All’s well that ends well

PRIMA facie, the issue of workers protesting in their Jebel Ali camp has been resolved in an amicable manner. It would mean that the thousands of workers who participated in the demonstration demanding higher wages and better living conditions will not be deported, except in cases where there is clear evidence of breach of law including resorting to violence. Resorting to violence is certainly not the way forward. More so in the UAE, which has always been keen to promote good governance and a humanitarian approach to all such issues. Already, there are mechanisms in place to address such grievances. And the workers need to present their problems before such fora. More importantly, they must not take the law into their hands. On the other hand, it is equally important that these mechanisms prove themselves effective and respond to changing times and workers ’ needs. Let ’s face it. These workers are here to earn a living for themselves and for their families. They must get their salaries paid on time; and they must be provided with all the necessary facilities for a decent living. If there are flaws in implementation of welfare initiatives targeting them, they must be corrected. These men, however, are duty bound to stand by the contracts they have signed.
Obviously, some of the contracting agencies here are not above board. And the authorities have to take all necessary steps to discipline them. This is necessary not only because it ’s right but also because the wrong actions and attitudes of these companies ultimately bring bad name to the UAE as a whole. For a change, the Indian embassy has effectively intervened to resolve the tricky issue with the UAE authorities and help the expatriate Indian community. For it is very rare for the diplomatic corps from the Asian countries to draw cheers from the community. The expatriate community also shouldn ’t forget the fact that they, as a whole, are also the beneficiaries of the great development process that is currently under way in the UAE. This is one of the most liberal and tolerant countries in the Middle East. The expatriate community might be facing problems with growing cost of living and fall in the currency convertibility rates, with no matching adjustments in their salaries. Nevertheless, it must exercise restraint. Any public display of their grievances or taking the matters to the streets is not advisable. They must take comfort in the feeling that here is a dispensation that is well informed and reasonable. The UAE leadership is one that is sensitive and responsive to unfolding situations and challenges. Issues are bound to be sorted out in due course. Let the expatriates be guided by a sense of hope for the future.

Uncharitable

THE suspected attempted abduction of 103 Chadian children by a French charity raises two issues, one of which has been widely noted while the other, oddly, has not attracted any attention. The overlooked factor is the website of Zoe’s Ark, posted in French with an English version that no longer works. It is a very strange production for a charity since much of its content is highly political, including a denunciation of the “Islamic dictatorship” of Sudan. Stranger still is the fact that the donations page offers only a postal address for supporters to send their money. Leaving aside what the nine French charity workers and seven crewmembers of the Spanish plane that would have carried children to France really intended, it should never be the business of a humanitarian charity to embark on such overt political criticism. All aid charities, regardless of the personal feelings of their field workers, should be focused on the aid functions for which they were established. The behavior of Zoe’s Ark has very unfortunately cast a pall of suspicion over all the other charities that are working in Chad and Darfur. Those suspicions must be deepened by those who read its deplorably political website. It seems that the French government was already investigating this charity’s activities and there is some indication that Paris may actually have tipped off the Chadian authorities about the flight.
What has attracted most comment is the idea that international charities should have any sort of policy to collect genuine orphans and re-home them with families in the wealthy First World. Anyone seeing the heart-rending TV footage of starving, abandoned African children will want to do something to help. But offering a new start to these kids in a far-away land is a highly controversial way to assist. What it ignores is that unlike in the West these days, Africans still enjoy large extended families. The only reason why such units may be chary of taking on orphaned relatives is that they are already struggling to look after those who are closest to them. Yet the effect a campaign to remove these children for adoption in the West — Zoe’s Ark boasted in April that it intended to gather up 1,000 Darfur orphans — is to suggest that Africans are somehow less caring and responsible than Westerners. The notion seems to be that these unfortunate juveniles are not only being rescued from conflict and starvation but also from Africa itself. That is a racist notion, which is reprehensible. The truth is that if outsiders want to aid the young orphan victims of tragedy, whether in Darfur or the Congo or anywhere else, they should bring out their checkbooks and given generously to charities that are helping sustain the communities to which these kids belong. Giving families the means to survive, with dignity, until the political circumstances finally change for the better, is far preferable to transporting thousands of children to an alien culture. Zoe’s Ark’s activities deserve to be condemned absolutely on these grounds alone.

—Arab News