There are at least 120,000 Bedoon jinsiyya (without nationality) in Kuwait today suffering from the lack of human rights. They cannot legally obtain birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates. The same applies to driving licenses, identification cards, and passports. They do not have access to public education, health care, housing or employment. And while they face some of the state’s harshest discrimination policies, they have no recourse to the law and its courts. Simply stated, the Bedoon, who are equal to about 10% of the Kuwaiti population, do not exist. They have been dehumanized and rendered invisible by government policies coupled with pervasive social stigmatization.
The stateless of Kuwait have always been an underrepresented minority in Kuwait. Local mainstream media has shamelessly misrepresented them to serve the government’s interests. Stateless activists and protesters in the past few years have been harassed, arrested, mistreated, and put to trials for speaking up.
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