A P P E NDIX 3
S TAT E L E S S B Y D E C R E E
A P P E ND IX 3
Civil society condemnation of the GoK’s citizenship stripping
campaign up to July 2025
International human rights bodies, notably civil society organisations, have repeatedly alerted
the international community to Kuwaitʼs 2024-2025 human rights crisis. These alerts include the
following publications:
01
10 September 2024 — The Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) warned in a statement that
“Authorities continue arbitrary citizenship revocation policy”. 167
02
11 October 2024 — GCHR and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), addressing Kuwaitʼs
review under the Universal Periodic Review, called on the GoK, in relation to the longstanding
stateless community, to grant citizenship to the Bidoon community members who reside in
Kuwait and ensure that equal access to education, health care and employment for the Bidoon
population is enshrined in legislation. 168
03
23 November 2024 and 3 December 2024 — Three organisations, Salam for Democracy and
Human Rights (SALAM DHR), Hawiati — the MENA Statelessness Network (HAWIATI) and Rights
Realization Centre (RRC), sent a memorandum to the GoK. The organisations requested the
specific and objectively verifiable criteria that the GoK was using to conduct their citizenship
revocation campaign, and information as to how the campaign adhered to international law. Its
questions and concerns became the basis for a 20 December 2024 statement. On 20 December
2024, the organisations publicised their communication with the GoK. It denounced the mass
citizenship stripping campaign and warned of the retroactive application of new legislation that
rendered thousands stateless; 169
04
10 February 2025 — GCHR flagged that Amendments to the Kuwaiti Nationality Law pose serious
threats to human rights, and set out a systematic analysis of Decree-Law 116/2024 (see above) and
related measures. GCHR noted that the government had stripped the citizenship of tens of
thousands and provided an assessment of the violations of Kuwaitʼs constitution and
international standards to which it is a state party; 170
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