Background

Parliament remained suspended. Consequently, legislative changes were introduced by executive decree without parliamentary oversight.

In September the UN Human Rights Council adopted the outcome of Kuwait’s UPR. Kuwait received 290 recommendations; it accepted 206, partially accepted four, and took note of 80. It failed to accept recommendations to protect freedom of expression, reduce statelessness, eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, safeguard the rights of migrant workers and abolish the death penalty.

Freedom of expression and assembly

Authorities repressed the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The Penal Code and cybercrime law criminalized forms of expression deemed as “insulting” to religion, the emir, and/or foreign heads of state.

The Public Gatherings Law criminalized public assemblies involving more than 20 people gathering without a permit. Non-Kuwaitis were prohibited from participating in gatherings under certain circumstances.

Authorities engaged in transnational repression by coordinating with foreign governments to have dissident bloggers extradited to Kuwait. Salman al-Khalidi and Mesaed Al-Musaileem were deported from Iraq and Malaysia, respectively. They were detained in Kuwait where they faced multiple prison sentences for social media posts deemed critical of the authorities of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Mesaed Al-Musaileem also faced prosecution for calling for protests in Kuwait.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions

In April, former parliamentarians were sentenced to imprisonment on charges relating to publicly criticizing the authorities, including “insulting” the emir and demanding an end to the suspension of parliament and violations of the right to freedom of expression. They included Anwar Al-Fikr, Hamad Al-Olayan, Hussain Al-Qallaf, Mesaed Al-Quraifah and Walid Al-Tabtabaei, who were each sentenced to between two and four years in prison.

Authorities also subjected the former deputy speaker of parliament, Mohammed Al-Mutair, to criminal charges for “insulting” the emir in a public seminar and froze all his assets.

In July, a criminal court sentenced human rights defender Mohammed Al-Barghash, a member of the Bidun minority, to three years’ imprisonment for criticizing the authorities’ discriminatory anti-Bidun policies.

Migrants’ rights

In January, the Foreigners’ Residence Law, an executive decree-law regulating the entry and residency of migrants, entered into force. The law granted broad powers to employers and authorities, increasing migrants’ dependency and vulnerability to exploitation. Article 19 of the law prohibits migrants from working for any entity without permission from their original employer or approval from the Ministry of the Interior. Article 20 grants the Ministry of the Interior sweeping powers to deport migrants on vague grounds such as “public interest, security, or morals” without judicial oversight or the right to appeal.

Thousands of migrants were arrested and summarily deported, either through judicial proceedings or administrative orders issued by the Ministry of the Interior.

In June, authorities introduced a requirement for foreign workers in the private sector to obtain an employer-approved exit permit prior to leaving Kuwait, which came into effect on 1 July. This measure reintroduced a key feature of the restrictive kafala (sponsorship) system, granting employers significant control over workers’ freedom of movement.

Discrimination

Stateless (Bidun) population

Kuwait’s Bidun population faced systematic discrimination, including through denial of citizenship and related rights, such as voting and equal access to healthcare, education and employment.

Most Bidun children (unless qualifying via a special exemption such as having a father or grandfather in the military or police) remained barred from free government schools and were relegated to poor-quality private schooling, often in low-cost or subsidized private institutions, which were overcrowded, underfunded and lacked basic facilities.

Religious minorities

Outdoor processions during the holy period of Ashura were banned for the Shia religious minority. In July, the Ministry of the Interior launched a security campaign overseeing Ashura-related religious gatherings, which included imposing night-time curfews on mosques and a limit of 50 people in private home gatherings.

Women’s and girls’ rights

Personal status laws continued to disadvantage women in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance.

Authorities revoked the Kuwaiti citizenship of tens of thousands of people by retroactively applying changes to the Nationality Law. The revocation mainly affected women who had naturalized through marriage to Kuwaiti men, stripping them of their rights and removing their access to essential services. In September, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls expressed deep concern about the significant and disproportionate impact of these measures on women.

In March, an executive decree repealed Article 153 of the Penal Code, which previously granted reduced sentences of up to three years’ imprisonment or a nominal fine for men who murdered female relatives in so-called “honour killings”. Under the new law, such crimes became punishable by life imprisonment or death.

Also in March, executive decrees amended Article 26 of the Personal Status Law and Article 15 of the Jaafari Personal Status Law to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 years for everyone. The previous legal marriage age was 15 years for girls and 17 years for boys, but judges had discretion to approve exceptions, which overwhelmingly affected girls.

Death penalty

New death sentences were issued and executions carried out, including for drug-related offences.

In December a new Anti-Narcotics Law came into effect, retaining the use of the death penalty for drug-related offences.

Right to a healthy environment

Kuwait, a major fossil fuel producer, remained among the world’s highest per-capita emitters of greenhouse gases.

Kuwait’s crude oil production capacity reached 3.2 million barrels per day, its highest level in more than a decade, highlighting the government’s continued commitment to its long-term strategy of increasing oil production capacity to 4 million barrels per day by 2035.