Description
In a world increasingly marked by war, displacement, and moral polarisation, the erosion of the global order and waning confidence in multilateral diplomacy have rendered the search for ethical frameworks capable of sustaining peace and human dignity for all more urgent than ever. This paper explores how inter-faith dialogue and faith-inspired ethics can contribute to sustainable peace and human rights in times of international crisis. Drawing notably on the OHCHR Faith for Rights framework, and the Bangkok Declaration on Faith, Dharma and Human Rights, it situates faith traditions as potential mediating forces between global human rights norms and local moral economies. Through a focus on GCC region—particularly Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where recent labour reforms, including the partial and full dismantling of the kafala system, have redefined the ethics of migration and work—it critically examines how faith and moral reasoning intersect with the pursuit of dignity and social justice. It considers both the theoretical premises of these reforms and their practical implementation, assessing the extent to which ethical and spiritual narratives can inform rights realisation within politically and culturally sensitive contexts. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative, interpretive approach, treating inter-faith dialogue as an epistemic space where ethics, governance, and lived experience converge. By examining the intersection of faith, human rights, and peacebuilding in a region emblematic of both global inequality and moral reform, the paper positions the Gulf as a microcosm of wider international crises—where competing narratives of modernity, faith, and justice collide. Ultimately, it argues that faith-based ethics can contribute to re-humanising international relations, offering a moral compass for sustainable peace amid the fractures of a divided world
