•
•
•
protect freedom of peaceful assembly and association in line with international
standards;
Investigate excessive use of force in the dispersal of past peaceful protests, prosecute
and punish the perpetrators;
Release and drop all charges against those convicted as a direct result of their
participation in peaceful gatherings;
Enable Kuwaiti civil society to work freely without reprisals or any arbitrary interference
from the executive.
3.2 Citizenship
During its previous UPR, Kuwait noted a number of recommendations on nationality legislation
as it pertains to the situation of stateless individuals.22 It also failed to support a number of
recommendations directly addressing discrimination in nationality laws and the arbitrary
deprivation of citizenship. 23
While Kuwait has not ratified the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, it still has international obligations
to protect the right to a nationality and the rights of stateless persons on the basis of other UN
and regional treaties to which it is a party. These include, among others, the ICCPR,24 the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), 25
and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (Cairo Declaration).26 Moreover, the right
to a nationality is protected under article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights
(UDHR). Finally, the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality has become a principle
of customary international law along with the obligation to avoid statelessness.27
Kuwait has ratified other relevant core instruments, with reservations to essential provisions.
They include the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), in which Kuwait has limited the
application of the right to acquire a nationality under article 7 to foundlings only – children born
in Kuwait to unknown parents; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(CRPD) with a reservation to article 18 on the right to acquire a nationality, and the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) with a reservation
to article 9, which grants women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their
nationality and equal rights with respect to the nationality of their children.
22
Noted: 157.30 (Honduras); 157.31 (Slovakia); 157.32 (Australia); 157.34 (Germany); 157.33
(Canada); 157.246 (Slovakia); 157.247 (Czech Republic); 157.249 (United Kingdom); 157.250
(Argentina); 157.254 (Switzerland); 157.248 (Spain); 157.241 (Netherlands)
23 Noted: 157.252. (Republic of Korea); 157.113. (Canada); 157.114. (Togo); 157.115 (Austria);
157.117. (Germany); 157.118. (Norway); 157.119. (Poland). Noted/supported: 157.116. (Czech
Republic).
24 Article 24(3).
25 Article 5(d)(iii).
26 Articles 5 and 19.
27 Human Rights Council, Human Rights and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality: Report of the
Secretary-General, A/HRC/13/34, 14 December 2009, paras. 19–22.
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UPR KUWAIT