By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Monday, February 21, 2011

KUWAIT CITY: Hundreds of stateless Arabs demonstrated for the third day Sunday to press for basic rights and citizenship of the oil-rich Gulf state, an AFP photographer said.

Up to 300 protesters took to the streets in Jahra, west of Kuwait City and around 200 demonstrated in Sulaibiya, southwest of the capital. The two protests remained peaceful unlike the previous two days.
Stateless Arabs, known as bidoons, claim entitlement to Kuwaiti citizenship but the government calls them “illegal residents.”

A number of MPs filed a request that part of a regular session of Parliament on March 8 be allocated to debate and approve draft laws granting bidoons their basic rights.
Opposition MP Hassan Jowhar said a number of bidoon detainees were tortured by police and some taken to the military hospital for treatment. The Interior Ministry denied Sunday that any protesters had died as a result of injuries.

The bidoons are estimated at more than 100,000. They come primarily from nomadic origins. Kuwait launched a crackdown on them in 2000, depriving them of basic rights.

Many bidoons have no right to a driving license and cannot get birth or death certificates. A majority live in dire economic conditions whereas Kuwaitis’ average monthly salary is over $3,500.

Human Rights Watch Sunday called on Kuwait to free the dozen of bidoons arrested during the protests and to find a swift solution to their problem.
The watchdog said the government should either free the detainees or bring them immediately before an independent judge.

“The bidoons have legitimate grievances about discrimination and government inaction, and the government should listen and address them, instead of attacking them and throwing them in jail,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the HRW Middle East director.
“Kuwaiti authorities should look around the neighborhood to see that violent attacks on demonstrators only fuel the protests,” she said.

Most say the bidoons are stateless because they or their forefathers failed to apply for citizenship at the time of Kuwait’s independence, HRW said.

Currently, the Kuwaiti government obstructs the bidoons’ right to civil documentation by requiring them to relinquish citizenship claims before they can receive birth, marriage or death certificates, the organization said. – AFP