Kuwait going backward on issue of stateless

[Fahd Al-Shmmmrai]

Kuwait going backward on issue of stateless
By Ahmad Saeid, Staff Writer



KUWAIT: A senior official on the issue of statelessness in the NGO Refugees International (RI) said that the Kuwait government is moving backward on resolving the country's bedoon issue. The statement was made during a special interview to Kuwait Times upon the completion of their recent assessment of Kuwait.

There have been some changes over the three years that I have been following the issue of stateless people in Kuwait," said Maureen Lynch, senior advocate on stateless initiatives in RI. "One of the things that are becoming clearer during this visit is that over time bedoon individuals themselves are beginning to become a little more willing to behave in a bolder manner, to speak out on their own behalf, and this is a positive step in the right direction," she added.

The advocate said that another positive change is that the Kuwaiti government is listening to the voices of bedoons. "Maybe they are not responding to the degree that we would like to see, but there is some listening that is taking place," she explained.

In the meantime, Lynch said that although everybody in the government is aware that there is a problem, there does not seem to be a willingness to come to a solution. "There's a lot of talk, maybe more talk than before, but there's no actual concrete action towards a remedy. Not even the small remedies, such as insuring that all children are registered at birth.

Even regarding the law that permits nationalizing up to 2,000 stateless people annually, my understanding is that during the last two years, the number of nationalized people is zero. Compared to the just few hundreds who were nationalized before, we are moving backward rather than forward," Lynch explained.

Maureen Lynch joined Refugees International in 1999. She has conducted assessment missions on more than 20 countries, including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, Ingushetia, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Syria and Zimbabwe.

Lynch said that the first impression she had when she first visited Kuwait in 2007 was that the hardships being faced by stateless individuals here are similar to stateless people in other parts of the world. "The inability to fully access their right to education, healthcare for children, not being able to get their birth certificates, being unable to exercise their right of buy real estate or the right to vote among other things -- a large number of rights are at risk because people do not have a nation
ality. We've observed this very clearly, very easily during our visit to Kuwait," she asserted.

Speaking on the life conditions of stateless people in Kuwait, Lynch said that it is difficult to compare human misery across the world. "One of the things you can compare is the quality of life for nationals of the country versus the quality of life for people whose nationality is not recognized," said Lynch. "Within the Kuwait context, you can see a discrepancy in the quality of life, she added

According to Lynch, among the unique circumstances of the issue of statelessness in Kuwait is the fact that stateless people, or anyone with a nationality issue, cannot take their issue to a court. Additionally, she pointed out that Kuwaiti women are deprived of their right to pass their nationality to their sons. "That is actually a way in which statelessness can be created," she noted. "As a means of preventing future statelessness, I think it's important to recognize the need to solve this issue," she n
oted.

Charlotte Ponticelli, an independent consultant and a member of the RI team, said that the issue of the bedoon is an important challenge that must be resolved for Kuwait's movement forward.

The Bedoon issue is not only an issue of human rights," said Ponticelli. "We have to think about the flip side. The majority of bedoon are below the age of 25, we need to consider the possible outcome of not investing in these people.

I've spoken to the mothers and grandmothers of bedoon in Kuwait, many of them are worried about their sons. Some of them expressed to me their concern that their sons could be dragged into crime or drugs, or even into extremism. This is a matter of security to Kuwait," she added.

According to Ponticelli, there's a special opportunity for Kuwait at this moment in its history to be a model for other countries. "We can say 'we had this big problem, we had this huge challenge, and we took steps to address it. I know that many people view Kuwait as a wealthy country but I would like to say that human rights are not a matter of whether you can afford them or not. Nonetheless, I think that Kuwait can afford to enhance human rights on its soil," she concluded.