Negative Side Impacts of Foreign Workers in the UAE - Essay Example

? 20th November Negative side impacts of foreign workers in UAE United Arab Emirates is a country that is located in the Middle East of Arab countries and it borders the gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. United Arab Emirate positively co exists with the neighboring countries like Oman and Arabia when it comes to investments and trading activities. The United Arab Emirates lies in a strategic position that is along the southern Strait of Hormuz that has rich oil fields. United Arab Emirates is geographically located along the desert and mountains in the east. The system of the governance in the United Arab Emirates is federal type of government; this means that the government is composed of legislative, executive and the judicial. The powers are delegated to the United Arab Emirates federal government and the rest of powers are reserved for its members. The president in the United Arab Emirates is the head of the state and the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates is the head of the government. United Arab Emirates is known for stable economic growth, this is due to open market economy in which the prices of commodities (goods and services) are always determined in free price systems and this makes United Arab Emirates to stabilize its economy. Like other states world wide where they have to associate themselves with trade organization, United Arab Emirates is a member of council of Arab economic unity (CAEU). United Arab emirate (UAE) is known for high and rising oil prices and good economic growth in the market. The economy of United Arab Emirates from 1999 to 2008 has been growing at a rate of 10%. This gives other states challenges since with a growth of 10%; it indicates UAE is going to offer stiff competition in the international market. Today, the United Arab Emirates is not only relying on the rich oil fields but the country invests in private sectors and infrastructure system so that it can support other programs for example education and health issues. However, even though their economic growth of United Arab Emirates is seen to be stable, the emirates still experience challenges in social, economic, and even environmental areas. This paper discusses how United Arab Emirates have experienced challenges from the foreign workers who reside in the region. How foreign workers are changing the United Arab Emirates culture Due to the high number of foreigners in United Arab Emirates, their culture is being changed and this is posing a great danger to their generation. Again the use of modern technology is still a challenge to them since technology is changing the old norms to digital era. The United Arab Emirates considers its traditions no matter whether the foreigners will change it or the technology. United Arab Emirates is built on generation of Islamic traditions which is passed from generation to generation, Islamic culture is firmly rooted in United Arab Emirates and tribal heritage is considered by the civilians. Today the foreigners who come from many part of countries are changing the traditions and demographics of emirates. For example, the number of foreigners who resided in United Arab Emirates in the year 2005 to date has continued to increase. Foreign workers by nationality and their population nationality Number of foreigners India 1 million Pakistan 650, 000 Philippines 250, 000 Sri lanka 150, 000 Source-(UAE National Bureau of Statistics) United Arab Emirates is considered as the most state preferred by foreigners who come to invest or who come to seek employment. Those who normally come to invest are professional migrants. The government of United Arab Emirates is trying to come up with a knowledge based economy (Park et al 2006). This means that the demand for foreigners who are more skilled and those foreigners who are professionally educated will double the number of foreigners in United Arab Emirates. (Maurice 17). Islamic religion is not considered much by the foreigners and United Arab Emirates fear that their culture including religious beliefs will be changed. Failure to respect the Islamic religion by foreigners is posting a great danger to United Arab Emirates since most of them will just continuing working without attending the mosques. Negative social effects of foreigners to the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates is comprised of many nationalities and the country is divided in terms of gender and by ethnicity. Schools, mosques, and even hospitals are divided according to the gender and the large population in United Arab Emirates still and tend to form separate communities. This means that the civilians will have to use different mosques and health services depending on the community they come from. Due to foreigners, this segregation of people and that of mosque is being erased since United Arab Emirates has a lot of foreigners who do not follow their beliefs and cultural practices. Women have been given freedom with respect to their health. This is a social aspect that was carried on by the United Arab Emirates but today the traditions are being ignored by foreigners. Foreign women have for example resulted to bearing of children when young generation is still not married and according to Islamic law it is prohibited. This effect is due high number of foreign immigrants from different cultural background (Sara 20). Healthy facilitates are in large number in the United Arab Emirates and this cater for every person who is in the country. The expectants mothers within UAE are encouraged to get professional parental care and this means that the rate of infant mortality is kept under control. In this regard, majority of women who are from UAE usually visit the health cares but there are few who are from foreign countries who do not seek health care services (Human Report Development 21). This means that the foreigners who do not follow the rules of the country are violating and making the governments to fear about their social life. Again getting a child before one is married in the United Arab Emirate means one has violated a law and this is punishable by the government of United Arab Emirates. The foreigners who have come to invest in United Arab Emirates ignore the law since they segregate themselves assuming they are not under the law. This makes the government to feel that the foreigners can even outdo them since to date they are in high number. United Arab Emirate media provide little power to the women since they have been using it to get high profile status which is disrespect to their husbands. For example, the media has made the women to come up with federations like general women union (GWS) and this makes them to feel they have high status as compared to their husband (Sheikh 30). The foreign women are the one who came with the idea which is progressing up to know, this post a treat to the traditions of United Arab Emirates. Many people think that foreign workers are in UAE to help the country without considering the negative impact that has been explained above. The government of United Arab Emirates is a Muslim state and the rigid laws and customs of Muslims must be followed appropriately. The government strictly demands the foreigners to respect the local traditions, their customs, laws and religion whenever they are in the United Arab Emirates. When one violates United Arab Emirates laws one can be deported to their mother country or else one is jailed for a number of years or even sentenced to life imprisonment. The high numbers of foreigners in United Arab Emirates which is half of the total population of the country post a threat to the young generations since the rate of unemployment may rise. Based on the new technologies which are brought by foreigners, young generation in UAE is likely to forget about its traditions which the United Arab Emirates encourages to be passed from one generation to other generations. Environmental challenges will also post threats to the young generation since the country is mining minerals that are polluting the environment risking the life of the generation that is being born (Andrzej 47). The chemicals may result to deformities to the young children thus making the country to have a young generation that is not productive. This may ultimately lead to Emirates lagging behind in terms of economic growth. The government should ensure that industries that produce poisonous chemicals are directed to chimney that is going to condense the chemicals to vapor this will reduce the birth defects, cancer, reproduction problems and other serious illness that are as the result of chemicals released to the environment. The use and trafficking of drugs by the foreigners in the United Arab Emirates cause a lot of challenges to the government. Arab regions like other countries have continued to experience harmful drug use for centuries. For example, cannabis, alcohol, opium and other dangerous drugs have been noted to be used by foreigners and some residents of United Arab Emirates have been exposed to the vice. It is vital to note that the use of the drugs in many countries has lead to psychological problems, lowers the production of country since the affected will have to seek attention from the civilians, family break up and many others (Latham 15). Transportation within the United Arab Emirates is mostly based on the roads. In this regard, the government has been concentrating on building of infrastructures such as roads as well as railways. In the United Arab Emirates particularly in Abu Dhabi and in Dubai the roads which were constructed long time ago are in good conditions and this make transportation to be easier, thus transactions that are based on road transport are carried freely (Mina 17). Many of foreigners have been employed as drivers in United Arab Emirates and this means that they have to play vital role in safeguarding transportation system. The use of safety belts is encouraged for all individuals who use road transport. If caught violating the rules of roads you can be jailed for a number of years or even life imprisoned (Sean 11). Due to the use of drugs by some foreign drivers, regular accidents have been reported even though the law requires that road transport vehicles must be fixed with speed governors to ensure that accidents are reduced in United Arab Emirates. Traffic rules must be observed and failure to that leads to imprisonment. The table below shows drug use related accidents in the first four months in 2013. Months No of lost life January 20 February 30 march 5 April 10 The table above shows how innocent lives are lost in road transport due to the negligence and carelessness of the foreign drivers. This implies that the government of United Arab Emirates has to work harder so as to eliminate the loss of innocent lives. United Arab Emirates had not established adequate rail roads but in early 2007 the government started constructing rail network that is going to cost the government a lot of funds. However, the tendencies of the foreigners to evade tax will jeopardize the government efforts to undertake the initiative (Camille 26). Thus it is vital for the government to emulate strict regulations pertaining the collection and use of tax. Conclusion United Arab Emirates is known for its high number of foreigners who usually invest in the country but the foreigners are changing the country social life, culture, political stands, and even economic status of the country. The high number of foreigners has contributed many of negative effects of the country though many think that foreigners will only contribute to positive development of the United Arab Emirates. For example, apart from introducing a culture that is contrary to the believes of the Muslims, the foreigners are engaged in use of drugs and tax evasion among other vices thus affecting the economic and social development of the country. Works cited Andrzej, K. Arab versus Asian migrant workers in the GCC countries (PDF). UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Available from http://www.un.org/esa/population/meetings/EGM_Ittmig_Arab/P02_Kapiszewski.pdf Camille, P. UAE Islamic Finance. I Love The UAE. Retrieved on 20 November 2013. http://www.ilovetheuae.com/2010/07/13/federal-law-no-17-concerning-nationality-and-passports Human Development Report. Women in the United Arab Emirates. Available from http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session3/AE/UPR_UAE_ANNEX3_E.pd Latham, W. Doing Business in the United Arab Emirates 13pd, 2012.Print. 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