العربية- 17 September 2026
- Geneva
A coalition of eight human rights organisations today called on the Government of Kuwait (GoK) to end its mass, arbitrary citizenship stripping campaign and to abide by its international human rights obligations. The government has arbitrarily stripped 70 thousand or more people of Kuwaiti citizenship, creating statelessness or putting scores at risk of statelessness.
The GoK has conducted this campaign amidst a widespread erosion of adherence to international human rights obligations, notably in relation to freedom of expression, association; respect for the rights of women and children; human rights defenders and administration of justice.
The report, Stateless by Decree: End Kuwait’s Citizenship Stripping Crisis, sets out the international legal framework, contrasting how the government’s use of its domestic legal framework, notably decree laws in 2024 and 2026, have eroded Kuwait’s adherence to international obligations. It examines the gendered basis of citizenship revocation; the intergenerational application of the campaign as well as the arbitrary character of the government’s conduct. The report provides, often under pseudonyms, samples of testimony from those deprived of their citizenship – some of whom are now stateless – and reflects on the lack of redress and the related practical and psychological impacts. The report recognises litigation in previous years that has mitigated rights-violating conduct but notes that the government has expressly now forbade the courts from intervening.
The report questions whether there will be any accountability for the tens of thousands of lives turned upside down; it cites scholarly work that links the mass deprivation of citizenship to criminal acts.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, Salam for Democracy and Human Rights’ Jawad Fairooz called on Kuwait to “immediately suspend further citizenship revocations until amendments to the Nationality Law are brought into line with international human rights standards; to restore nationality to people deprived of it without an independent and effective review or due process, including children and others who have no meaningful, effective or legal connection to another country.”
MENA Rights Group’s Falah Sayed added that “Kuwait is a state that joined international human rights instruments deliberately, then built, just as deliberately, the domestic machinery to route around them and revoke the nationality of thousands of Kuwaitis.” She called on Kuwait “[T]o establish a transparent, independent and objectively verifiable appeals mechanism, with a genuine opportunity to challenge revocation before a fair and independent judiciary.”
Ahmad Jaber, speaking on behalf of Northern Arabia Surviving Indigeneity (NASI) urged the international community “[N]ot to forget the already-existing approximately 90 thousand-large Bidoon community.”
Khalid Ibrahim of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights said, “The citizenship revocation crisis in Kuwait has reached unprecedented levels in its modern history. Tens of thousands of citizens, mostly women and children, have been stripped of their nationality, without any clear prospect or national legal mechanism to redress the severe harm they have suffered. This necessitates urgent action from international bodies, including the United Nations, to halt these arbitrary decisions and ensure justice for all those affected.”
Citing the international human rights basis for it, our organisations call on the GoK to ensure that everyone affected retains access to education, healthcare, housing, employment, pensions, banking, property, identity documentation and travel documents.
Kuwait should commit to ending statelessness by 2030, working with UNHCR and civil society, including organisations led by people directly affected by statelessness, to develop and implement a concrete national programme.
Our organisations insist that the international community must also act. The report calls on the EU and UK to make arbitrary deprivation of nationality and statelessness standing issues in their engagement with Kuwait and increase direct engagement with affected communities. It also calls on OHCHR and UNHCR to strengthen international scrutiny, including through a dedicated working group or other mechanism addressing the human-rights impact of statelessness and citizenship stripping.
The organisations will endeavour to conduct advocacy with the GoK in order to bring about a change in government conduct towards adherence to international human rights law.
Read / DownloadThe coalition of organisations that co-authored the report are:
- The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR);
- The Global Movement Against Statelessness (GMAS);
- Hawiati, the MENA Statelessness Network (Hawiati);
- Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI);
- MENA Rights Group;
- Northern Arabia Surviving Indigeneity (NASI);
- Rights Realization Centre (RRC); and
- SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights (SALAM DHR)
For more information, contact:
- Michael Khambatta, GCHR (English, French) +4179474 8208 and michael@gc4hr.org
- Drewery Dyke, SALAM DHR (English) +447800989221 and drewery.dyke@salam-dhr.org
- Jawad Fairooz, SALAM DHR (Arabic, English) +447449926577 and jawad.fairooz@salam-dhr.org