—frightens me. In Qatar right now, sharing information carries serious risk. People are being arrested. They’ve arrested people even for having certain videos saved on their phones.”
A journalist who has long covered migrant rights issues in the Gulf noted the increased challenge for his reporting. “During normal times, interviews are based on referrals from trusted workers,” he said. “But this time, the people who make the referrals are scared to do so, and victims have been unwilling to speak despite needing help. Three Bahrain-based workers referred by my friend who are not being paid refused to speak with me today, even on conditions of anonymity.” Amnesty International also found some migrant workers less willing to refer friends or colleagues to speak to them.
GCC countries have justified these restrictions on the need to protect national security and to prevent misinformation, and several workers said that they believed certain restrictions could help prevent panic and misinformation. However, under international human rights law and standards, restrictions on the right to freedom of expression must be provided by law and be strictly necessary and proportionate to one of the limited legitimate aims. The United Nations Human Rights Committee in its General Comment No. 34 has further said that restrictions on information sharing must not put the right itself in jeopardy and that they should remain exceptional.
Several workers interviewed believed the heightened scrutiny and surveillance by Gulf governments and employers is an attempt to manage the reputation and economies of states that have invested heavily in their international image. Human Rights Watch has carried out extensive research on Gulf states’ reputation-laundering activities to distract from pervasive rights abuses. One UAE-based worker said, “I think they don’t want us to post anything because people might stop coming to the UAE.”
Another labor rights activist said: “Gulf governments are trying to project an image of stability, pretending everything is fine.… Desperate to avoid any perception of crisis and the impact this could have on markets, investment and the economy, authorities are suppressing dissent on a wide scale. The cost of this repression is felt severely by migrant workers, as a climate of fear takes hold and suffocates the already limited community organizing and labor rights work in these countries.”
The abuses against migrant workers are compounded by the systematic denial of migrant workers’ right to organize. Trade unions, which give a collective voice and representation to workers and can be particularly critical in times of crisis, are either banned, exclude migrant workers, or are so tightly restricted as to be meaningless. With no safe or effective channels to raise grievances, some workers are driven to strike despite the risk of facing employer retaliation, as well as arrest, detention, and deportation.
This repression also extends beyond Gulf countries’ borders. Saudi Arabia in January 2026 asked the International Labour Organization governing body to prematurely close the article 26 complaint brought by African trade union groups against it. Instead of meaningfully engaging with the complaint, Saudi authorities needlessly named the leader of one of the African trade union originators in its response, exposing and putting at risk those who raise grievances and organize to defend migrant workers’ rights.
Saudi authorities also dismissed victims’ accounts that were presented anonymously for their protection.
In the absence of formal unions, informal networks and diaspora groups are filling in primarily to share information and provide humanitarian support. However, their reach and capacity is often limited, the organizations said.
A labor leader in Bahrain told Amnesty International that the government’s recent blanket ban on public gatherings in roads and squares, imposed in response to missile attacks, hindered community efforts “to provide urgent food supplies to migrant workers forced onto unpaid leave or subjected to wage cuts.”
Governments have a responsibility in wartime to take measures to enhance public safety, but such measures should not result in unnecessary or disproportionate restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
“The conflict must not be used as a pretext to further restrict civic space and suppress the ability of migrant workers to speak freely and organize,” said Kristine Beckerle, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. “While undue restrictions on trade unions and free speech in the region long predate this conflict, their impact has been sharply amplified in the current context, deepening power imbalances and exposing migrant workers to greater harm. Gulf states must ensure that all workers can report openly about the problems they face and provide urgent social protection measures.”
