Document #1220509
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
In Arabic, "bidoon" means "without" and
refers to the stateless residents of Kuwait who are denied Kuwaiti
citizenship (Calgary Herald 29 July 1991; AFP 5 Nov. 1994;
ibid. 7 June 1991; CNN 17 Oct. 1994; Reuters 17 July 1991). Many
bidoon families have lived and worked in Kuwait for generations,
but have been unable to become Kuwaiti citizens due to the strict
1959 nationality law (ibid.; Calgary Herald 29 July 1991;
Reuters 17 July 1991; AFP 5 July 1991; ibid. 7 June 1991; The
Christian Science Monitor 20 Aug. 1991). According to
Information Pack, The Gulf Newsletter and Kuwait:
Building the Rule of Law, "bidoon" is also used to refer to
those foreign nationals who came to Kuwait during the 1960s and
1970s oil boom without passports, whose passports had expired, or
who concealed their nationality in order to remain in Kuwait (Gulf
Information Project Jan. 1994b, n.p.; ibid. May/June 1992, 5; LCHR
1992, 38).
In the mid-1980s the bidoon were stripped
of their civil identification cards, which permitted the holder to
exit and enter Kuwait and access various social services
(Country Reports 1992 1993, 1041; Country Reports
1993, 1994, 1232; HRW 1993, 321; The Gulf
Newsletter May/June 1992, 5).
According to the associate director of
Human Rights Watch, Middle East Division in New York, currently the
bidoon are unable to travel abroad or leave Kuwait without a
laissez-passer travel document (8 Dec. 1994). There are two
types of laissez-passers issued to bidoon, one issued to
those in the armed forces, the other to all other bidoon. The few
thousand bidoon who still work in the armed/security forces can
travel abroad with a laissez-passer that is good either for
one trip or one year, whichever comes first. With this particular
laissez-passer, the holder will have no difficulty
re-entering Kuwait (ibid.). The associate director also stated that
the bidoon in the military get special treatment and can be issued
a Kuwaiti passport under article 17 of the Passport Law. This
passport does not state that the bearer is a Kuwaiti citizen.
Article 17 mentions that the Minister of the Interior may grant a
passport to non-Kuwaitis working for the Kuwaiti government, for
the duration of their mission abroad (ibid.). The
laissez-passer which is issued to bidoon outside of the
armed forces is different. The Kuwaiti authorities have allowed
many bidoon to get no-return visas on their laissez-passers.
These visas permit the holder to leave the country but clearly
state that the holder cannot re-enter Kuwait (ibid.). According to
the source, the laissez-passer is issued to bidoon who do
not work for the Kuwaiti armed forces.
According to the Middle East coordinator
for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in New York, a bidoon
could be eligible for and receive residency status if he could
prove his participation in the Kuwaiti resistance and could get a
first-class Kuwaiti male citizen of good reputation to vouch for
him (7 Dec. 1994). Since the occupation, several thousand bidoon
have been granted residency status and rights by the Kuwaiti
residency committee and have been granted the laissez-passer
that permits the bearer to leave and re-enter Kuwait (ibid.).
Corroborating information could not be found among the sources
currently available to the DIRB. The Middle East coordinator stated
that regardless of whether or not the bidoon are in the Kuwaiti
armed forces, they are issued a laisser-passer, not a
passport (7 Dec. 1994).
However, various written sources from 1991
to 1994 contradict both oral sources, stating that bidoon are not
permitted to travel abroad (The New York Times 11 June 1991;
Libération 27 Feb. 1992; ibid. 11 Apr. 1992, 2;
Reuters 17 July 1991; The Gulf Newsletter May/June 1992, 5;
Freedom in the World 1992-1993, 316; Country Reports
1993 1994, 1232). The 27 February 1992 attachment from
Libération describes the laissez-passer
briefly, but does not provide further details. For information on
the laissez-passer, please consult Responses to Information
Requests KWT15257.E of 14 October 1993 and KWT14213.E of 25 May
1993. Responses to Information Requests KWT15257.E of 14 October
1993, KWT14213 of 25 May 1993 and KWT15260.E, KWT15259.E,
KWT15258.E and KWT15256.E of 12 October 1993 provide information on
the bidoon and passports.
According to a 5 July 1991 AFP release,
Kuwaiti defense minister Ali Sabah al-Salem stated that Kuwaiti
citizenship would be extended to bidoon who fought with the
Kuwaitis against Iraq. However, a 23 October 1993 Al-Hayah
report stated that the "current trend is to not permit citizenship
to [the 120,000 bidoon] except in the most extraordinary of cases,"
and that citizenship would be extended to approximately 3 per cent
only. None of the attachments, Country Reports 1993, HRW
1993 or Freedom in the World 1992-1993 indicate a change in
the citizenship status of bidoon. According to the associate
director of Human Rights Watch, however, those male bidoon who died
resisting the occupation were posthumously granted second-class
citizenship (8 Dec. 1994). This is important because second-class
citizenship is passed on automatically to a man's children, whether
male or female. However, if a female bidoon died resisting the
occupation, her children would not get second-class citizenship as
women in Kuwait do not pass on citizenship (ibid.).
According to the associate director of
Human Rights Watch, some bidoon were rewarded for their
participation in the Kuwaiti resistance, but only if they could
prove their role in the resistance (ibid.). The source stated that
the procedure to prove bidoon participation is very cumbersome and
requires witnesses and personal connections (ibid.). The associate
director did not provide further information. The source stated
that the majority of bidoon who defended Kuwait have found
themselves in the same situation as the bidoon in general
(ibid.).
The attachments from Information
Pack (The Gulf Information Project Jan. 1994), Laying the
Foundations: Human Rights in Kuwait: Obstacles and
Opportunities (LCHR April 1993) and Kuwait: Building the
Rule of Law (LCHR 1992) provide information on the current
treatment of the bidoon by the Kuwaiti authorities.
For information on the treatment
immediately following the occupation of bidoon who fought in the
Kuwaiti resistance, please consult the attachments from Reuters,
Libération (27 Feb. 1992) and The Christian
Science Monitor. Please consult the 1992 Critique,
Human Rights Watch World Report 1992-1994 and Country
Reports 1992 and 1993 for general information on the
overall immediate treatment of the bidoon after the occupation.
These sources are available at your Regional Documentation
Centre.
For information on the rights denied the
bidoon because of their statelessness, please consult the
attachments, in particular The New York Times,
Libération (11 Apr. 1992), AFP (7 June 1991), The
Gulf Newsletter and Reuters (17 July 1991).
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
Agence France Presse (AFP) [Paris]. 5
November 1994. "Bidoon Gets 15 Years in Jail for Collaborating with
Iraq." (NEXIS)
. 5 July 1991. "Minister Says 'Bidoon'
Collaborators Could Face Execution." (NEXIS)
. 7 June 1991. Michael Adler. "Stateless
Kuwaitis Stranded in No Man's Land." (NEXIS)
The Baltimore Sun. 11 October
1994. Doug Struck. "Saddam Again Uses a Crisis to Make His Regime
Look Good." (NEXIS)
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 21
October 1993. "Defence Minister Comments on 'Kuwaitization' of the
Army." (NEXIS)
Calgary Herald. 29 July 1991.
Final Edition. Peter Bakogeorge. "Stateless Refugees Caught in
Kuwait-Iraq Limbo." (NEXIS)
Cable News Network (CNN). 17 October
1994. Peter Arnett. "Iraq's Republican Guard Units Continue to Head
North." (NEXIS)
The Christian Science Monitor. 20
August 1991. William Gasperini. "Stateless Bedoons Are Shut Out of
Kuwait." (NEXIS)
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1993. 1994. United States Department of State.
Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.
Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1992. 1993. United States Department of State.
Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.
Freedom in the World: The Annual
Survey of Political Rights & Civil Liberties 1992-1993.
1993. New York: Freedom House, p. 316.
Gulf Information Project. January 1994a.
"Aftermath of the Gulf Crisis," Information Pack. London:
British Refugee Council.
. January 1994b. "The Bidouns in
Kuwait," Information Pack. London: British Refugee
Council.
The Gulf Newsletter [London].
May/June 1992. No. 3. "Kuwait after Liberation: The Victims of
Conflict."
Al-Hayah [London, in Arabic]. 23
October 1993. "Sources: Few 'Biduns' to Attain Citizenship."
(FBIS-NES-93-208 29 Oct. 1993, 23)
Human Rights Watch, Middle East
Division, New York. 8 December 1994. Telephone interview with
associate director.
Human Rights Watch (HRW). 1993. Human
Rights Watch World Report 1993. New York: Human Rights
Watch.
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
(LCHR), New York. 7 December 1994. Telephone interview with Middle
East coordinator.
. 1992. Kuwait: Building the Rule of
Law: Human Rights in Kuwait After the Occupation. New York:
LCHR, pp. 37-40.
Libération [Paris]. 27
February 1992. Christophe Boltanski. "Koweit: Les 'Bidoun', parias
du Koweït libéré." (DIRB country file)
. 11 April 1991. "Golfe: Le Koweït
se voit sans ses immigrés." (DIRB country file)
The Middle East [London].
November 1992. Chris Kutschera. "Kuwait: Called to Account."
Middle East International
London]. 14 June 1991. Nadim Jaber. "Kuwait: Reformers
Dismayed."
The New York Times. 6 May 1992.
Late Edition Final. Youssef M. Ibrahim. "Kuwait Journal: A Peace
that Still Can't Recover from the War." (NEXIS)
. 11 June 1991. Late Edition. John H.
Cushman, Jr. "Kuwait Accused of Illegal Expulsions." (NEXIS)
Reuters. 17 July 1991. BC Cycle. Andrew
Gumbel. "Kuwait's Bedoun are Outcasts in Liberated Homeland."
(NEXIS)
Sunday Telegraph [London]. 11
October 1992. Anton La Guardia. "The Battle Goes on for Kuwait's
Unwanted Foreigners." (NEXIS)
The United Press International (UPI). 13
October 1994. BC Cycle. "Marines Fly into Kuwait Desert."
(NEXIS)
Agence France Presse (AFP) [Paris]. 5
July 1991. "Minister Says 'Bidoon' Collaborators Could Face
Execution." (NEXIS)
. 7 June 1991. Michael Adler. "Stateless
Kuwaitis Stranded in No Man's Land." (NEXIS)
Calgary Herald. 29 July 1991.
Final Edition. Peter Bakogeorge. "Stateless Refugees Caught in
Kuwait-Iraq Limbo." (NEXIS)
The Christian Science Monitor. 20
August 1991. William Gasperini. "Stateless Bedoons Are Shut Out of
Kuwait." (NEXIS)
Gulf Information Project. January 1994a.
"Aftermath of the Gulf Crisis," Information Pack. London:
British Refugee Council, pp. 1-4.
. January 1994b. "The Bidouns in
Kuwait," Information Pack. London: British Refugee Council,
n.p.
The Gulf Newsletter [London].
May/June 1992. No. 3. "Kuwait after Liberation: The Victims of
Conflict," pp. 4-5.
Al-Hayah [London, in Arabic]. 23
October 1993. "Sources: Few 'Biduns' to Attain Citizenship."
(FBIS-NES-93-208 29 Oct. 1993, 23)
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
(LCHR). April 1993. Laying the Foundations: Human Rights in
Kuwait: Obstacles and Opportunities. New York: LCHR, pp.
38-42.
. 1992. Kuwait: Building the Rule of
Law: Human Rights in Kuwait After the Occupation. New York:
LCHR, pp. 37-40.
Libération [Paris]. 27
February 1992. Christophe Boltanski. "Koweit: Les 'Bidoun', parias
du Koweït libéré." (DIRB country file)
. 11 April 1991. "Golfe: Le Koweït
se voit sans ses immigrés." (DIRB country file)
The New York Times. 6 May 1992.
Late Edition Final. Youssef M. Ibrahim. "Kuwait Journal: A Peace
that Still Can't Recover from the War." (NEXIS)
. 11 June 1991. Late Edition Final. John
H. Cushman, Jr. "Kuwait Accused of Illegal Expulsions." (NEXIS)
Reuters. 17 July 1991. BC Cycle. Andrew
Gumbel. "Kuwait's Bedoun are Outcasts in Liberated Homeland."
(NEXIS)
Sunday Telegraph [London]. 11
October 1992. Anton La Guardia. "The Battle Goes on for Kuwait's
Unwanted Foreigners." (NEXIS)
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