Suzan El Tahhan Bidoons: A Statelessness Plight in Kuwait ‫مجلة الدراسات القانونية واالقتصادية‬ one of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) identified many Bidoons cases held in detention due to their lack of status30. 1- Right to Demonstration and Peaceful Public Gathering: Participants in the demonstrations of 2011 reported to Human Rights Watch that once protesters gathered near the mosque, security forces announced that "nonKuwaitis have no right to demonstrate, and they should end the protest". 31Though Article 44 of Kuwait's constitution stated that; "Public meetings, demonstrations, and gatherings are permitted in accordance with the conditions and manner specified by law, provided that their purpose and means are peaceful and not contrary to morals.", Article 12 of the 1979 Public Gathering Law prohibited non-Kuwaitis from participating in public gatherings. This Kuwaiti Public gathering Law came in contrast to Kuwait's international obligation to protect the right of peaceful assembly for all individuals. Kuwait ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1996. Article 21 of the ICCPR states that "the right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized" and that "no restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law, and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.". 30 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), The situation of stateless persons in the Middle East and North Africa, October 2010, P.23, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4cea28072.html [accessed 22 December 2015]. 31 Human Rights Watch, Kuwait: Security Forces Forcibly Disperse Stateless Residents, 4 May 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4fab6bec2.html [accessed 20 December 2015] 15