Attacking our Friends and Allies in The Middle East

Alpesh Patel’s Political Sketchbook: 

I recently returned from Washington, where I used to work in Congress, and from Qatar. As we know, Britain needs all the allies it can get in the Middle East.

A fresh twist to the ongoing debate on the living and working conditions of labourers in Qatar is beginning to create ripples and has the potential to turn the issue on its head.

Qatar has been the principle target of media and popular wrath because of the allegedly poor labour conditions that exist around construction sites. Reports carried out by the media have also highlighted hundreds of deaths due to sub-standard living and working conditions.

The tiny Gulf State is battling on multiple fronts and respite seems distant possibility. The ruling Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, has pledged to introduce new labour legislations by early 2015. The emirate's sponsorship law, known as "kafala", which limits the rights of movement of foreign workers and has allegedly led to widespread exploitation, will be replaced by new legislation that is "currently under review", a statement from the country's labour and social affairs ministry said.

I’ve been monitoring a pattern between UAE, Labour party of the UK, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a pretentious human rights group, Global Network Research and Development.

UAE and Qatar have for long been engaged in a cold war sort of a situation. They have differences over the role of political Islam in the Middle East periodically and don’t see eye to eye. The UAE it appears has sought to shore up its image through the creation of a network of human rights groups and negatively influence international media coverage of the FIFA 2022 hosts. GNRD is regularly receiving funds from UAE and has an office based out of UAE. A source on condition of anonymity has showed me receipts of payments.

Global Network Research and Development, a Norway-based human rights group with clear links to the UAE, is not a ‘recognized’ human rights group, GNRD has heaped unwarranted praise on the UAE's widely criticized human and labour rights record.

GNRD’s International Human Rights Rank Indicator (IHRRI) lists the UAE at number 14 as the Arab country most respectful of human rights as opposed to Qatar that lists at number 94. The ranking contradicts reports by human rights groups, including the United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR) which earlier this year said it had credible evidence of torture of political prisoners in the UAE and questioned the independence of the country's judiciary.

More recently, the New York Times and The Intercept revealed that the UAE, the world’s largest spender on lobbying in the United States in 2013, had engaged a lobbying firm to plant anti-Qatar stories in the American media.

Founded in 2008, GNRD is headed by Loai Mohammed Deeb, a reportedly Palestinian-born international lawyer who also owns a UAE-based consultancy, and operated a fake university in Scandinavia, according to veteran Middle East author and journalist Brian Whitaker.

I located every comment in Parliament over the past two years mentioning ‘Qatar’ and singularly the Labour Party has been critical of the country and Britain’s link to its ally – a very important ally in the war on terror.

Former British PM Tony Blair, interestingly, appears to be part of the whole web. The former PM has sold his political and economic expertise to two countries, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, via his fledgling private consultancy firm and is seen as catering to UAE’s global interests. Said the Guardian newspaper, ‘"Blair is a paid employee of Abu Dhabi because of his Mubadala contract," said Christopher Davidson, a Gulf expert at Durham University. "He should not be regarded as representing UK national interests."’

Attacks by Labour in Parliament on one of the Britain’s closest allies, Qatar, in a region where we need them the most smacks of them being puppets to a bigger puppet master and against British interests.