• © 2011 Human Rights Watch
    Kuwait: End Police Abuses Against Transgender Women
    Kuwaiti police have tortured and sexually abused transgender women using a discriminatory law, passed in 2007, which arbitrarily criminalizes “imitating the opposite sex.” The government of Kuwait should repeal the law, article 198 as amended in 2007, and hold police officers accountable for misconduct.
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Reports

Kuwait

  • Kuwait: Promises, Mostly Unfulfilled, on Citizenship
    Feb 5, 2012
    Kuwait’s government should follow through on promises to address citizenship claims of stateless residents, known as Bidun. The government should also amend its national laws to protect domestic workers following its approval, in June 2011, of a new international treaty on decent work for domestic workers.
  • Kuwait: End Police Abuses Against Transgender Women
    Jan 15, 2012
    Kuwaiti police have tortured and sexually abused transgender women using a discriminatory law, passed in 2007, which arbitrarily criminalizes “imitating the opposite sex.” The government of Kuwait should repeal the law, article 198 as amended in 2007, and hold police officers accountable for misconduct.
  • Kuwait: Don’t Deny Right to Freedom of Expression
    Jan 13, 2012

    A government order to Bidun residents, a group the government considers “illegal residents,” not to organize demonstrations denies their rights and should be revoked. 

  • In Kuwait, Jailed for Tweeting
    Aug 24, 2011
    In Kuwait, the recent attacks on people who have done nothing more than express opinions only discredit the government as paranoid, defensive, and woefully out-of-touch with the calls for democratic reform sweeping the region. Instead of policing the internet for any sign of discord, the Kuwaiti authorities should release Abul and give him and others the freedom to speak, and Tweet, their minds.
  • Kuwait: Release Jailed Internet Scribes
    Jul 13, 2011
    The Kuwaiti government should immediately release two Kuwaiti men detained over internet postings criticizing the rulers of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
  • The Gulf's gender anxiety
    Jul 7, 2011
    As women in the Gulf become more visible, both socially and politically, and as migrants bring with them different ways of living, the region's governments are stepping up their gender policing. To allay fears among conservative elements, they are regulating more tightly what is deemed acceptable behaviour for men and women.
  • Cast Aside in Kuwait
    Jun 21, 2011
    As people across the Middle East took to the streets demanding their rights this spring, they were joined by one group in Kuwait who have no rights at all. The stateless Bidun came together after Friday prayers in February and March demanding citizenship, official documents, education, health care and work. Security forces met them with tear gas, water cannons and sound bombs, detained dozens and held some for weeks.
  • Kuwait: Stateless ‘Bidun’ Denied Rights
    Jun 13, 2011
    Kuwait has not made good on its decades of promises to address citizenship claims for more than 106,000 stateless Bidun residents.
  • UN: Limited Choice Marks Rights Body Election
    May 20, 2011
    Elections for the United Nations Human Rights Council on May 20, 2011, fell short of the General Assembly's intention that states should compete for membership based on their records, Human Rights Watch said today. The UN General Assembly voted for new council members in elections in which only two of five regional groups put forward competitive slates.
  • Kuwait: Dozens Injured, Arrested in Bidun Crackdown
    Feb 19, 2011
    Hundreds of stateless residents of Kuwait took to the streets on February 18, 2011, to demand their rights, with dozens seeking treatment for injuries in local hospitals and dozens more detained by state security.
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