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Kuwait has stood out as the largest donor, delivering nearly one-third of all aid pledged to the Syrian crisis through the U.N, or $800 million since 2012, while the UAE has given $364 million. This legal position seems anomalous given the view of key Gulf leaders that they can increasingly provide regional solutions to regional problems, their growing role in international institutions and their role in contributing to aid for refugees around the world.

This is not a specific issue of hostility to Syrian refugees: The six Gulf monarchies have never signed the international conventions on refugee rights and statelessness, which began to be established after World War II. But they do not take in refugees to their own countries: None of them officially recognize the legal concept of refugeehood. The Gulf countries, the wealthiest states among the Arab world, are among the largest donors to Syrian refugees. Of the third of a million people who have arrived by sea this year, most are from the Arab world: Half are from Syria, while Iraq and Sudan are also among the top 10 countries of refugees' nationality. The incentive to escape must be high for people to take the risky journey: An average of 11 people have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean every day in 2015 so far.

Most of the people desperate enough to try and enter Europe by boat come from countries in conflict, rather than being purely economic migrants. This article first appeared on the Chatham House site.Īs the majority of refugees coming to Europe by sea are from the Arab world, the question is being asked: Why don't the richest Arab countries take in refugees?