3227th Meeting, 118th Session, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

Good afternoon, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
Excellencies, I declare open the 3227th meeting of the committee on the elimination of racial discrimination.
Today, as you all know, the committee will proceed with the consideration of the combined 25th to 26th periodic reports of Kuwait.
I will start by warmly welcoming the delegation of Kuwait appearing today before the committee in Geneva, led by His Excellency, Mr.
Nasser Abdullah Al Kayan, ambassador, permanent representative of the State of Kuwait to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The head of delegation is accompanied by His Excellency, Mr.
Abdullah Abu Saia, Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for Human Rights Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a delegation of high ranking officials to whom I also address my warm welcome.
I look forward to a very constructive exchange today that will last about 3 hours, and we will continue tomorrow.
I now will invite the head of delegation, His Excellency, Mr.
Al Hayn to introduce the delegation, if he sees fit and to deliver his opening statement, which should not exceed more than 10 minutes overall.
Mr.
Ambassador, Your Excellency, you have the floor.
Thank you, Excellency.
A Cedar Mr.
Chair, distinguished members of CRD, distinguished guests, may the peace and blessings of God be upon you? It is my honor on behalf of the State of Kuwait, to present to your distinguished committee its combined 25th and sixth periodic reports on the implementation of CRDA and to convey the State of Kuwait's appreciation for the vital responsibility discharged by the committee in overseeing the implementation of the convention.
Advancing the values of equality, human dignity, and non discrimination.
Our participation reflects Quit steadfast commitment to constructive engagement with the UN mechanisms, foremost amongst them, this committee and gives effect to the voluntary pledges it made in connection with our membership in the HRC for the period 2024, 26.
This is not merely a procedural obligation, but an opportunity to present the progress achieved.
The report was prepared several years ago.
Therefore, we wish to present an updated picture.
The The report highlights developments in the legislative and institutional frameworks.
The members of the delegation will present the data and details.
Mr.
Chair, our dialogue takes place at a time when the world is witnessing a troubling erosion in the effective realization of fundamental rights, a rise in hate speech and racist practices, and spread of discrimination into spheres that should bring peoples together, including global sporting events.
This dialogue assumes particular significance against the backdrop of the exceptional security circumstances facing Kuwait.
Since the 28th of February, Kuwait has been subjected to unlawful Iranian aggression, the effects of which have not been confined to threatening its sovereignty security and territorial integrity, but have extended to attacks against civilian objects and infrastructure, including the Kuwait International Airport, electricity plants, water descalation facilities, and other civilian infrastructure.
These attacks have damaged power units, jeopardized the regular supply of electricity and water, and the movement of air traffic.
It resulted in fatalities and injuries, revealing a systematic pattern of aggression that places civilian lives at risk.
In spite of the gravity of these attacks, state institutions have continued to operate and activated contingency plans to ensure the protection of all citizens and residents and the provision of electricity, water, healthcare, and public services.
These events are directly linked to our dialogue attacks against the facilities that sustain access to water, energy, mobility and services affects society as a whole, while the most vulnerable bear the heaviest burden.
Weight therefore affirms that the protection of civilians and civilian objects constitutes a single indivisible legal and moral obligation.
That admits neither selectivity nor double standards.
Mr.
Chair, Kuwait's approach rests upon firm constitutional foundations.
Article 7 establishes justice, liberty and equality as pillars.
Article 29 affirms that all people are equal in human dignity and before the law without distinction on grounds of sex, origin, language, or religion.
Article 35 guarantees freedom of belief and religion, and Article 1 66 safeguards access to the courts for all.
It's a right protected by judicial guarantees.
Article 70 provides that treaties acquire the force of law.
Upon ratification and publication, the convention is part of the domestic legal law Or.
This approach is within the new Kuwait vision 2035.
Kuwait's international standing is a pillar of national development and aligns its development path with international commitments and Foremost among them, the 2030 agenda within a framework of comprehensive human centered development.
Decree law number 75 recognized the National UN for Human Rights under the new name, the National Human Rights Authority, strengthened its independence and enhanced its effectiveness.
There's also a tripartite committee overseeing its operation.
A human rights department has been established and an International Cooperation and Human Rights Prosecution Office at the institutional level, the Permanent National Committee for Cooration of Reports and follow up on the implementation of human rights recommendations, coordinates the preparation of reports and the follow up.
It holds regular consultations with the CSO, scientific and academic institutions, et cetera These efforts are accompanied by strengthening training for judges, public prosecutors, and law enforcement personnel.
Within the legislative framework, wait continues to implement a comprehensive national plan.
In June 2026, it launched the plans third phase.
This process has yielded reforms that have strengthened the protection of women and the family.
Regulated places of worship, exercise of freedom of belief, and advanced fairness and Labor Relations Decree La number 19 on the protection of national unity remains most directly relevant to the convention.
It criminalizes hate speech and sectarian tribal and racial incitement.
Including through electronic media with regard to contracted labor national policies grounded in Article 22 of the Constitution.
In this context, law number 114 of 2024 on the residence of foreigners regulates employment and residency arrangements and strengthens efforts to combat trafficking in residence permits, complementing the anti trafficking law.
The state also continues to develop contractual framework to enhance workers' freedom, to transfer employment, and the right to retain personal documents.
For domestic workers, they are protected by legal and oversight framework encompassing the receipt of complaints, investigation of violations, and imposition of sanctions.
Alongside fully integrated shelters that provide legal, psychological, and health care.
In the field of health, the measures on health insurance for residents are intended to strengthen the governance of services while upholding the constitutional commitment To guarantee the right to health and provide basic and emergency health care to all without discrimination, the state accords special attention to women and young people.
Women constitute more than 58% of the public sector workforce and hold 28% of senior positions.
Composition of this delegation, which includes women and young professionals, reflects the state's conviction in the role in policy making and national representation.
Kuwait adopted national laws and strategies to protect children and rights of persons with disabilities.
This introductory overview has sought to place before your committee the broad framework of the main developments since the submission of the report.
During the dialogue, members of the delegation will present details concerning their implementation.
In conclusion, we reaffirm our commitment to the provisions of the convention and our determination to continue developing its legislation and institutions to benefit from the committees and with due regard to the state's constitutional and legal particularities, we look forward to a constructive dialogue and I thank you.
Thank you, Excellency, Mr.
Ambassador, for your introductory statement.
We will now start our dialogue.
According to the methodology that you have received, the dialogue itself will be divided into four segments.
Today we will focus on the following two segments including incorporating various teams.
The Segment one will focus on statistics, the convention in domestic law, and the legal institutional and policy framework for its implementation.
Segment two, we'll deal with the situation of the ethnic and ethno religious groups, situation of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
These themes, as you know, were identified by the committee in the list of themes and in the methodology shared with the state party.
The first round of questions in segment one will last about 20 minutes and will be posed by the country rapporteur, Mr.
Talmsani.
After this first round, I will give the delegation 20 minutes to respond to questions raised by Mr.
Talmsani the rapporteur.
Then the country reporter and other members of the committee may ask follow up questions for about 15 minutes and the delegation will again have 20 minutes to provide replies.
We'll take a short break afterwards and then the second segment will follow pretty much the same format.
I draw the attention of members and delegation to the need for strict management of time.
We have a timer on the screen to help us manage our time in a more efficient way.
I would also like to take this opportunity to underline that the committee has adopted a zero tolerance policy towards any act of intimidation or reprisals, whether directed individually or collectively against human rights defenders or civil society actors.
The committee values the cooperation and engagement of human rights defenders and other civil society organizations.
The free, safe, and unhindered participation is essential to the effective discharge of the committee's mandate.
The committee calls on all states parties to ensure an enabling environment that is conducive to the full participation of civil society, free from interference, harassment or intimidation.
Committee recalls states parties obligation to ensure that no individual who has cooperated or engaged with the committee in the context of reviews under Article 9 of the Convention is subjected to reprisals or other forms of intimidation.
With this introduction and without further delay, I will give now the floor to the country rapporteur, Mr.
Tlemzani, who will deliver his opening remarks and the first sets of questions.
You have the floor, Mr.
Tlemzani.
Thank you.
Chair, distinguished Head of delegation, members of the official delegation, distinguished committee members.
To begin, I myself would like to extend a warm welcome to the members of the official delegation of Kuwait.
Your makeup and your openness to be here show the importance of the state party grants to the work of this committee and we hope that this will be as constructive a dialogue as possible.
Chair, I would like to thank you for giving me the floor as rapport Turk, for the reports submitted by Kuwait, as the reports submitted under Article 9 of the CR Convention.
This is a crucial moment for our committee in order to identify the developments and the progress made, as well as to understand persistent obstacles and challenges.
We would also like to congratulate all stakeholders in civil society who accepted to work and share with the committee members the result of their work on the ground.
Their contributions were essential for us to understand the situation.
The committee takes note of the reforms done by Kuwait, namely improving the institutional framework with the establishment of the National Office for Human Rights and the efforts that have been made in order to modernize the mechanisms to combat trafficking in persons.
We also welcome the efforts that have been made by including principles of equality in the Constitution.
However, the committee would also like to underscore that combating racism and discrimination is a process that needs to be constantly worked on a constant improvement and requires constant vigilance.
In this constructive dialogue, we will be considering the true impact of the actions in order to identify persistent challenges and to guarantee protection for all people under the jurisdiction of the state party from any type of racial discrimination.
First on statistics.
The committee would like to recall the preceding recommendation asking the State Party to gather and publish statistical, trustworthy, thorough, and up to date statistical data on the demographic makeup of the population broken down by ethnic origin and ethno religion origin, as well as migration status for migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees and stateless persons.
The committee takes note of what the State Party has said, saying that information on economic and social rights of all the inhabitants in the country are available on the Office of the Central Statistics Bureau.
However, we see that the data available is broken down namely by category Kuwait nationals and non nationals, without breaking it down by ethnicity, ethno religion, nationality, or migration status.
We know that the information published do not allow us to fully apprehend the socioeconomic inequalities that can have an impact on various population groups.
So what specific measures have been taken since the last concluding observations of the committee in order to implement the previous recommendation and to gather trustworthy, thorough, and up to date statistical information on the demographic makeup of the population? Could you provide up to date, thorough statistical data on the demographic makeup of the population broken down by ethnic and ethnologic origin, as well as by status, migrants, asylum seeker, refugee, and stateless persons? The committee notes that the data made public by the Central Statistics Bureau mainly seemed to be split between Kuadians and non Kuwaitians.
Why is this the main category for breaking down the data still? Do the state party plan on refining it in order to better reflect the diversity of the groups living on the territory and identify potential forms of racial discrimination? What data are available on the socioeconomic situation of the various population groups broken down by sex, age, ethnic, or national origin, migration status, or any other relevant factor, particularly as regards access to employment, working conditions, access to social protection, education, health care, and housing? The committee would like to know whether the state party plans on publishing regularly broken down data and indicators on socioeconomic indices so as to allow us to understand the progress made in combating racial discrimination.
Lastly, what human, technical, and financial resources are given to the Central Statistic Office and other relevant institutions in order to improve gathering, analyzing, and publishing data broken down as our convention requires.
And as regards the Convention, national Law and the legal institutional and political framework for its implementation.
The committee takes note of the statement made by the state party stating that the convention ratified by law 33 of 1968, becomes law through its ratification, its publication of vacation official Gazette, according to Article 70 of the Constitution.
It also highlights the information on training on human rights for members of the judiciary and for law enforcement officers.
However, the committee notes that the report does not provide any specific examples or legal rulings or administrative acts according to which the convention was either mentioned or applied since the previous submission of the report.
We also note that in paragraph 40 of the report, no provision has so far to this day been adopted in order to implement La 33 of 1968.
The committee takes note further of the constitutional and legislative framework mentioned by the state party in order to prohibit discrimination and the creation of the National Office for Human Rights by virtue of Law number 67 of 2015.
We would like, however, to receive information on how domestic law aligns with Article 1 of the Convention, as well as the independence, the mandate, and the activities of the office under the Paris principles.
Could you please tell us how the provisions of the Convention are included and internalized in the domestic legal order, particularly regarding the provisions on the implementation of Lot 33 mentioned in paragraph 40 of the report.
Individuals or people can they bring the convention before legal courts and administrative courts and can judges repeal a decision taken if it's counter to the convention? The committee notes that statistical information provided in paragraph 30 on the law on national unity.
Could you please tell us if in any of these cases, attorneys or judges have referred to the standards of the convention or when defining discrimination? Since the submission of the report of the state party, could you give us specific examples of cases where the convention was directly applied by administrative courts and tribunals.
Please specify for each example which provision of the convention is concerned, the nature of this case, the authority involved, the ruling presented, and then any reparation measures granted if that was the case.
Are there any examples of cases where the constitutional court was asked to settle a case? Considering discrimination as defined in Article 1 of the Convention, or the more restrictive definition of Article 29 of the Constitution.
Regarding the training mentioned in the report, how many judges, prosecutors, and attorneys have received particularly specific training on the convention, its use in national courts and identifying different types of racial discrimination? How frequently, what is the content and the nature of this training? Are there any assessments done afterwards to measure the impact of these trainings on awareness about the convention and how it can be used on a daily basis? The programs, do they include specific modules on indirect discrimination, such as practices that might at first sight seem neutral, but they do have a disproportionate impact on some groups? Do they also cover multiple intersectional discrimination? How does the state party assess the impact of these trainings? Is there a follow up mechanism that could assess whether the judges that have gone through the training are actually using the international standards in their rulings? The committee would like to know whether these trainings are also given to the attorneys and legal counsel working with vulnerable populations to ensure that they can better guide victims under the Convention? What measures are taken in order to raise awareness among the civil servants of the various ministries, particularly the Ministry of the Interior, which works with migration and managing domestic workers? Are they informed about the obligations of non discrimination that arise from the convention? What measures have been taken or do you plan to take in order to adopt a general thorough legislation to combat racial discrimination in keeping with Article 1 of the Convention? Such legislation, it expressly define, will it prohibit also direct and indirect racial discrimination grounded on race, color, ethnic or racial origin in public and private life and will it provide accessible remedies as well as sanctions with effective remedies? Is there a specific legal time frame for presenting such a bill to parliament and what consultations are underway? Are you planning with civil society, perhaps with universities as well, and research centers and think tanks or the organizations working for the defense of human rights and representatives of the population? Are they involved in this process? The committee takes note with satisfaction about the creation of the National Human Rights Office through La 67 of 2015, as well as the operationalization of its administrative council.
According to the State Party's report, this office has the legal personhood and independence in order to carry out its mandate, including presenting complaints and following up on the international commitments of the State Party.
The committee, however, would like to receive information about the effective independence of this institution, its resources, and the particular role that it plays in combating racial discrimination.
According to paragraph 23 of the report, the National Office is under the oversight of the Council of Ministers.
Could you clarify what this oversight entails and specify how the state party guarantees the functional and decisional independence of this institution under the executive as per the PRS principles.
The committee would also like to obtain information about the human, financial and technical resources given to the office.
Are these resources enough to allow it to fully discharge its mandate autonomously throughout the whole country? Does the office have the ability to carry out unbiased visits to the detention centers for migrant workers in order to corroborate the absence of discriminatory treatment? How does the National Office collaborate with civil society organizations and independent human rights defenders, particularly by working on issues of racial discrimination? Lastly, the committee would like to know whether the office has published one or several thematic reports, including specific recommendations regarding the adoption of general anti discrimination legislation.
That is all I have for now, Chair.
I would like to thank the members of the official delegation for their participation in this session.
I would like to thank you ahead of time for all the detailed answers you'll be providing and the clarification on the items I have raised.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Tremsani.
This is the first round of questions.
I will return the floor to the delegation for responses to the issues raised by the rapporteur.
Mr.
Ambassador, you have 20 minutes.
Thank you.
For your questions, Rapporteur, the Rapporteur raised several points, and we will endeavor through miss Haya and Colonel Hussein and At Llois, miss and Mr.
Saud to answer Hay first and then Hussein Saud Adré Lula and Emma in that order.
The minutes each.
Mr.
Chairman, Kuwait is committed to implementing all of these development policies and this through gathering updated statistics pursuant to Article 9 of the Convention which embodies equality for all in rights duties and excludes discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or anything else, any other regions.
The statistics body as a main body plays it as lead entity, plays its a role autonomously and endeavors to gather statistics according to international norms and criteria in order to reflect the demographic makeup, the working conditions, health data, data connection to health provision.
This pursuant to governance and in order to cover all spheres of life and all social groups, we also endeavor to assess the impact of the national policies on All social groups and we do so transparently and full of integrity.
The National Statistics agency is the first lead agency.
It is an independent authority which collects and publishes statistics according to norms and criteria adopted by the United Nations, which is why this body guarantees the presentation of statistics on a periodic basis and reflects the economic and social situation of the country.
First of all, we have the demographic composition.
Data is gathered according to age, race, gender, sex to reflect the change in Cat's society.
Number two, the economic and social indicators.
Are provided for employment conditions, for groups of workers, levels of healthcare provision, a level of Social Security provision, and this to protect the rights of workers and residents in Kuwait without any forms of discrimination.
Number three, freedom of religion and belief and data related thereto.
To fully respect these freedoms, we do our best to promote tolerance.
We protect the right to freedom of worship for each and everyone according to his or her religion and this through the official statistics website, whereon we gather data and we base our public policies on good governance on this data.
Mr.
Chairperson, distinguished experts, my delegation, through this statement, wishes to insist on the statistics we've gathered for women's empowerment and people with disabilities are very important when it comes to development policies, first on the empowerment of women.
The statistics tell us that the situation in Kuwaiti is exceptional, namely that Kuwaiti women represent over 58% of Kuwaiti workforce, 60% in the public sector, and 48% in the private sector.
Now moving on to the banking and financial sector, 35% of the workforce is female and 26% of decision making positions.
Furthermore, 57% of employees of the central bank are women.
The role of women has also become more important in the judiciary as far as judicial officials and prosecutors are concerned, there are 28 judges and prosecutors who are women, namely a significant percentage of all of the judiciary.
We also have women who hold position of registrar of the courts.
Moving on to the diplomatic sphere, 21% of diplomats are women, two women are heads of diplomatic Missions, and we also have three women who are deputy ministers for foreign affairs.
In fact, 360 women are work for the examining bodies.
A number of deputy prosecutors and over 1,000 women are in decision making positions and holding military positions in the Ministry of the Interior.
110 women are heads of battalions in the military and a significant number are in charge of the fire service.
Moving on now to well, the Statistics Office cooperates with the other national bodies.
This statistics agency is the strongest link thanks to which the government is able to gather data for all areas or spheres.
My colleagues will also give you other statistics for the other areas.
Thank you very much.
And I would like to kindly ask the members of the delegation that if you have statistics that can provide us in written form, you don't have to read them and spend time on them.
Thank you.
We can we will have a more lively discussion about instead of reading the statistics, which we will forget in a moment if it's not written in front of us.
Thank you.
Yes, please.
Go on.
I thank the rapporteur for his questions.
With regards to education, that is, education of public officials of Ministry of Interior, that that is training in terms of the, the convention CRT and in terms of how it is implemented.
Kuwait has organized several training sessions.
On human rights and with the Kuwaiti bodies and authorities and together with relevant international organizations who work in the sphere of Human Rights, 156 public officials of the Ministry of the Interior, namely military and civilian personnel were involved in these training courses, and that was during 2025, 2026.
We have Academy for Security Sciences.
This academy played a crucial role in this endeavor to promote a human rights culture and to raise awareness to human rights.
In this academy, there are several academics who are specialists in human rights.
Furthermore, we have training modules which have been put together on human rights, which we dispense in our training session to give you an example, there's one called Public Fundamental Rights and Freedoms a public law, international law, which needless to say, covers the International Convention and treaties, including this convention that you deal with in this committee, the public officials and the Ministry of the Interior are invited to implement the provisions of the convention, specifically the CRT and this under the authority of the Ministry of Justice.
This in order to ensure that the essential international humanitarian law concepts is transposed into embodied in school syllabuses pre university and also at university level, secondary school and further education.
The academy I was telling you about has updated its school programs, its syllabuses, and its training programs also and has developed a national strategy for the near future.
I should also mention that we have a project which is in its infancy, which is called human rights, which will be implemented in universities.
This program will project will focus particularly on human rights and human rights treaties to teach people where these sources come from and how to implement them.
The Ministry of the Interior also endeavors to disseminate a human rights culture within the public officials of the country in order to raise their awareness to this culture and also show them what is available to them to safeguard these rights and to prevent any violations of human rights and also to strengthen their skills, generally speaking, so that they can know what kind of oversight and restrictions they need to abide by in order to prevent any abuse of power occurring.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr.
Rapporteur.
I also would like to thank the other members of the committee.
Kuwait has endeavored to create a national system to receive complaints and in particular for migrant workers to protect them against any form of exploitation.
Or trafficking.
This has been organized with diplomatic missions, with civil society organizations, and with other national bodies who work in the field.
Thanks to this, we guarantee housing, healthcare, psychological health care, physical health care, and this without cost.
Furthermore, We provide benefits where appropriate.
From the 1st of January 2020 up until the 1st of July 2026 covering that period, we were able to host 1,153 migrant workers and at the beginning of 26 to date, the first seven months of the year, we have hosted 1,400 migrant workers with their children.
We also created shelters for migrant workers, namely from February 2025 to August 2026, 2,114 workers were hosted in these centers.
Furthermore, may I also add that when some workers express the desire to return home, Or express their desire to cease their employment in Kuwait.
Upon their request, we grant them their right, their wishes, we pay what they're entitled to, and we facilitate their voluntary repatriation to the country of origin unless in cases where an investigation has been carried out and legal measures have had to be adopted.
The hosting of these uh Workers in these shelters does not mean automatically that that person who is sheltered is a victim of trafficking.
Rather, these shelters protect workers from any exploitation risk.
Moving on now to Well, to add to what was being said, these people who come to these shelters the employees of these centers are trained to detect victims of trafficking and trained to intervene appropriately.
The state of Kuwait underscores that protection of the dignity and the rights of workers is a national priority, and we are developing a national system to allow people to return home if they wish to do so to change e if they wish to do so and this pursuant to our national laws and international laws also.
Thank you.
Yes.
Thank you for this information, but it's more related to the second segment.
Let's stick with the first segment.
Yeah, but in relation to the first segment still.
But anyway, we can according to the question.
Okay.
Okay.
Please continue.
Thank you, Ambassador.
We would also like to thank the rapporteur for his questions about the domestication of C international laws and judicial practices.
May I clarify that our legal framework is inspired from the Constitution, national laws I enacted pursuant to the principles embodied in the Constitution, which is the main national reference point inspiring our framework.
Our Constitution rests upon essential key principles, justice, freedom, equality, non discrimination, and equality are guaranteed by Article 29 of the Kuwaiti Constitution.
International conventions within our national legal framework, are particularly important.
Article 70 of the Constitution stipulates and clarifies the stages to follow for conventions to be ratified.
These conventions then acquire force of law once they have been ratified.
Furthermore, the convention has the same status as national laws and can be invoked in courts nationally.
Given the fact that laws intersect, overlap, let me just give you an illustrative example of one such law to clarify how things work.
The constitutional court handed down on the 20th of October 2020, case number 156 of 2008, a judicial decision.
Now, the court ruled that La number 151 was unconstitutional.
Act 151 was unconstitutional.
That is the 1994 law under which women needed the authorization of their husbands to apply and obtain a passport.
The unconstitutionality came from the fact that this was encampat with the freedom to freedom of movement, that is.
Also, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was invoked as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political right, the ICCPR, both were invoked in a judicial decision.
Article 12 in particular was invoked, which guarantees freedom to leave one's country.
Another example of international treaties invoked in our courts.
Furthermore, national courts and tribunals, when they rule on such cases, base their decisions on laws which stipulate crimes and penalties.
We have a law national unity, in particular, and the Criminal Code, both of which provide for guarantees, but also penalties that are a deterrent, deterrent to discrimination and hate crimes.
Now, the embodiment of human rights is not limited to legal and judicial frameworks, but also extends to our training programs.
When we train our judicial officials, the Ministry of Justice cooperates closely together with the National Council for a legal and judicial rights to include a model on human rights.
The employees of the judiciary are targeted to improve their knowledge of these subjects.
With regards now to the adoption of a comprehensive law to combat discrimination, we've launched a national plan to update or to modernize the legislative architecture pursuant to international standards.
This phase, which has started, will be completed in November 2026.
That's as far as we've got in our program.
Sorry, December 2026 says the interpreter.
With regards to those measures adopted to combat hate speech, we have adopted Decree 19 in 2012 to safeguard national unity, but we haven't specifically defined racial discrimination or hate speech.
The law has merely clarified those acts that can lead to discrimination or hatred.
Those are the definitions we have in law.
In order to encourage individuals to press charges or bring complaints or to speak out against crimes, the complainants are encouraged to come forward to do so and protected from any judicial consequences if the arrest of the perpetrators occurs thanks to their complaint.
The law also enables all individuals to take their case to courts to preserve their legitimate rights without any form of distinction.
This constitutional guarantee is compatible with our international commitments under the Convention which impose upon states to guarantee equality and access to justice and to provide mechanisms, that is remedies to all without any form of discrimination.
We've also created an office to receive grievances and complaints These grievances are where appropriate, passed on to the competent authorities for appropriate inquiries and proceedings to be launched.
2020-2026, the public officials Office has received 367 cases involving 377 accused persons and three cases have been rejected because of the courts did not have jurisdiction.
Thank you.
Microphone for the chair, please.
Microphone for the chair.
I'm sorry about that.
Now, I thank the delegation for the replies.
We will open the floor for brief follow up questions by the rapporteur and other members of the committee.
Mr.
Tlamzani, you have the floor.
The floor is open for all members.
Thank you, Chair Excellency and members of the delegation.
Thank you very much for the answers we've heard so far and the clarifications you've provided.
My question on the statistics was posed because in the official report submitted by the State of Kuwait, we can't find the overall number of the population.
That is why I asked the question about statistics.
I was trying to find this information.
But what I find is statistics for 2002, 2005, and then 2011.
If you have an updated figure about the total number of people who live in Kuwait, we'd be very grateful to hear it, but otherwise, you can send it in writing as the chair said.
Moving on to the relationship with the National Human Rights Institution, if you have any information to give us about how it operates, what powers it has to receive and process complaints, that would be very much appreciated.
Thank you very much.
Clemsani, Mr.
Day, the co porter, you have the floor.
Will you please.
Thank you, chair.
Chair.
Like the Rapporteur, Mr.
Clemsani, I also would like to extend a warm welcome to the delegation of Kuwait and Amit this afternoon and in particular to thank the delegation for having presented their report before our committee.
May I also commend the rapporteur for having presented the report in such detail.
Unfortunately, he raised an interesting question, in fact, re raised it just now.
This question had to do with the National Human Rights Office.
We haven't heard anything yet about this.
If I could reiterate the question and ask, given that this office was created in 2015, how many complaints for racial discrimination have been actually submitted to this national office and processed and led to recommendations or victims being cared for.
Also, geographic accessibility of this office.
Is it accessible? Does the office have nationwide in other provinces of Kuwait, a representation so that victims can approach those representations nationwide also? What is the exact makeup of this office, National Human Rights Office? How many members work for this National Human Rights institution.
How are they appointed? We heard in your initial report that they are under the authority of the council, but how they appointed these members and also under what circumstances can they be removed from office? The 2015 law, does it stipulate that We've heard that sometimes there are clashes between the National Human rights Institution and the office and the council rather.
What are the powers of this office? Can they follow the cases of victims of racial discrimination when they bring their case to courts or can they even ex officio bring cases of racial discrimination to courts themselves? Now, ten years after the entry into force of the 2015 law of number 116, establishing natural rights institution ten years I before this meeting, looked at the most recent list of the Gnry, the Global rights and National Human Rights Institution, which is the body in charge of ensuring that these national human rights institutions are consistent with the parish principles.
I have noticed that the Kuwaiti NHR does not have status A nor even status B under the Parish principles.
My question to you would be, are you considering applying for accreditation.
By all accounts, because the NHRI is under the authority of the executive directly, it is not independent by definition.
Are you intending to adopt measures to reform that law of 2015 to make the NHRI totally consistent with the past principles? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr.
Davis misses Senme, you have the floor.
President.
Thank you for giving me the floor, Mr.
Chairman.
I would like to extend a warm welcome also to the sizable delegation of Kuwait in this afternoon.
I would like to return to the place of the convention within domestic law.
The country Rapporteur Sitlemsani asked many questions about the place of the cert, but I still haven't heard a complete answer.
The head of delegation confirmed that the convention is part and parcel of domestic law.
And the member of the delegation who took the floor after him stipulate that it can be directly invoked and enforced in and by courts.
But in practice, we've heard that judges are reluctant to invoke or enforce these international conventions and they seek to circumvent these conventions when they deem that these conventions are not compatible with domestic law.
And incompatible with the Islamic charter or incompatible with the sovereign powers of the state.
I have two questions to you.
Number one, what place do International Human Rights conventions occupy in the hierarchy of legal norms in Kuwait? Number one.
Do you have a specific text settling cases when there is a clash between a national law and an international legal instrument? These are my two questions.
Thank you very much.
Madam Pla Coul you have the floor.
Thank you very much, Chair for giving me the floor.
Let me also join my colleagues in welcoming the delegation of Kuwait and also appreciating the fact that the delegation includes young people because it is important really for us to ensure that we empower young people.
I'm taking the floor as the follow up rape of the committee.
You would recall that in the concluding observations of the last periodic report that you submitted in 2019, if it was, if I'm correct.
We had requested that we had identified some recommendations that we thought were important, and those recommendations were recommendations in paragraph 12 B and 28 B of those concluding observations.
We requested you to provide the committee with information on the measures that you had taken to implement these recommendations and to do so within a period of one year after receiving the concluding observations.
We are pleased that indeed, you did send the committee follow up report on the implementation of those recommendations.
Today, I will deal with the recommendations in paragraph 12 B, which related to the operationalization of the National Human Rights Institution.
I will not repeat the questions that my colleagues, Mr.
Clemani and Mr.
Diabe have already asked in regard to the National Human Rights institutions.
But I also want to appreciate the fact that you gave us some information in the follow up report.
And in this report that is currently under review, in paragraphs 21 to 28, you also gave us some information relating to the National Bureau for Human Rights.
But unfortunately, in those paragraphs, paragraph 21 to 28 of the report currently under review, all what you did was to mention a number of provisions of the law without informing us how that law is being implemented because that's what we're interested in.
We can read the law.
But what we want you to tell us is the implementation and the effect of the law on ordinary people.
Secondly, the question that I have also is that when you submitted your UPR report in 2025, seven countries or states made recommendations relating to the strengthening of the national human rights institutions and recommended that you must ensure that or take measures to ensure that the institution is in line with the Paris principles.
Can you give us an update on where you are with the implementation of the recommendations that were made by seven states after you presented your UPR report in 2025? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Madam Placula.
I do not see any other demand on the floor.
Oh.
Yes, Mr.
Guns G Mr.
Guiset, you have the floor.
Mr.
Gus is also the co rapporteur.
Thank you very much Chair.
After having heard my colleagues, I would like to say Sal Malecum to the distinguished delegation of Kuwait greetings.
As my colleague Madam Clakla who spoke before me, said, it's true that here in the committee, we are really keen on diversity and we note the makeup of the delegation, which is nearly 50% comprised of women, so it's gender balanced.
We hope that that speaks to us having a productive dialogue.
I have a specific question about something that has been said already, and I'll get to this later on in segment two.
There were questions about migrants and I have specific question about civil society and NGOs.
When we were talking with the state, we noted that civil society is seen as partners.
From that point of view, we have partners coming from the ground who are aware of the situation and I would like to know if when drafting your report, you consulted civil society.
I would like to know that and Could you let us know to what level they were involved in drafting the document? We would appreciate that and we hope that the delegation will be able to provide additional detail about the level of involvement or no involvement at all of civil society in preparing the report.
Thank you.
Mercy Gus.
Thank you, Mr.
Gus.
So these are the follow up questions raised by the task force and members.
Now I will invite the delegation to reply to those questions and you have 20 minutes.
Okay.
Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
I would also like to thank the experts for their questions.
For these statistics, we have statistics that will be circulated.
As for the other parts of the question, as you know, the decree of 2015 on the establishment of the Office of Human Rights was recently amended.
It is now called the Human Rights Authority.
My colleague from the Ministry of Justice will explain this amendment.
And then miss Lulloa will explain the part on complaints and Saud will come back to explain the part on implementing all amending laws.
We will also respond to the question on civil society.
Thank you, Mr.
Ambassador.
I thank the expert for the question on the Human Rights National institution.
A new law was promulgated, Decree La 25 of 2026.
It amends some of the articles of La 67 and that for development of the legal framework in order to enhance structural and institutional independence.
And to be a basis for human rights institutions, especially in accordance with the Paris principles.
As for new amendments, as was mentioned by the ambassador, the name was changed to Human Rights Authority.
In spite of the fact that the new law stipulates that it is affiliated to the Minister of Justice, nobody in accordance with the law may interfere the office.
In the work of the National Human Rights Institution, including the cabinet.
As for the governing body, it is composed of five members of prominent personalities known for their integrity and interest in human rights.
The presence of governmental officials is only on a consultative basis without any right to vote.
The amendments also enhance the capacity of the institution or authority Since it is able now to ask any governmental authority on information or data, and there is a mechanism in case of non response or non collaboration without a justification, including mentioning the situation in the annual report and referring the case in case of need.
Thank you.
With regards to the number of complaints on breach of the law on foreign workers.
With regards to decree law 114 on foreigners, this is an integrated framework that aims at guaranteeing the rights of workers and their independence.
I the total number of cases in the prosecutor's office from 2025 till July of this year, 2,361, and there were about one or 2,400 accused, 637 cases were referred to the competent court.
The speaker is kindly requested to speak at a slower pace.
It is impossible to report the figures that are being read.
The interpreter apologizes.
For statistics, the cases that were documented in the Office of the Public Prosecutor on work cases from 2024 and until July 2026, 27 cases, and there were 42 accused.
The number of cases referred to the competent court was seven.
There were three sentences of conviction between sentencing or financial fine, the number of cases with regards to obtaining a residence illegally from 2025 till July 2026, nine cases with 27 accused.
And four cases were referred to the competent court.
As for judicial sentences, three convictions between jail time and fines.
As for judicial prosecutions in the transboundary situations, there was one such case.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Ambassador.
With regards to the question on integrating the Convention in domestic law, the Constitution has clear rules, as was mentioned with regards to the hierarchy of international treaties in accordance with Article 70.
The international treaties after ratification become a national law.
And international treaties are under the Constitution.
No treaty can go counter to constitutional law or it is considered unconstitutional in case of any clash.
The international agreement becomes the dominant legislation.
Thank you.
With regards to what was mentioned by the expert on the complaints mechanism and the Human Rights authority that used to be called the DN for Human Rights.
This is done in two ways, either personal presence or electronic mail.
In the Ministry of Interior, where I work in the Department on Human Rights, I have dealt with four complaints in the last two years.
That dealt with matters on residency, passports, and temporary arrest.
The necessary legal measures were taken, and I thank you.
With regards to the question on statistics, the website of the Statistics Bureau classifies as was said by the expert in accordance with more than one category, I, non TI, essentially, in all official statistics, and there are annual statistics, the last of which were in 2023, and you can see them on the website.
Especially under Chapter two, and it is called the population and residence.
There are Kuwaiti, non Kuwaiti, also age groups, regional groups, situation of residence, and also nationality.
The following chapter, as an example, there are technical details on the number of birth, of death, of marriage, divorce, et cetera They are available on the website of the Central Bureau of Statistics in addition to the statistics that were given to your distinguished committee.
I thank the expert for his question.
With regards to civil society and its participation in preparation of national reports, Kuwait has an institutional approach for national reports.
And preparation for review.
Kuwait reaffirmed its positive interaction with the national stakeholders in order to guarantee progress in the protection of human rights.
We refer to the fact that the standing committee on preparation of reports In 2019 is under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its composition represents 11 different departments as to consulting with other members, this is also done.
We periodically hold meetings with national stakeholders, including the human rights authority, academics, and public sector Institutions consultations are undertaken in accordance with the subject matter of the report.
Since starting its work in 2019, the committee has included civil society in a number of reports before human rights bodies contractual or not.
For example, the UPR, the Arab Charter for Human Rights, the Convention of CETA, and CT as well as the Beijing program and plan of action.
This current year, we held a number of meetings with national stakeholders in order to prepare for the positive interaction of Kuwait with its preparation for the dialogue before your committee and also preparing Kuwait's report on the International Convention on Economic and Social Rights.
We are keen on working in a complimentary fashion with governmental and non governmental actors, and we continue our cooperation with the UN and its mechanisms.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I hope that the responses by my colleagues were sufficient.
For further clarification, the D one for Human Rights established in 2015 was one or the UN mechanisms questioned its independence.
Therefore, we have followed the guidelines and we issued recently Decree law 75 on the organization of the Dan changing its name to Authority for Human Rights, enhancing its independence.
There is a triparid committee that governs it until there is a new governing body in addition to the work of the Ministry of Justice to fully review all legislations and now we are in the third phase of this evaluation.
In order to update the legislations in this context, and we look forward to assigning or choosing the competent personalities to govern this human rights authority.
Thank you.
Ambassador Before taking a break, going to the section next segment, I have a few more minutes to spare.
So if you have very short questions that can be answered in a minute or so, I will give the floor.
Madame Pla Cola, Thank you, Chen.
I really appreciate the responses that have been given, particularly regarding the National Human Rights Authority.
But I want to edge that in the work that you'll be doing to strengthen the organization, you'll also make sure that it's in compliance with the Paris principles and also apply for its accreditation to the Global Alliance network.
I hope that is in the pipeline.
Thank you, Madam laca Mr.
Abe.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair.
No doubt, Madam Expert, La 75, decree La 75 has detailed the composition of the authority and its administrative and financial independence and it is not under any other authority.
It is independent and as soon as it is full, it will seek to get accreditation from competent institutions to carry out its effective role.
Thank you.
And we can give you the decree decree law.
All.
Number 75 of 2026 with all its details.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for all the responses.
We will now break for about 7 minutes.
When we will be back, we will start the segment two.
Monsieur Giseet, the court reporter, will have his chance to raise a number of issues.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I All right.
Welcome back.
We are immediately starting with this segment two, the situation of ethnic and ethno religious groups and the situation of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
Monsieur Guise is the co rapporteur who will be in charge of raising this issue in this segment.
Mons Guise aba Pon.
Thank you very much, Chair.
Sir, with your indulgence, I would like to once again greet the delegation of Kuwait through the ambassador.
I believe in the first segment, we had a general understanding of the country's situation.
I was really impressed by the country's report and it seems to me that The state party has made efforts in order to address the recommendations because as we read the reports, every question has an answer, and it makes it easy for us to process and analyze the document.
So thank you for that consideration when drafting the report, which makes our understanding easier.
Chair, I would like to move now to the situation of ethnic groups and ethno religious groups, Article 5, and I begin with a general comment on this section.
It seems to me that this issue is related to the previous segments and statistics.
Perhaps it's not easy to speak of ethnicity and ethno religious groups without mentioning it in the first segment, we did and we know that there's perhaps a weakness in the lack of statistics.
Which is why I would like to reiterate to the delegation to make fruitful efforts so as to really have that information because it would make a big difference to us in drafting recommendations for the state party.
I would like to begin with two general statements.
We know that Kuwait has a significant population of migrant workers.
This is something that was mentioned in the last sector, approximately 3.2 million people, which account for about 70% of the total population and 85% of the country's labor force.
This is a big challenge.
Most of these migrant workers, came from Asia.
We've heard the allegations of discrimination against people from Asia.
A field study, in fact, has shown that these people from Asia are reported exposed to certain discriminatory practices, policies, rather, such as peripheral access of four citizens to certain medicines or vaccines as well as lack of linguistic interpretation services.
Could the delegation tell us what measures have been taken to consider to combat racial discrimination against people of Asian original persons of African descent.
In its concluding observations, the Human Rights Committee and the Kuwait is a party to the ICCPR voiced its concern about reports of discrimination against religious minorities.
The committee, that is the ICCPR asked that the state end policies and discriminatory practices targeting these groups and in particular in the area of building places of worship, of the accreditation of religious teaching establishments, religious Teaching in public secondary school teaching question, what measures have you taken to combat racial discrimination against ethno religious groups, in particular, Hindus, Sikhs, Ds, Muslims, Boha Muslims and Baharis.
Moving on now to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
In paragraph five of your report, it says and I quote, with regards to migrants, this category does not exist in Kuwaiti law.
That's what the report says, at least in the Western meaning of the term.
The text refers to expatriates and to residents.
With your permission, Chair, could I ask this question because we need to understand this to understand the following.
We have here a definition of a migrant which refers back to the category of expat and to the category of residents.
Could the delegation tell us precisely what expats means and what residents means? Because if you compare These two in Europe, when we talk about expats, we mean usually skilled workers.
What do you mean when you talk about expats that will enable us to understand things better and move on.
Back to my issues.
In its concluding observations, cert invited the state party to tell us about investigations launched and prosecutions triggered.
Now, you have a table in your report on acquittals and convictions, but you don't tell us how many investigations have been carried out, which is difficult, therefore, to assess the number of convictions in proportion to the complaints.
Could the delegation give us updated comprehensive data about the number of complaints received, the investigations launched, prosecutions triggered and sanctions imposed.
Also, you have a policy of Kaization of the labor market with a number of measures to give priority to Kuwaiti nationals and setual quota restrictions for some migrant workers.
In parallel, the authority have sought to establish a ceiling on the arrival of migrant workers from some countries in 2026.
Fairly recently, that is the Ministry of Interior of Kuwait reportedly published a circular limiting the recruitment of domestic workers to ten approved countries.
I think you know what these are, South Africa, Benin, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Philippines, Srinka, India, Vietnam, Nepal, and Senegal.
It would be interesting, Mr.
Chairman, if we could be told about the potential consequences of these policies on the principle of equality of treatment and the principle of non discrimination towards migrant workers.
What measures have the state party taken to combat discrimination against migrant workers including migrant workers, in particular, domestic workers and to ensure appropriate protection of their human rights.
Article 19 of the new law on the residence of aliens prohibits any migrant from changing employment or sector without the initial approval of his or her employer.
Could you correct us if we were mistaken? Furthermore, since the 1st of July 2025, the Kuwait's reintroduced the exit permit.
In other words, private sector migrant worker must obtain the authorization of his or her employer before leaving the country.
Now that could strengthen the restrictive system of a Kafala, transferring increased control to the employers and increasing the risk of exploitation.
It's a concern to note that given the legal context codifies a employer centered system which undermines the rights of workers and leads to constant control of migrant workers.
Migrant workers, in particular, should have the freedom to change their employer and to travel without the arbitrary consent of their sponsors and this pursuant to cert provisions, Article 5 in particular, which is on the right to freedom of circulation and the right to choose one's residence within a state.
Could the delegation currently comment? Are you considering abolishing restrictive controls of mobility? And make sure that your laws are consistent with international obligations since the 23rd of December 2025.
All expats must pay, we're told insurance costs linked to their visa and this as a condition for the issuing or renewal of a visa.
Only some exceptions exist foreign workers married to Kuwaitis and there's a maximum of three domestic workers per family.
Furthermore, migrant women who must take out of insurance and pay health costs out of their own pocket, which means that there is discrimination in the area of health rights.
Foreign nationals, including baoons stateless persons who have been there for a long time are not entitled to free health care on an equal basis and need to have a private insurance or private care.
What is the impact of Decision 306 2025 on the law of 1999 on health insurance for aliens? The committee remains concerned about the fact that the Kafala system continues to reply to work.
The system remind ourselves.
Makes employees very dependent on their employers and means that they're exposed to ill treatment or exploitation.
The committee is also very concerned about the fact that alien workers do not seem to avail themselves of the right to family reunification under Articles two and five and six of CRT.
Can you comment? What measures be taken to abolish the sponsoring system for migrant workers? That was a strong recommendation made by the committee the last time Kuwait appeared before us.
According to information referred to a number of domestic workers, a significant number of domestic workers reported work in conditions close to labor exploitation or forced labor under the kafala.
They are subject to a number of abuse.
They're locked away in their homes.
They are not paid their salaries or their salaries deducted.
They work long periods of time without rest and they are also exposed to physical and sexual exploitation.
They also have exposed to anxiety and psychological trauma in a context hallmark is the lack of effective reparation and legal protection mechanisms.
Could you comment kindly? What measures are taken to prevent the exploitation of these categories? Furthermore, according to the information we've received, the confiscation of passports is not explicitly made a criminal offense.
Could you elaborate? It has been alleged that this practice can limit the freedom of circulation of migrant workers and hamper their access to certain key services, including health care services for which they would need to travel abroad.
In this context, the concerns of our committee are according to which the legal institutional framework enforce Reportedly significantly restricts the automotive migrant workers and strengthens their dependence with regards to the employers is still a rightful concern.
Could you comment? How many complaints of exploitation have been flagged? How many investigations? How many people have been sanctioned? In the previous observation, the committee asked the Kuwait to abolish the Kafala system and to replace it by a residence permit system for migrant workers issued by the state and under the control of the state in order to prevent the exploitation and ill treatment.
It was recommended the state party guarantee the right to foreign workers to family reunification.
Could you give us updated information about the situation of domestic migrant workers and additional implementation of Additional information on the implementation of Law 68 of 2015 with regards to domestic workers, number of complaints for cases of exploitation, abuse of domestic workers, investigations once and sanctions handed down for perpetrators kindly.
According to information received, Article 20 of the new law on the residence of aliens grants the Ministry of the Inter broad powers to expel migrants on the basis of justifications vaguely defined such as public interest, public security, public morality without a judicial oversight, without any effective guarantee to challenge or to appeal.
You would agree that this would leave open to arbitrary expulsion of migrants.
Around 40,000 migrant workers in Kuwait were expelled in 2025, reportedly in the context of vast security campaigns targeting migrants because of their national origin.
Thousands of migrants were arrested or expelled either by judicial procedures or through administrative orders issued by the Ministry of the Interior.
Question Could the delegation kindly provide detailed information about these alleged mass and arbitrary expulsion of migrants? In its Coding observations, the committee also invited the state party to review the foreign domestic workers expulsion system pursuant to the administrative decisions and to ensure that these cases are sent back to courts with a chance for the victims to appeal concretely, therefore, could ask you what measures have you set up to ensure that the human rights protection needs of migrant workers are assessed individually and fully respecting the regular procedure in place? What effective what mechanisms exist to challenge administrative expulsion decisions? According to information we've received Article 22 of the 2024 law on the residence of aliens authorizing the detention of persons for 30 days with a possibility of extension.
It would appear that no provision appears to provide for the identification of victims of trafficking or exploitation, as well as the assessment of particular vulnerabilities, nor judicial oversight of this detention measure.
Question to you, could you provide updated information about the number of people expelled, the grounds for the expulsion, and the type of expulsion, whether it's administrative or judiciary.
Chair, these are my questions.
Thank you very much.
Massieu co report.
Thank you very much.
Co rapporteur, you have the floor.
The co porter.
Now I will return to the floor to the delegation for responses raised by the co eer.
You have 25 minutes.
Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
I would like to thank the expert, Mr.
Gise for his questions, his significant questions we've just heard.
I would like to clarify one thing, the definition of a migrant.
Well, it is a person who leaves their country of origin to travel to another state in order to live there, reside there permanently.
The aim being to achieve stability and to lead a new life in that chosen country.
Now, for that to happen, an immigration visa needs to be applied for to secure permanent residence.
Take the United States, that will be the case of a green card before you secure nationality.
In Kuwait, we do not have migrants per se.
What we have are workers who have a contracted workers.
What applies to these workers has nothing to do with migration per se.
Now, may I give the floor to my colleagues to answer the questions put by the co reporter, miss Dow Lay, Colonel Turki, miss Mahat, Colonel Hassain, and miss Nyala.
3 minutes each, if you may.
If I might share with you a recent development pertaining to Article 5 of the convention, namely freedom of thought, conscience, and religion without discrimination.
Recently, we issued a decree law 72 dated 2026, which regulates the creation of the management of places of worship.
This is an innovative law in Kuwait.
This law is based on transparency in accreditation of places of worship and prohibition of exploiting places of worship for religious or political means.
Which means that the number of places of worship have been limited and their location depending on demographic density and the bank accounts of the places of worship is subject to oversight in order to avoid any kind of discrimination in terms of procedure.
The legitimacy of this law draws inspiration from the Constitution and from recent history such as that enshrined in the explanatory for there explanatory note for the decree law.
Even before the discovery of oil, Kuwait was a trade hub hosting people from different religions, races, cultures, which gave rise to the 1962 Constitution through two texts, namely Article 35, which guarantees the absolute right of belief and preserves religious rights so long as they do not run counter to public audit or public morality.
Article 29 of the Constitution, which guarantees to all individuals equality before the law in dignity, rights and duties without any distinction on the basis of religion, sex, language, or other grounds.
This legitimacy constitutional legitimacy is compatible with the aims and purposes of the CRD.
The reason why you enacted this law is that we wanted to protect the plurality of our society.
These criminal guarantees depend on the application procedures which are being worked on about to be finalized and which spell out mechanisms to follow to secure accreditation for places of worship and to appeal if an application for accreditation is denied for a place of worship.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Law 114 adopted in 2024 was adopted It has to do with the residence of aliens.
It replaces previous laws in force to fill the voids or the loopholes that existed in previous laws that were in force.
This new law is designed to reconcile the residency requirements with public security requirements and to guarantee to workers and expats protection against discrimination.
We have several laws protecting migrant workers.
One, to combat trafficking in residence permits and the imposition of severe penalties, in fact, For those persons who are found guilty of operating this trafficking or who do not pay the wages they owe their workers in order to put an end to these exploitation procedures.
This law regulates residents permits and clearly regulates the responsibilities of the employers and the employees and guarantees transparency in contractual relationships.
I said is because the rights of workers are subject to the labor code, in the private sector.
The implementation of the law on alien residency is compatible with the principles enshrined in the Labor Code, which enables workers to have access to their rights.
This law does not target any specific category or nationality.
It applies to all aliens objectively and following the principle of equality and pursuant to international norms, the number of women who have applied and received family reunification 2022-2026 was 2000 7,700 women.
State of Kuwait reiterates its commitment to continue to review its laws in order to meet the requirements set forth by the National Department for the residence of aliens and the rights of workers.
On the basis of its international commitments.
Thank you for your questions as the next speaker, especially the questions you posed on health care.
With regards to allegations of refusal to provide health care to patients from Asia, because of the nationality and because of their origin, the state of Kuwait represented by the Ministry of Health applies no discriminatory practice against or to the detriment of citizens or expats, the health care services in La one of 1999, spell this out clearly.
Healthcare services provided are supervised by the Ministry of Health, according to paragraph three of Article 9 of Law 70 adopted in 2020, All measures need to be respected to guarantee the right to privacy for a patient and the protection of his or her dignity without any discrimination on the grounds of religion, sex, or other grounds.
If you have concrete practical allegations, please send them to us for us to consider them.
With regards to allegations whereby irregular residents reportedly secured a vaccine against COVID 19 after, after citizens.
Well, I can assure you those allegations are wrong.
This did not happen.
Priority was given to the elderly, given the number of elderly persons in Kuwaiti society.
And as a result of which more Kuwaitis indeed did receive vaccines than expats, but that is because of the proportion of the elderly and our choice of priorities, namely to give the vaccine in priority to the vulnerable and to the elderly as to costs imposed upon aliens for health care services.
Well, we adopted Decree 306 in 2025, implementing law number one of 1999 about medical insurance.
This is something that the Ministry of Health was empowered to do, namely to create procedures to enable this law to be implemented.
Now these costs were revised by the competent authorities, all the more so given that these costs had not been amended for over 50 years.
The decision taken took into account the humanitarian dimensions of the situation and involved more than eight categories of society.
The number of people who benefited from exemption from these costs exceeded 500,000 over half 1 million people received exemptions.
If you compare The costs imposed and the real costs that the state has to meet, those costs were only a fraction of the real expenditure met by the individuals.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
National laws, frame labor relations, pursuant to the contract signed between the employer and the worker and this pursuant to law number six adopted in 2010, and clarifies the rights and responsibilities of each party, employer and employee.
We Do not impose Kafala, but we take into account the contractual relationship between employer and employee, given the policy we have, which is to develop continually our change them continually, adapt them.
We have modernized our labor framework and in particular, the right to change one's employer pursuant to law 14 adopted in 2023 and the ministerial decision adopted in 2026, which enables transfer of labor between sectors following specific rules.
To limit practices that might lead to exploitation.
We also endeavor to promote the rights of workers An exceptional measure was adopted in 27,141 workers have availed themselves of this procedure, this new procedure has enabled us to make our labor market more flexible and to put an end to exploitation or to slow it down.
With regards to domestic workers, this category of workers receives particular treatment pursuant to law 68 adopted in 2015.
This framework regulates the rights and duties of contractual parties.
And the public authority in charge of the labor force monitors the correct enforcement of this law thanks to particular offices and legal measures are taken as soon as they are required.
We've also regulated wages, working hours, and paid leave for domestic workers to protect their dignity and to ensure that they do not carry out, perform duties that would threaten their integrity, where violations are discovered, competent authorities are notified.
Now, as regards passports, passports have the migrant workers have a right to keep their passports and the authority in charge of monitoring the labor force have adopted measures to prevent the confiscation of passports where a migrant worker has filed a complaint.
When a complaint is filed, the employee is summoned and the employer is forced to return the passport to the employee.
To follow up on what was mentioned by my colleagues with regards to statistics on law 114 on the residence of foreigners.
This is a comprehensive legal framework to protect the rights of workers, including the work in a different sector or non payment of wages, this could Violate human rights of workers, and this would be a breach of Kuwait's international obligations, especially the provisions on prevention of trafficking and forced labor.
This also applies to domestic workers and all actions need to be documented and The number of complaints recorded with regards to the non payment of wages from 2025 up to July 1,361 2,400 accused 637 cases were referred to court.
139 cases were retained.
The number of convictions was 322 between jail up to one year or up to three years and other sentences on fines, the legislator has also condemned the forced labor of a worker in a different sector that is not in accordance with their competencies.
When a foreigner works in a different sector in accordance with the permit, then the employer is punishable.
For statistics, the number of cases on From there were 27 cases, 42 accused and seven cases were referred to court.
As for the judicial sentences, three convictions between jail and fine.
The legislator also governs the renewal of permits against any income.
The number of cases recorded, In this context, in the last year, nine cases, 27 accused, and four were referred to the competent court.
The sentences were three convictions.
As for judicial prosecutions.
With regards to transboundary prosecutions, there was one case.
This law reaffirms the judicial guarantees provided to the workers in accordance with the international obligations and the guidelines on transparency and preserving the dignity and rights of the workers Thank you on restrictions on the right to movement.
First of all, we wish to say that movement in Kuwait, including road inspections are based on the Constitution and the law.
The right to life and safety is a priority and the Traffic laws aim at preserving the security and safety and to prevent accidents and casualties.
Therefore, the Ministry of Interior does not consider These as infractions or simple infractions, but a threat to life and safety.
Measures are taken in accordance with the law to protect the society and to protect life.
The infractions lead to the necessary measures in accordance with the law, regardless of sex, color, citizenship or status.
As for administrative, deportation, it is in accordance with the law in order to protect public order and public interest.
The supervision may differ from state to state.
Administrative deportation is not based on a ethnic or racial origin, but is based on objective legal measures that are based on the behavior and its repercussion on the society.
Therefore, the different status between the citizen and the foreigner is not a discrimination, but a difference in the implementation of the applicable law.
And that in accordance with the sovereignty of the state, administrative deportation is only in grave cases after careful consideration.
There is no targeting of a particular group or nationality.
Thank you.
On the question on health coverage for illegal residents, the Kuwaiti state has in place a full health system for basic and specialized health care as well as preventive care and maternity and childcare in addition to chronic disease, emergency services, medication, and vaccines in accordance with the health programs of the Ministry of Health.
In addition to other health services, as with citizens and in accordance with the law.
Ministerial Decision 68 was issued in 2011 that has waived any fees for illegal foreigners.
This includes medical centers, hospitals, laboratory analysis, and medication.
This reflects Kuwait's commitment to provide health care without having a financial burden, the state of Kuwait shoulders very heavy financial responsibility to preserve health care to all beneficiaries in accordance with the law.
Thank you.
I would like to say that the legislature has made fundamental changes with regards to administrative deportation in accordance with law 114 of 2024 and the implementation regulation of this law of 2025 as follows the authority to issue a deportation order is between the hands of the Minister of Interior and the issues related to work were codified and that in accordance with the law, there is a stipulation that administrative deportation is if he changes work without authorization.
This is a detail that is not found in the previous law.
The law was also amended with regards to Article 20.
If there is no source of income inside the state of Kuwait, there are other changes, for example, the time of arrest in accordance with the new law.
This time is limited to 30 days renewable and that if arrest is needed to implement deportation, and that because some people have restrictions that do not allow them to leave the country.
The financial responsibility was also updated in accordance with the new law.
The financial responsibility is on the employer.
The new law includes those who may shelter this person illegally and there are special, authority with the Minister of Interior.
The new law gives the Minister of Interior the authority to waive all financial fines On the condition that the person leaves the territory as for the time frame in accordance with the law, the legislature changed the time frame to three months and that in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Interior and that to provide more flexibility.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And I thank the expert for the question that was raised.
For your responses.
Now, I will open the floor for follow up questions by the rapporteur and other members of the committee.
We have 15 minutes for that.
Rapporteur, Thank you very much Chair.
I would like to thank the delegation for their answers to the questions we have had in this dialogue.
Thank you for trying to address some of our concerns.
I note that there was some confusion regarding a question I had When I speak about mobility restrictions, I'm not talking about movement.
I'm thinking, for example, that if someone leaves their job and they quit, can they seek a difference of employment? Are they held back by their previous employer? Because it seemed to me that it might have been difficult for someone to have this kind of labor mobility.
Another question that I had on women when I asked about property and the work mechanisms for them, we would like to have some detailed answers to those questions.
Perhaps you could provide that information that broken down the numbers because that would be useful.
Then there was a question on asylum seekers.
I think that we understood overall that Kuwait is not a party to the 1957 Convention on refugees.
And so that's what it says in the report, given that there are no refugees or asylum seekers.
The delegation could help me understand this.
Does it mean that there are no asylum seekers or refugees in Kuwait? None.
I'd like to understand this.
Perhaps if there are no request for asylum or refugee status doesn't necessarily mean that there are none.
In Paragraph 127, specifically, the state party says that there are no asylum seekers or refugees, so there's no convention on refugees.
We'd like to have some clarification on this because we talk about refugees.
It's an international convention.
They benefit from international protection.
Granted this is a particular regional context, and it was recalled by the ambassador.
But I think it's an important point to raise.
Are there other types of asylum request and refugee requests? Is it illegal? The report says that there are 85,000 illegal residents.
So perhaps it may people may benefit from international protection, which is why I would like to ask for further clarification on these points regarding the illegal residences, 85,000 in total, according to the statistics.
That's no poultry number.
That is the situation that we have and I'd like to give the floor to our colleagues if they have further questions and thank you to the delegation.
Thank you, Mr.
Dabi.
Oh, Mr.
Gisin, now, Mr.
Dabi has the floor.
Thank you.
I noted some of the items mentioned by the co rapporteur.
Some of our questions have not been answered yet, particularly on the Kafala sponsoring system.
What measures have been taken or do you plan on taking in order to abolish this system once and for all, which causes a great deal of harm to domestic workers.
Then on the La 68 of 2015, which governs labor inspection, The committee heard of several complaints, namely for domestic workers, a law that would limit the time they could work to 12 hours per day with weekly rests, and a 30 day yearly time off.
Does the state ensure that these provisions of the law are properly enforced? Law 68 of 2015.
Regarding the hiring agencies, is there any monitoring or oversight done at these agencies over the past few years? How closely do you look into these agencies to make sure that they take all necessary precautions and ensuring that the work they provide to migrant workers is decent? And still on conflict settlements, conflicts that may arise, for example, non payment of wages, abuse or abusive contracts.
Do you have any data that you could share with us on this? Are there any mechanisms to settle these points? Still on assistance to migrants, Those who are in a difficult situation, is there any system set in place to assist them? The committee also heard of many cases of workplace accidents for migrants who were hired in high risk jobs, construction, for example, in extreme conditions, say working in 50 degree exposed to the elements? What measures are taken in order to provide reparation to the families of deceased workers? Or what is done for the repatriation of the remains of workers that have lost their lives in Kuwait.
The committee also heard of cases where migrant workers were murdered.
Have any investigations been launched to look into that? And what became of these investigations? On labor inspection, we'd like to know if the state has set up mechanisms to ensure that employers do not mistreat employers, that employers do not mistreat employees.
Could you provide us with specific data on this? We would appreciate that.
Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you, Mr.
Dieppe, Madam Sarinai.
Thank you, Mr.
Chair and let me join my colleagues in warmly welcoming the delegation since this is the first time I'm taking the floor and already thank you very much for the answers.
I want to go back to the right to Health because as you might know this committee has adopted the general recommendation in two years ago, so it was after you submitted your report.
And briefly go back to the legislative measure that the state party adopted in 2025 on access by non citizens to health insurance services.
I would like to raise a concern and discuss it with the delegation.
The concern that by making payment of health insurance fees a prerequisite for the issuance and renewal of residence permits and visitor visas and also by substantially raising, including in some cases doubling the annual fee.
This measure, of course, risks placing lawfully residents out of reach for low income workers, migrant workers, and other non citizens who are unable to absorb this additional cost.
The committee would welcome any information on the rationale, although I think that somehow you try to explain behind this resolution, if you anticipate its impact on the population, whether any exemptions, subsidies, any faced payment arrangements exist for those unable to pay.
Another concern is that financial barriers compound other obstacles to health care faced by non citizens, including the denial, the reported denial, because we had discussions and dialogues with countries all over the world and although health providers, of course, should be commended for their services, they are part of the society and they also somehow they can also be responsible for discrimination.
So when there is individuals who are unable to produce identity documents, do they have any accountability remedies? Any information on measures taken to ensure that being undocumented is no bar to an emergency care.
That would be very much appreciated.
Finally, I turn to domestic workers who are often required to obtain employer permission before seeking treatment.
And of course, subject they are subject to long working hours.
So the committee would welcome any information on concrete steps taken to address any of these gaps and also on remedies available to affected workers by these measures.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair Thank you, Madam Sarinai.
I have three more people on my list, Madam Tculla, Madame Tibier, Madsen, but I have 4 minutes and.
P a minute and a half for formulation of your questions.
I'll try check, but not promising.
Yes.
In the last concluding observations, we also made a recommendation in paragraph 28 B of those concluding observation, and we requested you to put in place administrative procedures for the badon by I don't know how you pronounce Bidun, is that correct? To obtain official documents, including birth registration documents.
And we requested you to give us this information within one year of receiving the conclusion observations.
And we read the follow up report that you submitted to the committee in 2019.
Unfortunately, this recommendation has not been implemented and following the receipt of that follow up report from you, we then wrote back to you and we said the following, while welcoming information on some measures taken to allow civil registration.
And excuse me, issuance of official documents, including birth and death certificates to illegal residents.
The committee remains concerned that the bedoun are referred to as illegal residents or non Kit Kuwaiti in the State of nationality and may still face barriers in obtaining official documents and inequal access to social services and due process.
The committee reiterates its recommendation that the state party find durable solution to the problem faced by Bidun, including by considering naturalizing those who have lived in Kuwait for a long period, and have genuine and effective link to the state.
It also recommended that the state party should ensure effective administrative procedures for the provision of official documents to the Bedoon and ensure equal access by the Boon to social services and due process.
The committee requested that you should provide this information in the next periodic report.
We have looked at the periodic report that you have submitted, the one that's under consideration and we looked at in particular the information that you provided in paragraphs 89 to 93 of the current report.
Unfortunately, that the paragraphs do not include the information that we requested because they are very general in nature.
Therefore, it will assist if you can provide us with statistics.
On the pedon who have been given official documents including birth certificates from 2019 when these concluding observations and when this recommendation was made.
If you don't have the stats now you can provide us later.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madame, Madame Tiber.
Thank you, Chair.
I would also like to extend a cordial welcome to the distinguished delegation of Kuwait.
I'd like to ask a question about insurance for foreigners.
In December 2025, they standardized and actually increased requirements for foreigner insurance.
Has the state party assessed whether doubling the annual compulsory insurance went 50-100 dinar for foreigners has had a disproportionate impact on non citizens.
And if these people have the means to have access to the insurance.
This takes me to something that the co rapporteur mentioned, it's about women.
The report asserted that The issue is not present.
However, non citizen women, mainly migrants coming from Africa, from South Asia, from Asia, from Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the Arab world are faced to structural discrimination due to their migration status and to the sponsorship system and the lack of status arising from the fact that they're not citizens.
So what's the reason that there's no mention of CFI in the law? And then the administrative practices which do seem to resemble this sponsorship system which has a negative impact on migrant women? In considering the opinion of the sponsor, what practices are set up in order to protect migrant women from abuse that arises to their assignment to a sponsor, say if their documents are confiscated, if their movement is restricted, or if there's unilateral breaking of the job of the work contract? How does the state party ensure that the sponsorship practices do not lead to ill treatment of migrant women and that migrant women have effective protection that is equivalent to the one afforded to citizens? What safe accessible mechanisms are made available to migrant women so that they can report violations of abusive sponsorship or migration status or nationality based discrimination? Does the state party have broken down data on discrimination experienced by migrant women, broken down by national origin, the employment sector, and the type of sponsorship? And if that data is available, how do they help create and guide public policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Mason.
You have 51 seconds.
2 minutes.
That's okay.
She will take it anyway.
Thank you for giving me the floor.
I I beg your indulgence.
Indeed, the previous speakers did not respect their time allotted to them.
So let me circle back to the notion of migrant.
Because here we're asking questions about migrants and yet the head of delegation, if unless I'm mistaken, has stated that there are no migrant workers in Kuwait.
Could we kindly return to this subject? I don't know if the ambassador knows what the committee, that is the CRD, in cooperation with the committee for the Protection of the rights of all migrant workers and their family members, the ICRMW adopted in 2025, namely the recommendation stroke observation number 38 on guidelines.
General guidelines on the elimination of xenophobia against migrants and other persons perceived as being migrants.
In paragraph eight of that general observation recommendation, there is a definition of a migrant, which I'm going to read to you now.
The term migrant is to be understood as describing all persons leaving their country of origin and who cross an international border in order to settle temporarily or definitively in another country.
It applies regardless of the reason for the departure, the status in the country of transit or destination, end quote.
Now, given that we have this definition, That it exists.
Can the delegation of Kuwait tell us in what category Kuwait classifies those aliens who work in Kuwait with a work contract who are not Kuwaitis? That is my question.
Thank you, Chair.
Madame.
I will immediately turn to the delegation for the replies.
You have 23 minutes as you have given two to me.
23 minutes.
Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Shukran Rais, Ash, thank you, chair.
I would like to thank the experts for their questions.
May I begin with the last question, which was about migrants.
I'm a jurist myself and from what I know, my knowledge is admittedly limited, but under international law, there is no single unified official definition of a migrant.
There are several, in fact, definitions of what a migrant is.
In Kuwait, we speak of a work force who signed a contract.
There's a contract between the employer and the employee.
Now this workforce, this labor force is only provisionally in Kuwait and not permanently established in Kuwait.
Now turning to the other questions we've heard.
I'd like to give the floor to the other members of my delegation, specifically miss Maha, miss Milla, miss Haya, miss Lulua, doctor Isham, and Mr.
Al Abdellazibeas, to answer the request for clarification.
Restrictions.
To mobility first.
Our laws, our decisions which govern the labor market, make it possible for a worker to change employees, move from one to another pursuant to regular procedures and regular restrictions.
Mobility is not a restriction per se, but our system is a way to organize the labor relationships and also is designed to guarantee the stability in the workforce in the labor market.
The workers are entitled to ask to change employer without the prior permission of his or employer, especially when the previous employer has not respected his or her legal or contractual obligations.
There is a mechanism to file a complaint against an employer and for necessary measures to be taken which will enable the employer to enjoy their rights or the employee to be entitled to his rights pursuant to law.
With regards to the Kafala system, Kuwait has set up a whole regime regulating the employment market, which means that work is not just merely linked to one employer.
What happens is that we seek to give workers flexibility so that they can move from one from one employer to even in ensuring, especially that they can move without permission, they employee can ask to change employer if there's a conflict dispute or if the employer has not respected the terms of the contract.
The legal measures are thus taken against employers who are in breach of their obligation.
The aim being to limit the negative practices stemming from the practice of the Kafala Which means that the work relationship is not used as a means to pressurize the worker or to frustrate his or her rights.
The labor market must be governed in a regular fashion.
With regards to non payment of wages or wages paid late 2022-2025, there were 43,444 43,444 complaints.
In 2026, the number of complaints reached 1,000 414,002, including 2,400 complaints which were settled in a friendly fashion amicably without going through court.
With regard to measures taken for when there's been a proven breach of obligations by the employer, the worker's right to claim his or her wages is protected and the employer is given a penalty sanctioned.
Okay.
If employer has failed to pay wages, the employer must pay the wages, even if that happens late.
That obligation remains.
We also have a number of different mechanisms for people to file complaints.
They can do so either in person or through electronic means, which were created as early as 2023.
These electronic means enable migrant workers to have access to the remedies or the appeal mechanisms, thanks to which measures are taken to settle these disputes legally.
With regards to occupational health and the extreme heat, the La 31 of 2026 prohibits forcing migrant workers to work in uncovered areas during the day and that ranges from the 1st of June to the 31st of July and that includes people who work in the construction industry and people who work in the cleaning industry.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Schran Seidel Jabir.
Thank you.
With regards to birth certificates and death certificates for irregular residents, Kuwait.
Was keen to make these documents available on humanitarian grounds, including birth certificates, marriage, divorce, death certificates, and other administrative documents which guarantee the stability of the situation of migrant workers and this pursuant to the relevant laws in the country.
We have centers supervising these matters and same thing for driving licenses, navigation licenses, We have provided statistics covering all certificates of death certificate, birth certificates and services provided to workers pursuant to the 2011 Ministerial Decree 409.
Now, as to the refugees, we do not have a particular provision governing refugees.
Asylum seekers are not dealt with in Kuwait, all categories.
Okay.
All Kuwaiti citizens are covered by the rules and regulations covering aliens, which is why we do not have a per se legal framework governing the issue of asylum, be it at constitutional level or be it at national legislation level.
We are not indeed party to the UN Convention on refugees and its additional protocols.
Residents in Kuwait are subject to the law on the residency of aliens.
If a residency is legal, that is, as for political asylum and humanitarian asylum, these categories are governed by the Constitution, the extradition of political refugees is prohibited in Kuwait.
We do not apply we do not allow extradition of intellectual extradition in Crea and of course, neither are we an asylum Thank you for your question about non payment of wages to employees.
As I was saying, the law criminalizes the non payment of wages.
And bonuses.
The state of Kuwait is making efforts through the Ministry of Public Prosecution investigating these crimes.
Statistics have already been shared with the members of the committee on investigations of cases of violence against domestic workers.
The aim is to define the nature of these acts perpetrated against domestic workers, female domestic workers, in particular, people trafficking.
If the trafficking is proved to have occurred, the public prosecutor is not notified and it creates a task force that will then investigate the circumstances.
Crimes against individuals are dealt with pursuant to the relevant laws and according to depending on the violation, the appropriate measures are taken after the enactment of the Dision 306 of 2025, December 25, that is Law number one of 1999 makes it possible to provide two aliens medical care.
The amendments to that La one of 1999 are not based on any distinction on the grounds of sex, origin or any other consideration, but are based rather on objective conditions.
Care is provided in public institutions.
The health insurance system is not a new system.
In fact, was created in 1999.
Which is why the implementation decree of that relevant law only spells out the cost of the insurance pursuant to the public health guarantees enforced.
These are symbolic costs to guarantee quality of services and to streamline consumption without hampering social justice or excluding people from the right to health care provision.
The payment of insurance costs by alien workers normally falls on the shoulders of the employer.
The employer must guarantee to the employees medical insurance throughout their residency in Kuwait.
The insurance costs, once again, are symbolic and much below what it costs to actually provide those services by the states.
In the year 2000, the Kuwaiti DNR was much higher than it is now and according to taking into account in international inflation rates, the costs in the medical sector have increasingly risen, which is why when we take into account inflation over the last 15 years, these costs have no negative impact on the pocket of the migrant workers.
Their contribution is once again, a symbolic contribution and does not amount to a significant financial burden for the alien workers.
The state of Kuwait provides sophisticated medical services and once again, the costs paid by the workers only covers a fraction of what the state spends.
The costs imposed are merely a symbolic contribution enabling migrant workers to have access to health treatment.
Implementation text did not take into account the benefits enjoyed by the migrant workers, that is benefit of the health services provided by the government.
Which is why the implementation text established a link between residents and medical insurance in order to guarantee migrant workers this medical insurance throughout their stay.
There are several exemptions.
Family or humanitarian considerations come into play.
These exemptions cover several categories, including irregular residents, including children of aliens, including also domestic workers.
Inter Alia.
There are many others, which is why the implementation text of Decision 306 adopted in 2025 is a mere procedure designed to guarantee access to health services.
It is not designed in any way to deprive individuals from medical services.
The state of Kuwait underscores that there are no racial there is no racial discrimination against domestic workers.
It can happen in Kuwait that the authorities suspend the import of the arrival of some Mg workers from some states for specific reasons.
But as soon as these reasons no longer apply, then the doors are reopened to those workers from those states pursuant to national rules and standards in order to preserve the security of the country.
Can answer the question put by the expert on wages of employees and their bonuses.
May I clarify the following? The mechanisms enabling workers to file a complaint once a case cannot be settled amicably.
The worker can take his or her case to the competent authority and secure a hearing within a month.
The registrars of the courts must notify the parties concerned within two weeks before a decision is made.
When the complainant is a worker, he or she does not have to pay court expenses.
The residency of the migrant worker can be extended until their rights are given to them.
Thus, they do not have to leave the country before the court case has been settled.
We've included in the report some statistics related to working complaints who did not have to pay their court fees when a prosecution took place.
We guarantee access to justice to workers, enabling them to understand the legal proceedings.
Thus, Decision 64 was adopted in 2026.
More specifically on the 6th of July this year.
We have unified all trade unions in one single building to deal with all complaints filed by workers.
And the experts in the field can meet in that same building housing all these trade unions to rule.
Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
I would like to thank the members of the committee for their questions.
We hope we have answered your questions comprehensively.
If you have any further questions, we're here to answer them.
Thank you.
Very much.
We have three more minutes according to our clock here if you have any.
Actually, I was wondering, I might have misunderstood something that you have said.
You said Kuwait would not deport asylum seekers or refugees, but at the same time, you do not give the status of refugees to anyone.
So report.
Yeah, it's according to the Constitutions.
If we have a political refugees.
Can you a microphone, please? That's, of course, as my colleague already explained that we don't have this kind of mechanism or we don't have this law which organized the situation of the refugees.
We are not a country of receiving refugees, first of all, but according to the Constitutions, we see that the refugees who have been there, we cannot deport them.
If we have somebody, but we don't.
So you decided on the basis of self declaration that somebody is refugees? Not really because it's according it's according to the international law, we cannot give anybody who haven't been threatened.
This is the circle.
But we don't have refugees anymore.
Okay.
Thank you.
Any other issues that you want to raise? We still have a minute and a half.
For us or you? No.
Both of us.
B.
Madam and Mint.
There you go.
For the issue of asylum seeker and refugee, this is something that does not exist in the Gulf state, including Kuwait.
I mean, people come by contract, they enter the country by contract for different.
That concept, I know it's part of our agreement, but it does not exist.
That's why they are trying to explain to you that we don't have this in Kuwait or in Qatar or anywhere.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
So that non deportation is fictional.
It doesn't happen because there is no.
If ever.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I understand.
Thank you.
Well, I would like to thank very much the delegation of Kuwait, remember, the country rapporteur, our two co reporters and all the other members of the committee taking part of today's dialogue.
We will continue tomorrow tomorrow morning.
I The committee will address tomorrow morning the remaining themes identified by the country task force in segments three and four.
Segment three is on statelessness and multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination.
Segment four of the Convention in domestic law and the legal institutional and policy framework for its implementation.
This is a continuation of today's discussion.
Situation of human rights defenders, access to justice, human rights education to combat prejudice and intolerance.
We have a loaded program again tomorrow morning.
I wish you a very good evening and I declare the 3227th meeting closed.
See you tomorrow.
See you tomorrow.