Human Rights Watch welcomed the conclusions of the United Nations Human Rights Committee's review of Kuwait implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and called on the government of Kuwait to take immediate steps to implement the Committee's recommendations.
The Committee has provided clear guidance on what Kuwait must do to fulfill its obligation to protect and promote civil and political rights," said Hanny Megally, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division. "The Kuwaiti government should now live up to its promises and move ahead with implementation of the Covenant."
Human Rights Watch visited Kuwait in March 2000 and raised concerns regarding Kuwait's restrictions on freedom of expression and women's rights, and its treatment of more than 100,000 stateless Bidun, in meetings with government officials and members of the National Assembly. Human Rights Watch presented a twelve-page summary of those concerns to the Human Rights Committee prior to its review of Kuwait.
In its Concluding Observations, issued on July 28, 2000, the Committee noted twenty-three "principle subjects of concern," including discrimination against women in voting, marriage, and nationality; unresolved cases of "disappeared"; unfair trial and arbitrary detention; the large number of offenses punishable by death; abuses of detainees; a range of abuses against Bidun; and restrictions of freedom of expression and association.
The Committee also rejected Kuwait's interpretative declaration limiting implementation of anti-discrimination provisions in the Covenant, saying it "contravenes the State party's essential obligations under the Covenant and is therefore without legal effect."
Human Rights Watch called on the government of Kuwait to take immediate steps to ensure that Kuwaiti law and practice meets the standards required by the ICCPR. In particular, Kuwait should:
withdraw its reservations to the Covenant
amend its Penal Code, Election Law, Personal Status Law, Judiciary Service Code, and Nationality Law and take steps to ensure women's full enjoyment in practice of their rights
amend its Penal Code and Printing and Publications law to protect free expression
ensure that Kuwait's Bidun population enjoy Covenant rights without discrimination, in particular the right to remain in and return to one's own country; right of children to be registered immediately after birth; and the right of children to acquire a nationality.
BACKGROUND
Kuwait acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on May 21, 1996. All 144 states party to the ICCPR are required to submit periodic reports to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors implementation of the treaty and its protocols. Kuwait's first periodic report was reviewed by the Human Rights Committee during its sixty-ninth session, from July 10-28, 2000, in Geneva.
The Human Rights Committee is composed of eighteen independent experts who are, in the words of the Covenant, "persons of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights." Committee members serve in their personal capacity, and are elected for a four year term by a secret ballot of the states party to the Covenant.
