A study on bilateral relations, security and migration and impact on Lebanese in the Gulf

The director of the Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) at Notre Dame University, Dr. Guita Hurani, published a new study on bilateral relations, security and migration and their impact on Lebanese working in the Gulf.  Hurani posed three hypotheses namely: a) bilateral relations can be affected by movements of population; b) the degradation in the bilateral relations between host and sending countries affect migrants negatively; and c) there is a link between bilateral relations and the situation of migrants.
Hurani noted that the bilateral relations between Lebanon and Gulf countries witnessed a significant degradation since the start of the Syrian crisis.  This has had a negative impact on the lives of some 400000 Lebanese working in these countries.  Hurani further added that the policies of home countries affect the migrants in host countries and that there is a lot of tension overlap between economic and security policies, which renders the issue of migration a political issue par excellence. Hurani concluded by saying that Lebanon should urgently adopt wise policies to protect its interests and those of its people working in the Gulf as well as draft a national migration policy especially since remittances constitute one quarter of Lebanese GDP.
Source: Al-Diyar 1 August 2014