KUWAIT PRESENTS REPORT TO UNITED NATIONS COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

AFTERNOON

HR/CERD/99/23
15 March 1999



The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon started its consideration of a report presented by the Government of Kuwait on how that country was implementing the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Dharar A.R. Razzooqi, Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations Office at Geneva and head of a 12-person delegation, introduced his country's report, affirming that Kuwait believed that the abominable policies and practices of racism and racial discrimination in all their forms and types should be eliminated. Kuwait's policy was to promote and consolidate the principle of equality of all members of society and guarantee them their rights and freedoms, he added.

Mario Jorge Yutzis, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Kuwait, said that many of the domestic workers coming to Kuwait from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines were minors who entered the country with false documents. He asked the delegation whether there were legal provisions aimed at protecting foreign domestic workers from exploitation.

Committee experts Luis Valencia Rodriguez, Michael E. Sherifis, Peter Nobel, Régis de Gouttes, Deci Zou, Ion Diaconu, Shanti Sadiq Ali, Ivan Garvalov, and Theodoor van Boven also raised questions on such issues as gender equality, demographic composition of the Kuwaiti population, the stateless residents and refugees, among other things.

As one of the 153 States parties to the Convention, Kuwait must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the measures it has undertaken to implement the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m., it will continue its consideration of the Kuwaiti report.

Report of Kuwait

The fourteenth periodic report of Kuwait (document CERD/C/299/Add.16/Corr.1) enumerates the administrative and legislative measures undertaken by the Government to give effect to the Convention. It says that the country's authorities are extremely eager to cooperate and liaise with international and other organizations and committees concerned with human rights issues, and to provide them with its successive reports on the human rights situation in Kuwait and the positive developments therein.

The report also contains responses to the comments and questions of the members of the Committee addressed to the Representative of Kuwait when the Committee considered the tenth, eleventh and twelfth reports of the country in August 1993. The questions focused on the situation of bidoon, domestic servants, naturalized persons and their right to vote, the situation of women, the situation of foreigners in Kuwait after its liberation, and trials.

The report says that the authorities also affirmed that they are continuing their endeavours to achieve further progress in the human rights situation in Kuwait in light of the values that are deeply rooted in the conscience of human civilization.

Presentation of Kuwait's Report

DHARAR A.R. RAZZOOQI, Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations Office at Geneva, introducing his country's periodic report, said that Kuwait believed that the abominable policies and practices of racism and racial discrimination in all their forms and types should be eliminated. Kuwait's policy was to promote and consolidate the principle of equality of all members of society and guarantee them their rights and freedoms, he added.

Mr. Razzooqi said that the population of Kuwait in 1995 was 1,575,983. He said 41.6 per cent of the population were Kuwaitis and the rest were non-Kuwaitis. The State of Kuwait ensured that Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis enjoyed security, stability and decent lifestyles. In 1995, a law was adopted to grant naturalized persons the right to vote.

Concerning the illegal residents in Kuwait called "bidoons", Mr. Razzooqi said that an executive committee on these illegal residents had already been established to find a solution to their problem. In addition, legislation had been enacted to grant nationality to the sons and daughters of certain martyrs among the illegal residents who were killed during the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq.

Mr. Razzooqi said that Kuwait also offered educational and training services to everyone on an equal basis without distinction between nationals and non-nationals. Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis had the right to access to any place or service intended for use by the general public such as transport, hotels, restaurants, cafés, theatres and parks.

Kuwait had experienced a merciless and brutal occupation in August 1990 by the Iraqis, recalled Mr. Razzooki. The Iraqi regime had followed a scorched earth policy aimed at destroying humans and the land. The invasion had practical repercussions in terms of racial discrimination after the provisions of the Convention had been violated grossly, systematically and flagrantly. Discriminatory practices had been applied in the case of Kuwait during its occupation by the yoke of Iraqi forces, he said.

MARIO JORGE YUTZIS, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the report of Kuwait, said he appreciated the high-level delegation and the country's regularity in presenting its periodic reports.

Mr. Yutzis recalled that in the course of the previous consideration of Kuwait’s reports, the Committee had recognized that the country had been subjected to serious difficulties that had temporarily affected the full implementation of the provisions of the Convention as a consequence of the invasion and occupation by Iraq. He said that despite the problem, Kuwait had endeavoured to undertaken measures to fulfil the wishes of the Committee.

Mr. Yutzis said that there were no legal dispositions in the criminal code explicitly prohibiting racial discrimination. That situation was not in conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

Concerning health care, the expert recalled that the total cost for health services in 1997 of Kuwaiti nationals was about $ 416 million while that of non-Kuwaitis was $ 479 million. He said that the health expenditure allocated to the non-Kuwaitis was proportionally less.

Regarding the foreign labourers, Mr. Yutzis said that the majority of domestic workers coming from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines were minors and they entered the country with false documents. He wanted to know if specific measures resulted from the bilateral agreements signed concerning these workers. Was there any law regulating the situation of foreign domestic servants? What law protected those categories of workers from being exploited? Was there a minimum legal salary? What sort of health insurance was available to those persons working as domestic labourers?

Mr. Yutzis said that the report did not contain information on the demographic breakdown of the population. It only indicated the number of Kuwaitis and foreigners. In its previous recommendations, the Committee had stressed that the new report should provide concrete information about the demographic composition of the population, including the foreign population, and details about the economic, social and political status of non-Kuwaiti residents.

With regard to the situation of bidoons, Mr. Yutzis said that part of the population did not enjoy any residential rights and its nationality was unknown. The Government of Kuwait considered them as illegal residents and they were not documented. Since they did not have any residence permits, their demands for naturalization were not fulfilled.

Some Committee experts also raised the issue of domestic workers in Kuwait and urged the Government to taken appropriate legal action to protect them and to prevent any labour exploitation involving foreign minors. An expert called upon the Government to declare that it recognized the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals or groups of individuals within its jurisdiction claiming to be victims of the State of Kuwait of any rights set forth in the Convention.

The situation of bidoons and bedouins were also raised by some experts who said that there were more than 100,000 stateless persons among the bedouin population. An expert said that the bidoons and bedouins were two separate people living in the territory of Kuwait.

Referring to the report which had alluded to the constitutional equality of women and men, an expert asked whether women were allowed to vote. The same expert asked if there was a Catholic Church for foreigners who resided in the country.

Another expert, quoting the report of Maurice Glélé-Ahanhazo, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia, noted that there were serious problems in Kuwait with regard to the situation of foreigners and particularly, unskilled workers, including domestic workers of Asian origin, most of whom were women.