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This is a cut/paste repost from Refugees International Blog
Article by Sarnata Reynolds
LINK
On March 2, a 14-year-old boy named Ali
Habib was put in a Kuwaiti jail and charged with disturbing the peace. He had
been arrested while participating in a peaceful demonstration for the right to
citizenship, one of many in a decades-long movement demanding that Kuwait’s
stateless people, called the bedoon, be recognized as citizens.
After two days Ali was released, but eight
other stateless activists remain in jail on trumped-up charges including
participating in an “illegal gathering” and “damaging police property.”
For the last three years, peaceful
gatherings in support of the right to nationality have been met with rubber
bullets, tear gas, sound bombs, beatings, and detentions. And yet the protests
continue. In response, some elected officials have taken up the cause, and in
March 2013, Kuwait’s parliament passed
a law that would grant citizenship to 4,000 “foreigners” – although it
has not been implemented.
In April 2013, activists held the first
international conference on statelessness in Kuwait, which led to the formation
of a National Committee on the issue and a four-year plan
for the realization of citizenship rights. Despite an attempt by the government
to shut down the conference, it was attended by the UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, foreign diplomats (including from the U.S. and
UK), and non-governmental organizations including Refugees International. Just
last month, the U.S. government officially and publicly documented the mistreatment
and exclusion of the bedoon in its annual report on human rights, with the UK
having previously
documented their persecution.
The movement for citizenship rights in
Kuwait is undeniable and growing. The bedoon are not going anywhere, their
supporters are steadfast, and the international community is increasingly
calling for recognition of their human rights.
While the Kuwaiti government has the
authority to determine who makes up its citizenry, it does not have the
privilege of rendering people stateless. Therefore, a just and transparent
procedure should be approved that both protects every person’s right to a
nationality and honors the government’s power to impose fair criteria for
citizenship. Granting citizenship to Kuwait’s longstanding, multi-generational
and loyal residents is both the right thing to do, and inevitable.
To get there, the Kuwaiti government should
immediately recognize and document the Kuwaiti citizenship of all individuals
and families with relevant links to the nation, including birth on the state’s
territory, descent, marriage, or habitual residence.
Until their nationality claims can be
resolved, the government should: protect the human rights of all stateless
people, including the right to liberty, assembly, education, healthcare, and
due process before the law; file a court complaint if a person’s
citizenship is under suspicion, provide conclusive proof of their foreign
nationality, and protect the right to due process; and incorporate stateless Kuwaitis into all
aspects of public life, including public schools, residences and employment.
Among the more than 100,000 stateless
people in Kuwait are the spouses and children of Kuwaiti citizens, veterans and
police officers, hospital technicians, taxi drivers, poets, and little boys
like Ali. They know no other country and identify themselves with the people,
culture, and history of Kuwait. They may currently be without citizenship, but
they are not without rights. They must be respected
- See more at:
http://refugeesinternational.org/blog/kuwaits-stateless-not-giving-fight#sthash.DYFAyPl2.gl71akGe.dpuf
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