• Kuwait: Court Victory for Women’s Rights
    Press release
    May 6, 2012
    A court decision on April 22, 2012, cancelling a ministerial order barring women from entry-level jobs at the Justice Ministry is an important victory against legally-sanctioned discrimination in Kuwait. Human Rights Watch urged the Kuwaiti government to act on the decision, to guarantee women equal access to all public jobs, and to amend or repeal gender-based discriminatory provisions from all its legislation.
  • Kuwait: Security Forces Forcibly Disperse Stateless Residents
    Press release
    May 3, 2012

    Kuwaiti security forces arrested at least 16 stateless residents of Kuwait, known as Bidun, during a peaceful demonstration on May 1, 2012, in support of their rights to nationality. Kuwaiti authorities should respect the rights of Bidun to peaceful assembly.

  • Kuwait: Lift Newspaper Suspension
    Press release
    Mar 16, 2012
    Kuwaiti authorities should immediately end the suspension of the daily Al Dar and void the conviction of its editor for alleged incitement. This criminal punishment, for articles in which al-Sultan condemned other writers for insulting the Shia minority, is a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression.
  • Kuwait: Promises, Mostly Unfulfilled, on Citizenship
    Press release
    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
    Press release
    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
    Press release
    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
    Commentary
    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
    Press release
    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
    Commentary
    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
    Commentary
    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.