Why aren’t Gulf countries opening their doors to Syrian refugees? Why is the majority of the world’s refugees present in only ten countries? Why are the world’s wealthiest nations leaving poor and politically unstable countries to bear the brunt of global refugee crisis?

It may seem unfair but I don’t think anyone is in a position to blame any country for not hosting tens if not hundreds of thousands of refugees. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t host refugees but on the contrary, helping out refugees comes in different ways and countries who are not prepared or willing (yet) to welcome refugees are helping financially. For example, the UAE has refused to welcome any Syrian refugee but has provided almost $1 Billion dollars in help to the Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, making it one of the largest per capita donors and contributor to humanitarian and development aid in the world.

However, this is about to change as Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, announced that “The UAE will take in 15,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years”. She also added that currently around 250,000 Syrians live in the UAE, but none of them have refugee status. The UAE is not legally bound to allow refugees in as it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee.