Ecologist Dr. S. Faizi urges UN intervention to save 35 million Gulf migrants

By A Representative

Renowned ecologist and veteran United Nations negotiator Dr. S. Faizi has issued an urgent appeal to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, calling for immediate diplomatic intervention to halt escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf. In a formal letter copied to several UN missions, Faizi warned that the lives and livelihoods of 35 million migrant workers—who comprise the vast majority of the population in many Gulf cities—are facing an unprecedented existential crisis.

The appeal emphasizes that the focus on global oil supplies has dangerously overshadowed the human cost of the war for expatriates from nations such as India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Egypt. Faizi highlighted the specific vulnerability of Indian workers, noting that in some regions, for every local national affected by the conflict, there are at least three Indian migrants suffering the consequences.

"The focus on oil deflects attention from this deep crisis affecting 35 million people from Asian, African countries," Faizi stated. "It is about the safety of the expatriate workers, it is about the threat of them losing jobs, it is about their home societies plunging into financial crisis and worries about their dear ones in the Gulf."

The letter urges the Secretary-General to initiate a direct dialogue with the United States, Israel, and Iran. While acknowledging the complexities of negotiating with an Israeli administration that has declared the Secretary-General persona non grata, Faizi argued that the Security Council's recent rejection of military intervention provides a critical opening for traditional diplomacy. He noted that the economies of states like Kerala, India, are "intimately connected" to these remittances and warned of a total collapse of progressive social indices if the migrant workforce remains unprotected.

Drawing on his history as the negotiator who secured the inclusion of Principle 24 in the Rio Declaration—which asserts that war is inherently destructive to sustainable development—Faizi cautioned that public faith in the UN is eroding. He concluded that an earnest effort to engage the warring parties in dialogue is essential to restoring the standing of the international body, asserting that the impact of this war extends far beyond the immediate battlefield to the families of millions across the Global South.

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