Stateless by decree: End Kuwait’s citizenship stripping crisis

Since 2024, the government has stripped more than 70 thousand people of Kuwaiti citizenship, most of whom are now stateless, while scores of others remain at risk of becoming so. 

MENA Rights Group joins a coalition of seven human rights organisations to call on the government of Kuwait to end its arbitrary, mass-scale citizenship stripping campaign and to abide by its international human rights obligations. 

This waning of Kuwait’s adherence to its international obligations has had drastic repercussion on the human rights situation in the country, particularly in relation to freedom of expression, association; respect for the rights of women and children; human rights defenders and administration of justice. 

Our report, Stateless by decree: End Kuwait’s citizenship stripping crisis, sets out the international legal framework, contrasting how the government’s use of domestic legislation, notably decree laws in 2024 and 2026, have eroded its adherence to international obligations. In it, we examine the gendered basis of citizenship revocation; the inter-generational application of the campaign, as well as the arbitrary character of the government’s conduct. The report also provides, often under pseudonyms, samples of testimony from those deprived of their citizenship - some of whom are now stateless - and reflects on the lack of redress and the related practical and psychological impacts. While we recognise previous litigation efforts that have mitigated rights-violating conduct, the fact remains that the government has now forbidden the courts from intervening.

We call on the government of Kuwait to immediately suspend further citizenship revocations until amendments to the Nationality Law are brought into line with international human rights standards; and to restore nationality to everyone deprived of it without due process, including children and others who have no meaningful or legal connection to another country.

Nationality decisions based on conduct that was lawful when it occurred, including cases involving nationality acquired by non-Kuwaiti women through marriage, must be reversed and a transparent, independent, and objectively verifiable appeals mechanism, with a genuine opportunity to challenge revocation before a fair and independent judiciary must be established. Citizenship deprivation must never be used as a tool against political opponents, critics or human rights defenders.

Everyone affected must retain access to education, healthcare, housing, employment, pensions, banking, property, identity documentation and travel documents, and Kuwait should commit to ending statelessness by 2030, working with UNHCR and civil society to develop and implement a concrete national programme.

We also call on the international community to act; on the EU and the UK to make arbitrary deprivation of nationality and statelessness standing issues in their engagement with Kuwait and increase direct engagement with affected communities. International scrutiny must be strengthened, including through a dedicated working group or other mechanism addressing the human-rights impact of statelessness and citizenship stripping.

In the meantime, we will continue our advocacy efforts with Kuwait in until real progress is made towards compliance with international human rights law.