The issue is not merely a set of questions; it is closer to an intellectual and media current, and at times appears to be a demand within certain sectors of many societies that find — or have found — themselves amid the risks and challenges of being absorbed into different cultures whose presence has begun to expand, grow, and exert pressure on members of indigenous communities. This has given rise to calls and demands for the need to rationalise and regulate the situation, whether at the level of rights, duties, privileges, or the numbers permitted to enter and concentrate in specific areas and spaces — meaning that certain nationalities come to dominate entire neighbourhoods and districts, leading to imbalances that serve neither the security nor the cultural interests of the society.
Because freedom of movement and residence is guaranteed under international humanitarian law, and because many peoples, ethnicities, and races are permitted to move to and live in countries other than their own due to circumstances such as wars, terrorism, and numerous economic and political problems, preventing or halting the phenomenon appears impossible given these causes, in addition to the principles of coexistence and tolerance. Hence the necessity of regulatory and organising laws — precisely like the anti-hatred law issued by the United Arab Emirates, given that it is one of the world's leading destinations for labour, tourism, and investment.
It is important that calls to preserve identity and privacy, and to prevent societies from being overwhelmed by identities and cultures that threaten the fabric and identity of the indigenous community, do not drift into racist, aggressive, or sedition- and hatred-inciting territory. It is very important that provisions from anti-racism and anti-hatred legislation, along with advocacy for tolerance and coexistence, be permanently and continuously embedded in school curricula and media and social awareness programmes — for this is one of the means of fortifying society and raising its level of awareness.
The growing calls in recent years towards championing local cultural identity and privacy may appear to have their justifications, but they have multiplied greatly alongside rising waves of terrorism, economic disruption, and the scarcity of jobs for young people — factors that have brought to the fore numerous calls around Gulf, Amazigh, Kurdish, Pharaonic, and other local identities. There are problems fermenting beneath the surface of Arab societies that require broad and expansive discussion.