Kuwait: Authorities must stop targeting pro-Bidun protesters as elections loom
The authorities detained and prosecuted government critics under legal provisions criminalizing speech deemed offensive to the head of state. Members of the stateless Bidun minority continued to face discrimination. Courts continued to hand down death sentences; no executions were reported.
In February 2021, the Emir suspended parliament for a month, stating it was in a bid to defuse tensions between the government and parliament. Reasons for the tensions included a proposed general amnesty bill to pardon a group of former opposition members of parliament (MPs) convicted in relation to their participation in a 2011 protest, as well as the sentencing of a group of men following an unfair trial on charges that included “spying for Iran and Hizbullah”. On 8 November, the Emir granted pardons and reduced the sentences of 35 men, including 11 former MPs.
Responding to the Kuwaiti Constitutional Court’s decision today to overturn Article 198 of the Penal Code, which criminalized “imitation of the opposite sex”, because it violates Article 30 of the constitution that guarantees personal freedom, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said:
“The Kuwaiti Constitutional Court’s decision to overturn Article 198 of the Penal Code is a welcome development and a major breakthrough for transgender rights in the region. Article 198 was deeply discriminatory, overly vague and never should have been accepted into law in the first place.
“The Kuwaiti authorities must now ensure that Article 198 is repealed in its entirety. They must also immediately halt arbitrary arrests of transgender people and drop all charges and convictions brought against them under this transphobic law.
“All those unjustly imprisoned under Article 198 must now be released. The authorities must also investigate all allegations of torture by security forces and install an independent mechanism for monitoring police behaviour.”
Kuwaiti authorities have arrested 18 people in Kuwait, including three candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections, for taking part in a peaceful demonstration the previous week in support of Kuwait’s stateless Bidun community, Amnesty International said today.
On 31 August 2022, the Office of Public Prosecution summoned them for investigation on charges that could lead to up to nine months imprisonment and ordered their pre-trial detention pending further investigation.
“This is a blatant attempt by the Kuwaiti authorities to intimidate people who are exercising their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly. Instead of listening to the demonstrators’ calls for the rights of stateless Bidun people to nationality, education and healthcare, the authorities are seeking to silence and punish them,” said Amna Guellali, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The authorities must drop any and all legal action against these peaceful protesters. Ahead of parliamentary elections in September, the Kuwaiti authorities must respect the rights of everyone in Kuwait to participate freely and peacefully in public affairs, which includes the right to join peaceful demonstrations and to freely express their demand for basic rights.”
This submission reflects Amnesty International’s concerns about violations of the rights to nationality, education and healthcare affecting children born into the local stateless population in Kuwait, known as the Bidun. It is based on review of Kuwait’s laws, the information it submitted to the Committee for this review and on interviews Amnesty International conducted with Bidun and recognized Kuwaiti nationals in June 2022. The principal matters of concern uncovered by the research are that Bidun children, especially those from families with minimal documentation, are deprived of the right to a nationality and face significant difficulties in fulfilling their rights to education and healthcare.
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On the launch of its 2015 State of the World report, Amnesty International USA urged President Obama to use his last year in office to bring U.S. laws and policies in line with international human rights standards.
International protection of human rights is in danger of unravelling as short-term national self-interest and draconian security crackdowns have led to a wholesale assault on basic freedoms and rights, warned Amnesty International as it launched its annual assessment of human rights around the world. “Your rights are in jeopardy: they are being treated with utter contempt by many governments around the world,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
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