Suzan El Tahhan
Bidoons: A Statelessness Plight in Kuwait
مجلة الدراسات القانونية واالقتصادية
“Recourse to a statelessness determination procedure will not generally be
appropriate. If, however, individuals are expected to seek protection through such a
mechanism, the status awarded on recognition shall include, at the very least,
permanent residence with facilitated access to nationality”.67
This is a typical scenario for Bidoons who are denied the nationality of their
country of birth where their parents have been long-term habitual residents, and they
should be granted the Kuwaiti nationality. Kuwait that is neither a State party to the
1951 Refugee Convention plus its 1967 Protocol, nor to the 1954 Convention
Relating to the Status of the Stateless Persons, according to the guidelines; still have
a political as well as moral obligation to grant Bidoons the Kuwaiti nationality and
facilitate their complete integrity in the society by ending such widespread
discriminatory policies beside putting all discriminatory nationality laws to an end.
Looking through the 1951 and the 1954 Conventions, they both require States
to provide their beneficiaries with affordable and equal treatment to nationals or
aliens, including stateless persons.68
II.A.3. Best Durable Solutions Under International Law
The need for durable solutions is necessary not just for refugees; but also, for
stateless persons stuck in legal and physical limbo. A durable solution is one of three:
1) Voluntary repatriation. 2) Local Integration, or 3) Resettlement.
According to all the aforementioned, some stateless populations remain to be in
their "own country" and may be referred to as "in situ" populations. For these groups,
67
Ibid.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on Statelessness No. 1: The definition of "Stateless
Person" in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 20 February 2012, P.3,
available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4f4371b82.html [accessed 20 December 2015]
68
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