S TAT E L E S S B Y D E C R E E
Recommendations
TO
THE
Government of Kuwait
The GoK has selectively adhered to the international human rights obligations to which it is
a state party. Its reservations and interpretive declarations on legally binding, multinational
human rights treaties restrict the application of international law and the current
government appears, regrettably, disinclined to end these rights restrictions.
For this reason, we call on the GoK to act in good faith and retrospectively accept and
implement recommendations made by at least 10 of the 16 states in the 4th Cycle of the UPR,
in 2025 (see Appendix 5).
Furthermore, we urge the GoK to:
01
End statelessness in Kuwait by 2030, ensuring that no person in Kuwait can be
considered, under international standards and practice, as stateless;
02
Pro-actively work with UNHCR and civil society to develop and implement a
concrete programme for ending statelessness;
03
Immediately suspend the revocation of citizenship until the Nationality Law be
aligned with international human rights standards and international best
practice, including by working with the OHCHR and UNHCR in order to ensure
compliance
04
Ensure that those affected by citizenship revocation can fulfill their basic
needs, such as education, healthcare, housing, the right to dispose of their
personal bank accounts, manage property, and obtain identity and travel
documents;
05
Reinstate the nationality to all those stripped in the absence of any wrongful
or illegal act, such as children or any other individual who does not have any
meaningful, effective or legal connection to any other state;
06
Reinstate the nationality of all those whose citizenship the government revoked
in the absence of an independent or effective review and due process,
including the possibility to challenge the withdrawal before a court;152
07
Reverse all nationality-related decisions based on the rendering illegal of
previously permitted and legal conduct, such as in relation to passing Kuwaiti
nationality from a male Kuwaiti to a non-Kuwaiti wife, as highlighted by,
amongst others, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls,its
causes and consequences;153
08
Ensure a transparent and carefully considered mechanism with an objectively
verifiable independent appeal mechanism - beyond the existing Grievance
Committee - to ensure fairness, justice, and compliance with the law in cases
of citizenship revocation, without official interference to use the revocation
against opponents or critics, and to give those affected a full opportunity to
file complaints before a fair judiciary.
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