The Human Cost of Arbitrary Denationalization in Kuwait
Dear colleagues and partners,
Women Journalists Without Chains hereby releases its latest report entitled:
“The Human Cost of Arbitrary Denationalization in Kuwait.”
A Historic Citizenship Crisis
The report warns that since early 2024, Kuwait has been experiencing one of the gravest citizenship crises in its modern history. A sweeping campaign of nationality revocations has stripped more than 50,000 individuals of their citizenship by August 2025—representing approximately 3.33 percent of Kuwait’s citizen population.
This campaign emerged in the aftermath of extraordinary political developments, including the dissolution of the National Assembly and the suspension of constitutional provisions on 10 May 2024. These measures enabled the executive authority to issue decrees amending the Nationality Law without parliamentary oversight or public debate, while vastly expanding the powers of the Ministry of Interior and the Supreme Committee for Nationality in unprecedented ways.
Shocking Figures and Demographic Upheaval
The report documents that denationalization orders were not confined to individuals, but extended to their children and grandchildren, instantly rendering tens of thousands of families stateless. This process has effectively reproduced the long-standing “Bidoon” crisis on a far broader and more complex scale.
Equally alarming is the retroactive application of revocation decisions, whereby individuals are deemed to have lost nationality decades earlier. Such practices erase entire generations from civil records, establishing a dangerous legal precedent with devastating humanitarian and social consequences.
Women and Children at the Epicenter
Women have been disproportionately affected, particularly those who acquired nationality through marriage. Following the repeal of Article (8) of the Nationality Law, thousands of women — including mothers of Kuwaiti citizens — were stripped of their nationality and fundamental rights, in clear violation of the principle of non-discrimination.
Children have also borne the brunt of this crisis. Many have been denied nationality, education, and healthcare. Some were expelled from public schools and had scholarships revoked, constituting a direct breach of the rights of the child to protection, development, and education.
Citizenship as a Tool of Punishment
One of the gravest dimensions of this crisis lies in the insulation of denationalization decisions from judicial review under the so-called “acts of sovereignty” doctrine. This leaves victims without effective remedies or access to justice. The grievance committee established in 2025 remains an administrative body lacking independence, and has produced no outcomes commensurate with the magnitude of the violations documented.
The report further exposes the systematic use of nationality revocation as a political weapon against dissidents, activists, and public figures—an explicit violation of freedom of expression and political rights.
Humanitarian Consequences: Civil Death
On the humanitarian level, the consequences amount, in effect, to “civil death.” Victims immediately lose civil identification; bank accounts are frozen; employment is terminated; and access to healthcare and essential services is denied. Many are driven into bankruptcy, social isolation, and a constant state of fear of arrest or deportation.
An Urgent Call to Action
The report concludes with urgent recommendations grounded in Kuwait’s international legal obligations, including:
Immediate cessation of mass nationality revocations.
Prohibition of retroactive application and protection of acquired legal status.
Safeguards against the creation of statelessness.
Submission of nationality decisions to independent judicial oversight.
Mobilization of international and UN mechanisms to protect affected individuals.
Women Journalists Without Chains stresses that the continuation of these policies threatens not only individual rights, but the very foundations of citizenship and social stability in Kuwait, placing the state before a defining test of its constitutional and humanitarian commitments.
For the full report and to download a copy, please click here.
With highest respect,
Women Journalists Without Chains
For previous reports and further insights, please refer to the following links:
- WJWC Report Sheds Light on Grave Violations in Iraqi Prison
- Iran's Espionage Law: A Dissent-Silencing Tool
- The UAE's Counter-Terrorism Law: A Tool for Settling Political Scores?
- WJWC Report: 60,000 Political Prisoners Held Without Trial in Egypt
- Gaza’s Disappearance: WJWC Report Documents 100 Days of Fragmentation, Destruction, and Displacement
- Alarming Press Freedom Erosion in Yemen in 2023
- Uncertain Fate of Press Freedom in MENA
- Egypt's Independent Press: Under Siege
- UAE: Suffocating Space for Independent Media
- Media Landscape in Iran: The Walls of Shame
- WJWC Releases 2022 Report on Press Freedom in MENA
- Morocco's Press Freedom at Risk: Concerns of Erosion and Bleak Future
With sincere regards,
Women Journalists Without Chains
