Human Rights Council
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Twenty-first session
19–30 January 2015
National report submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 16/21*
Kuwait
* The present document has been reproduced as received. Its content does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations.
A/HRC/WG.6/21/KWT/1
General Assembly Distr.: General 3 November 2014 English
Original: Arabic
GE.14-19659 (EXT)
I. Introduction
This report is based on the principal components of the Kuwaiti Constitution, the basic law of the State, which form the foundation for human rights and freedoms therein.
1. The initial national report of the State of Kuwait was presented to the Human Rights Council in May 2010 and adopted in September 2010. Eight voluntary pledges were made in that report and, of the 159 recommendations formulated during the interactive dialogue, the State of Kuwait accepted 123, found 21 unacceptable, did not support 6 and took note of 9.
2. In its present report, the State of Kuwait gives an assurance of its ongoing promotion and protection of human rights in all fields at the national and international levels, as well as its determination to put human rights instruments into actual practice.
II. Methodology for follow-up on the review and preparation of the report
A. Methodology for follow-up on the review
3. Since the adoption of its initial report, the State of Kuwait has made considerable endeavours to follow up on the outcome of the universal periodic review. A committee was formed pursuant to Ministerial Decision No. 54 of 12 November 2009 to coordinate these national endeavours to implement the voluntary pledges and the recommendations made during the interactive dialogue and to draft this report.
B. Consultative process and preparation of the report
4. The committee prepared the report in coordination and consultation with national stakeholders in the following manner:
• Meetings were held with civil society institutions, the State’s governmental authorities and representatives of the OHCHR Regional Office for the Middle East.
Technical experts and specialists within the State assisted in the preparations for the drafting of the report in accordance with the methodology adopted and the Geneva Institute for Human Rights also helped to organize a training workshop to familiarize the committee’s members with the changes made in the universal periodic review mechanism;
• The draft report was posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that the public and other stakeholders within the State could make proposals and comment thereon. A summary of the universal periodic review process, together with the initial national report, the pledges made therein and the recommendations to which it gave rise, were also posted with a view to raising public awareness of the importance of this process and its national, international and regional impact.
III. Developments in the normative and institutional framework for the promotion and protection of human rights
Since the submission of its initial report, the State of Kuwait has ratified, promulgated and introduced further human rights instruments and mechanisms in Kuwaiti society, as exemplified by the following:
A. International instruments
5. The State of Kuwait ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities pursuant to Act No. 35 promulgated on 14 February 2013 and also ratified the Arab Charter on Human Rights pursuant to Act No. 84 promulgated on 5 September 2013.
B. National laws, legislative enactments, regulations and decisions
6. In accordance with its voluntary pledges and the recommendations made during the first universal periodic review, the State has promulgated a number of national enactments amending existing or introducing new legislation, including:
• The Private Sector Employment Act No. 6 of 2010;
• The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act No. 8 of 2010;
• The Public Assistance Act No. 12 of 2011;
• Act No. 3 of 2012 amending some provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Act No. 17 of 1960);
• The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act No. 91 of 2013;
• The Private Crèches Act No. 22 of 2014;
• The Residence of Aliens Act No. 41 of 2014;
• The Environmental Protection Act No. 42 of 2014.
Ministerial Decisions:
• No. 186 of 2010 concerning the employment of women;
• No. 189 of 2010, as amended, concerning working hours in unenclosed locations;
• No. 192 of 2010 concerning the hotline for workers’ complaints and information on trafficking in persons;
• No. 196 of 2010 concerning the employment of juveniles;
• No. 198 of 2010 concerning the requirements and conditions to be met in workplaces in order to protect workers and visitors against occupational hazards;
• No. 199 of 2010 concerning workers’ accommodation;
• No. 201 of 2011 concerning the criminalization of forced labour;
• No. 208 of 2011 concerning safety levels, criteria and standards in workplaces;
• No. 409 of 2011 concerning the provision of facilities and services for illegal residents;
• No. 7 of 2013 concerning the project for newborn infant genetic screening;
• No. 178 of 2013 concerning the national project for newborn infant hearing screening;
• No. 54 of 2014 concerning the establishment of the Department of Health Services for the Elderly;
• No. 127 of 2014 concerning the establishment of district health teams to protect children from abuse and neglect;
• No. 3376 of 23 July 2014 changing the designation “Directorate General of Immigration” to “Directorate General for Residence Affairs”.
C. Bills of law
7. The constitutional and legislative procedures are being completed for the promulgation of numerous bills of law on, inter alia:
• The establishment of a Human Rights Office in a manner consistent with the Paris Principles relating to the status of national human rights institutions;
• Human rights;
• The establishment of a Family Court;
• Juveniles;
• Definition of the crime of torture;
• Patients’ rights;
• Replacement of the term “servant” by the expression “domestic worker”.
D. National mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights
8. The State has established national mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights, including:
The Kuwaiti National Assembly’s Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, which undertakes the following functions:
• Study of the legislation in force in Kuwait and proposal of amendments thereto;
• Development of relations with international organizations, national bodies and parliaments, etc. throughout the world;
• Receipt of complaints and observations concerning human rights-related practices.
9. The Public Anti-Corruption Authority, which was established under the terms of Legislative Decree No. 24 of 2012 as an independent national authority for the coordination of endeavours to combat corruption and regulate financial liability in order to reduce the incidence of criminal acts of corruption and their adverse impact on the State’s efforts to promote and protect human rights and freedoms.
10. The Public Manpower Authority, which was established under the terms of Act No. 109 of 2013 to oversee manpower in the private and petroleum sectors, monitor procedures for the formation of trade unions and assess labour requirements and the manner in which workers may be transferred from one employer to another.
11. The Public Authority for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities, which was established under the terms of Act No. 8 of 2010 to formulate, develop and monitor the
implementation of general policy for the welfare of persons with disabilities, lay down rules and procedures for the implementation of the State’s obligations as specified in the Act, safeguard the rights of children with disabilities, build their capacities and integrate them in society.
12. The Central Agency for Regularization of the Status of Illegal Residents, which was established by Amiri Decree No. 467 of 2010 as the sole official body empowered to represent illegal residents in their dealings with the authorities, regularize their legal status, enable them to enjoy a decent life, and safeguard their human and civil rights.
The Domestic Workers’ Shelter Centre
13. The Statutes of the Domestic Workers’ Shelter Centre guarantee the rights of its inmates, including their right to be treated in a proper manner that preserves their human dignity, shields them from mental or physical abuse and ensures their access to a full range of services without discrimination based on nationality or religious belief or confession, their right to receive and make visits in and outside the Centre, and their right to enjoy all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the laws and the international treaties in force in the State.
The Supreme Council for Planning and Development
14. The Supreme Council for Planning and Development, which was established under the terms of Decree No. 3 of 2013, amending article 1, paragraph 1, of Decree No. 33 of 2004 concerning the establishment of the Supreme Planning Council, to formulate the State’s future vision and strategic objectives, as well as the Government’s development plans and programmes of action, and propose legislation and regulations.
E. Public benefit associations and institutions
15. The State registers public benefit associations and institutions. The application of paragraph 4 of Council of Ministers Decision No. 863/2004 prohibiting the registration of new public benefit associations without authorization from the Council was recently suspended under the terms of Decision No. 100/A/2014 and 21 associations have since been registered.
F. National policies and strategies (general measures and policies)
Strategy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
16. The strategic objective of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to promote and raise awareness of human rights through the publication of booklets on human rights (the booklet Human Rights in the State of Kuwait – Fundamental Constituents was issued in 2013, the booklet Rights of the Child in the State of Kuwait was issued in 2014 and a booklet entitled Women’s Rights in the State of Kuwait is currently under preparation) and the organization of specialized training courses on human rights.
Strategy of the Ministry of the Interior
17. The Ministry of the Interior has formulated a strategic plan for the promotion and protection of human rights through the issuance of a brochure detailing the human rights of prisoners in correctional institutions in Kuwait. A programme of action has also been proposed to develop and upgrade the Department of Corrections in the light of the results of various Arab and global pilot projects.
IV. Measures taken by the State of Kuwait to implement its voluntary pledges and the recommendations accepted during the first cycle of the universal periodic review process in 2010
A. Voluntary pledges
• A bill of law on the establishment of a national authority to address all human rights-related issues is currently awaiting promulgation by the Parliament;
• Accession to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under the terms of Act No. 35 of 14 February 2013;
• Promulgation of the Private Sector Labour Law under the terms of Act No. 6 of 2010 amending the previous Act No. 38 of 1964 in a manner consistent with international labour standards and ILO Conventions;
• Establishment of the Central Agency for Regularization of the Status of Illegal Residents under the terms of Decree No. 467 of 2010 which was promulgated to resolve this issue;
• Promulgation of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act No. 91 of 2013;
• Promulgation of Act No. 8 of 2010, concerning the rights of persons with disabilities, which is consistent with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
• An enactment on the rights of the child is in the process of promulgation;
• An enactment on the establishment of a Family Court is also in the process of promulgation.
B. Recommendations
Persons with disabilities
18. Act No. 8 of 2010, accords persons with disabilities a number of rights, including priority in regard to housing welfare. Those under 18 years of age, as well as the person responsible for their care, receive an allowance and those over 18 years of age are entitled to a disability benefit, a grant of KD 5,000–10,000 (equivalent to US$ 17,402–34,804), housing and marriage loans, and the provision of assistive devices free of charge, as well as reduced working hours and a shorter period of pensionable service before they or the person responsible for their care can retire on a full pension. In 2010, the number of persons, both male and female, benefiting under the provisions of the above-mentioned Act amounted to around 40,500, as shown by the following statistics:
Category Number of beneficiaries
Children under 18 years of age in the Authority’s care 9 771
Male and female students with learning disabilities 6 740
Persons with moderate or severe disabilities 19 720
Unemployed persons with moderate or severe disabilities 8 009
Category Number of beneficiaries
Unemployed women caring for persons with disabilities 4 020
19. At the Vocational Rehabilitation Centre, which was established in 1960, persons from 18 to 45 years of age with all types of disability (hearing, visual, motor and intellectual impairments) receive vocational and occupational instruction and training appropriate to the type and nature of their disability. In 2012, the number of trainees amounted to 151 (70 males and 81 females).
20. The State has established an Early Intervention Centre which is responsible for the early detection of disabilities and the provision of specialized services for children, including medical supervision, physiotherapy, recreation, opportunities for social integration, and psychosocial and educational services. The State also carries out genetic and hearing screening of newborn infants with a view to reducing the incidence of disability.
Women’s rights
21. The State has shown great solicitude for women. The development indicators for the period 2010–2013 show a steady increase in labour market participation by Kuwaiti women (51.4 per cent in the private sector, 45 per cent in the government sector and 20 per cent in senior posts in 2013). The gender gap in education has been closed insofar as the female enrolment rates in general and higher education exceed the corresponding rates for males, thereby helping to achieve gender equality in education before the 2015 deadline set in the Millennium Goals.
The numerous legislative enactments and measures promulgated in favour of women include the following:
• The Private Sector Labour Law (Act No. 6/2010) confirms: the principle of equal pay for work of equal value regardless of gender (art. 26); gender equality and non- discrimination if the employer terminates the employment relationship (art. 46); the employer’s obligation to provide security and transport for female employees on night shift (art. 22); prohibition of the employment of women in dangerous or hazardous industries (art. 23); the employer’s obligation to grant working women a rest period within official working hours to breastfeed their infants, as well as the obligation to provide a crèche for the children of his female personnel; the entitlement of working women to a full separation-from-service indemnity if they terminate their employment contract for matrimonial reasons within one year from the date of their marriage (art. 52); and the need to protect workers from health hazards and occupational diseases by, for example, obliging employers to post health and safety regulations in the workplace (art. 86), to ensure the use of means of protection (art. 87) and to insure workers against industrial injuries and occupational diseases (art. 88). Industrial injuries and occupational diseases are defined in articles 89–97;
• Under the terms of Ministerial Decision No. 190/2011, a joint working committee was formed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and the Women’s Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers to implement the plan for the creation of a legislative environment conducive to the social empowerment of women by ensuring that Kuwaiti legislation relating to the protection of women was devoid of any form of discrimination. This was to be achieved through a review of the Private Sector Employment Act No. 6/2010, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act No.
8/2010 and the Public Assistance Act No. 12/2011;
• Supreme Council of the Judiciary Decision No. 14/2013 concerning the acceptance of 22 female applicants for employment in the judiciary;
• Decree No. 221/2001 concerning the engagement of support staff in the Ministry of the Interior, as amended by Decree No 87/2009 authorizing women to hold military and police ranks in the Ministry of the Interior;
• Act No. 12 of 2011 concerning the rules and regulations for the granting of assistance to Kuwaiti families and individuals in the following eventualities: loss of the provider, as in the case of widows and orphans; sickness or invalidity of the provider; inability of the provider to meet his maintenance obligations, as in the case of financial insolvency and prisoners’ families; and other special cases such as disaster-stricken families which do not fall within the categories entitled to assistance;
• Decree No. 23 of 2013 concerning entitlement to, and assessment of, public assistance in the case of: widows who have not remarried after the death of their husbands; divorced women who have completed the legally prescribed waiting period after the termination of a marriage in which they have engaged in conjugal relations or been in a state of legal seclusion with their previous husband; all wives and children, however numerous, of prisoners; unmarried women over 18 years of age who lack a provider; unmarried women between 35 and 60 years of age, even if they have a provider; women married to non-Kuwaitis if the latter are proved to be incapable of earning a living, in which case assistance is granted to the Kuwaiti woman and her children, by the non-Kuwaiti, whom she is supporting; and married Kuwaiti women over 55 Gregorian years of age, unless they are proved to have a private source of income. The amount of public assistance granted to these categories in 2013 totalled KD 106,153,891 (equivalent to US$ 369,446,271.51);
• Act No. 2 of 2011 made the following amendments to the Housing Welfare Act: a final paragraph added to article 15 recognized the entitlement to housing welfare of Kuwaiti women, married to naturalized non-Kuwaitis and whose applications therefor had been received and registered in or before 1989, with effect from the date on which their husbands had been granted Kuwaiti nationality; five new articles (28 bis, 28 bis (a), 28 bis (b), 28 bis (c) and 33 bis) were added; article 28 bis stipulated that, by way of exception to the provisions of article 28 of the Act and without prejudice to the conditions for entitlement to housing loans, the Kuwait Credit Bank would extend interest-free loans up to the amount specified in article 28 with a view to providing decent housing for every Kuwaiti woman who had been irrevocably divorced, and also for every Kuwaiti widow, if they had children; and ,as an alternative to the granting of loans to such women meeting the aforesaid conditions, the Kuwait Credit Bank could provide such women with decent low-cost rental accommodation if they so requested.
Objectives and policies for the empowerment of women in the Development Plan 2015/16-2019/20
22. The State’s Development Plan makes provision for: enhancement of the capacities of Kuwaiti women through: review and updating of the legislation in order to eliminate forms of discrimination against women in a manner consistent with the Islamic sharia;
support for programmes to develop the socioeconomic capacities of women; establishment of an institutional mechanism to protect women; and support for the social empowerment of Kuwaiti women.
Domestic violence
23. The State of Kuwait condemns all forms of violence, and especially domestic violence against vulnerable social categories such as children and women, and the legal corpus addresses such cases by criminalizing all acts of violence. This is illustrated by articles 9 and 10 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Kuwaiti Penal Code (Act No.
16 of 1960), as amended, which stipulate as follows:
• Article 160: Anyone who strikes, wounds, inflicts bodily harm on, or violates the physical integrity of, another person in a tangible manner is liable to a term of up to two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 150 dinars. The penalty is increased if the offender inflicts severe harm (art. 161) or if the harm inflicted causes permanent disability (art. 162);
• Article 163: Anyone who commits a minor act of lesser gravity than those specified in the preceding articles is liable to a term of up to three months’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 22 dinars and 500 fils;
• The measures taken by the State to combat domestic violence are exemplified by the establishment in 2008 of a Community Police Department, run by the Ministry of the Interior and including trained female sociologists and psychologists, to resolve problems involving violence against women of all ages.
24. With regard to the legal provisions concerning applications for divorce motivated by subjection to domestic or sexual violence, this matter is addressed in article 126 of the Personal Status Act No. 51 of 1984 which stipulates that either of the spouses may apply for separation on grounds of harm, inflicted by word or act, which renders continued cohabitation impossible. Article 127 of the Act, as amended by Act No. 29 of 2004, further stipulates that the court must make every endeavour to reconcile the spouses; however, if reconciliation proves to be unattainable and harm has been established, the court must separate them by a decree absolute; if harm has not been established, the court must appoint two arbitrators to decide whether the spouses should be reconciled or separated.
25. With regard to the accommodation of victims of domestic violence, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour caters for the welfare of certain social categories through the establishment of shelter facilities. Under the terms of the Juveniles Act No. 3 of 1983, insofar as juveniles exposed to delinquency constitute one of these categories, their placement in a social institution is deemed to be a preventive measure for their protection (arts. 18 and 19) and they may be retained therein until they reach the age of 21 years (art.
13). In addition to juveniles at risk of delinquency, the Ministry, in its capacity as the authority responsible for social welfare, also shelters members of broken families.
26. Social welfare institutions also shelter children up to 18 years of age who are of unknown parentage or deprived of family care by reason of orphanhood, the break-up of families or the latter’s inability to provide proper care for their children.
Environmental protection
27. In the field of the environment and sustainable development, the Environmental Protection Act No. 42 of 2014 was promulgated to preserve the environment and its resources, maintain the ecological balance, combat pollution and all forms of environmental degradation, safeguard society, human health and biodiversity and protect the environment from the detrimental effects of acts and activities occurring outside the State’s territory.
28. The data show an improvement in the State of Kuwait’s international environmental ranking which, on the Environmental Performance Index, rose from 58th in 2010 to 42nd in 2014 out of a total of 178 countries classified.
Trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants
29. The State of Kuwait promulgated the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants Act No. 91 of 2013 in which it was guided by the provisions of the two protocols on the prevention of trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
Article 1 of the Act defines the expressions “transnational organized crime”, “trafficking in persons” and “smuggling of migrants” and the nature of illegal entry. Article 2 prescribes penalties under which traffickers in persons may even be liable to capital punishment.
Article 3 prescribes a penalty of up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 - 20,000 dinars for perpetrators of the crime of smuggling migrants. Under the terms of article 6, both the legal representative and the de facto manager of a corporate entity for the benefit of which a crime of trafficking in persons or smuggling of migrants is committed are punishable without prejudice to the personal criminal liability of the perpetrator of the crime. Article 7 prescribes a penalty of up to 3 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 1,000 - 3,000 dinars for anyone who, being aware of a plan to commit a crime of trafficking in persons or smuggling of migrants, fails to inform the competent authorities. Article 8 prescribes penalties for perpetrators of assaults on law enforcement officials and article 9 criminalizes the use of force, threat or bribery to induce any person to commit perjury or provide false information.
30. Premises have been designated to shelter victims of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants under the supervision of the Domestic Workers’ Department in the Ministry of the Interior, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and the Ministry of Health, at a cost of KD 604,000 (equivalent to US$ 2,102,162.24). The shelter, which is staffed by a number of sociologists, psychiatrists, jurists and health-care providers, accommodated 1,970 domestic workers during the period from 1 January to 31 December 2013.
Protection of the rights of the child
31. In the State of Kuwait, children enjoy a high degree of care and protection, as illustrated by the following:
• Numerous measures have been taken to ensure that children are protected against all forms of abuse and exploitation, as can be seen from the Penal Code (Act No. 16 of 1960) and the Juveniles Act No. 3 of 1983;
• In the education sector, the School System Regulations prohibit all forms of corporal punishment. The preamble to the Regulations, under the heading General Rules, stipulates that: corporal punishment and hurtful or humiliating remarks are totally inadmissible; a calm, impassive and even-tempered approach must be adopted;
penalties should be imposed in a fair and equitable manner and not on the basis of mere suspicion; punishment must be viewed within a proper pedagogic context and should be carefully designed to prevent, correct and remedy unacceptable modes of behaviour; if a student’s personality or educational performance is adversely affected by the imposition of any form of punishment, the school’s psychosociologist must study the case and formulate a remedial course of action;
• The staff of social institutions are forbidden to ill-treat the categories accommodated therein (juveniles, children of unknown parentage and persons with disabilities, etc.) and are required to strictly respect the dignity of the inmates, who must not be derided, mocked or employed in menial tasks (art. 38 of the Regulations of the Juvenile Welfare Department, art. 84 of the Regulations of the Family Custody Department and art. 92 of the Regulations of the Department for the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities). In the event of any inmates being subjected to physical or
psychological abuse in contravention of the regulations, the offender may be referred to the judicial investigation authorities;
• It is prohibited by law to conscript or exploit children in military operations or armed conflicts since children under 18 years of age are not permitted to serve in military, police or similar forces. Provision to this effect is made in article 40 of the Army Act No. 32 of 1967 and article 2 of the Compulsory Military and Reserve Service Act No. 102 of 1980 under which persons under 18 years of age are barred from enlistment or service in the armed forces. Article 36 of the Police Act No. 23 of 1968 likewise explicitly stipulates that applications to join the police as a patrolman cannot be accepted from persons under 20 years of age;
• The bill of law on the rights of the child contains the following provisions to protect children: the State undertakes to protect children, cater for their welfare and ensure appropriate conditions for their proper upbringing in an environment conducive to respect for freedom, dignity and spiritual and social values; a child’s age is established on the basis of a birth certificate or civil identity card; from birth, every child has the right to custody, upbringing, education, protection and care by his or her parents, the State and society; every child has the right to a distinctive name, which must be registered in the manner prescribed by law; every child is entitled to enjoy all his or her legal rights, particularly the right to breastfeeding, custody, nutrition, clothing and housing, the right to see his or her parents and the right to protection of his or her property in accordance with the provisions of the Personal Status Act; precedence must be accorded to protection of the child and his or her interests in all child-related decisions and procedures, regardless of the identity of the authority by which they are issued or applied; every child has the right to be filiated to his or her legitimate parents, as well as the right to enjoyment of their care and recognition of his or her lineage; the State undertakes to ensure that every child deprived of his or her family for any reason whatsoever is provided with alternative care; custody involves all the physical, health-related, psychological, educational and cultural aspects of child care and upbringing; the State undertakes to establish a Supreme Council for Children the functions of which shall include: formulation of child development plans, as well as priorities and measures for their implementation, within the framework of the State’s socioeconomic development plan; proposal of regulations, establishment of procedures, formation of the requisite committees and specification of their mandates; drafting of legislation to achieve the purposes of this bill of law; and study and monitoring of the implementation of regional and international conventions on child-related matters.
Child-care objectives and policies in the Development Plan 2015/16-2019/20
32. The Development Plan focuses on enhancement of the sociocultural and health care of all children, furtherance of their talents and abilities and establishment of a mechanism to detect cases of violence and delinquency at an early stage and to secure and improve the financial status of minors and the families responsible for their care.
Establishment of a national human rights institution
33. The National Assembly has been presented with a bill of law on the establishment of a Human Rights Office mandated to receive, study and investigate complaints concerning violations of human rights, monitor the implementation of international human rights instruments, issue periodic reports on human rights in Kuwait and advise the competent authorities on the legal procedures that should be followed to deal with violations of human rights.
The Family Court and Family Reconciliation Centres
34. The National Assembly (the State’s legislative body) has been presented with a bill of law on the establishment of a Family Court due to the inappropriateness of hearing personal status cases together with other criminal and civil cases in a single location. This bill makes provision for: the establishment, in every governorate, of an independent
“Family Court” provided not only with the facilities needed to ensure peace and tranquillity during the hearing of family disputes but also with adjacent waiting rooms for children whom the court might need to question or whose views it might wish to hear on matters of custody or visiting rights, etc. The Family Court would be vested with exclusive competence to hear the personal status disputes referred to in the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure and would have jurisdiction over Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis, regardless of their religious beliefs or confessions, subject to the rules of international jurisdiction as specified in the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure which the court would be obliged to observe. The court would also be empowered to: seek the opinion of sociologists and psychologists; establish a prosecution office specialized in family affairs in all its branches; establish a centre, attached to its branch in every governorate, to endeavour to reach an amicable settlement of all types of family disputes in a fully confidential manner and to protect all family members, and especially children and women, against any acts of violence or aggression by other family members; and set up a family insurance fund the resources of which would be used to execute interim maintenance injunctions or permanent alimony orders issued in favour of wives, divorcees, children or relatives which would otherwise be unenforceable.
Obligation to submit periodic reports
35. The State of Kuwait has duly submitted and discussed its periodic reports on the Convention against Torture (May 2011), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (October 2011), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (October 2011), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (February 2012), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (September 2013) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (November 2013). It will be submitting its third report on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in November 2014.
Protection of the elderly
36. The State of Kuwait has shown special concern for all aspects of the protection and care of the elderly, as a result of which the number of persons over 65 years of age rose from 37,512 in 2010 to 44,059 in 2013, representing an increase from 3.31 per cent to 3.55 per cent of the total population during that period. The types of care enjoyed by the elderly include:
• Residential care: Elderly persons residing in care facilities are provided with round- the-clock services. In 2013, the number of persons benefiting from this type of care amounted to 32;
• Day care: Elderly persons residing with their families are received in day-care facilities where they have access to services such as physiotherapy;
• Mobile care: This is the most widespread type of health, psychological and social care which is provided free of charge and includes the provision of assistive devices and financial assistance with a view to maintaining family and social links and enabling elderly persons to continue living in their family environment. The number of persons benefiting from this type of care increased by 16.4 per cent from 2,793 in 2010 to 3,250 in 2013;
• Aftercare: This is a system for the follow-up, counselling and guidance of persons who have been discharged from institutional care;
• Statutory care: This type of compulsory care is provided in cases of incapacity in order to deter any delinquent treatment of elderly persons. Under the terms of Act No. 11 of 2007, responsibility for the care of an elderly person may be assigned to a family member or relative who is paid an allowance therefor. The Act also makes provision for penalties if the assignee is found to be remiss in providing such care.
37. In accordance with the Public Assistance Act No. 12 of 2011 updating and broadening the scope of Legislative Decree No. 22 of 1978, the State grants a monthly allowance of KD 559 (equivalent to US$ 1,950) to any elderly person of either sex who is found to be in need thereof.
38. A Department of Geriatric Health Services was recently established in the Ministry of Health in accordance with Ministerial Decision No. 54 of 2014.
The death penalty
39. Although permitted under the Islamic sharia, the death penalty is restricted to cases involving capital crimes and is subject to numerous checks and controls, including the following: death sentences become enforceable only after a final ruling has been handed down on appeals and petitions for pardon or commutation of sentence; no one under 18 years of age may be sentenced to death; the penalty cannot be enforced against a pregnant woman and, following her delivery, her sentence is reviewed for commutation to life imprisonment; the penalty cannot be imposed on persons who are not in full possession of their mental faculties; the penalty cannot be enforced until the sentence has been approved by H.H. the country’s Amir and the convicted person is remanded in custody pending issuance of an Amiri decree upholding or commuting the sentence or granting a pardon. It is noteworthy that, during the period 2007–2013, the death penalty was enforced only in six cases (four cases involving criminal acts of murder, one case involving the smuggling of drugs for purposes of trafficking therein, and one case involving abduction and rape) and, during the same period, H.H. the Amir issued three decrees (Nos. 80/2013, 101/2013 and 131/2013) under the terms of which the death sentences passed on 16 persons were commuted to life imprisonment.
Juveniles who are delinquent or exposed to delinquency
40. Under the Juveniles Act No. 3 of 1983, juveniles who are delinquent or exposed to delinquency are deemed to be victims of the socioenvironmental circumstances in which they live and therefore, instead of punishment, deserve protection, reform and rehabilitation through measures such as: delivery into the custody of a trustworthy guardian; placement in one of the reform institutions run by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour; or judicial probation, which is a remedial measure applied to rectify the delinquent’s behaviour within his natural environment in cases in which a social worker’s report has found his environment to be an appropriate setting for the proper care of the delinquent under the guidance and supervision of a probation officer providing advice and counselling.
Probation orders are issued by the Juvenile Court, which designates a probation officer to monitor the behaviour of the juvenile residing in an institution or in his family home, and the juvenile reform institutions are supervised by the Juvenile Welfare Department which is staffed by a number of psychosociologists.
41. The Department, acting in collaboration with other agencies, such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and the Ministry of Information and civil society institutions, implements awareness-raising and counselling programmes designed to promote human values, ensure respect for public order and the law and
encourage social work, in addition to family-oriented programmes in the form of symposiums, lectures and the distribution of brochures.
42. The State intends to promulgate a new Juveniles Act comprising several safeguards for juveniles, including: introduction of measures, such as enrolment in training institutes, to facilitate the rehabilitation of juveniles who are delinquent or exposed to delinquency;
establishment of a psychological counselling office, with the requirement that the juvenile’s guardian must attend rehabilitation courses failing which he would be liable to a penalty;
enablement of the juvenile or his representative to exhaust all channels of judicial appeal;
imposition of heavier penalties, particularly on guardians, if juveniles are denied proper care or exposed to delinquency; and shortening the duration of remand orders issued by juvenile prosecutors or juvenile courts.
Religious freedoms
43. Religious freedom forms part of the freedom of belief that is guaranteed by article 35 of the Kuwaiti Constitution (“Freedom of belief is absolute. The State shall protect freedom of religious observance in accordance with established customs, provided that it is neither prejudicial to public order nor incompatible with morality.”) This implies that the State of Kuwait does not impose its beliefs on persons residing in its territory and does not prevent anyone from practising religious freedom and observance in a manner consistent with public order and compatible with morality. The broad scope allowed for freedom of belief is clearly illustrated by the fact that the multinational and multiconfessional communities residing in the State of Kuwait enjoy absolute freedom of belief.
Expatriate labour
Employment in the private sector
44. The Private Sector Employment Act No. 6 of 2010 ensures adequate protection for foreign workers in the State of Kuwait by virtue of the fact that it was drafted in the light of the provisions of the relevant international conventions. By way of example: article 63 sets minimum wages, which are subject to review every five years; article 28 prohibits reduction of a worker’s wage, even with the worker’s consent; article 6 stipulates that the rights enunciated in the Act constitute the inalienable minimum from which there can be no derogation but which, on the contrary, may be supplemented, except in the case of the worker’s entitlement to the various types of leave, separation-from-service indemnities and compensation in respect of injury; article 25 allows women rest periods for breastfeeding during working hours and obliges employers to establish crèches in the workplace for children under 4 years of age; article 37 provides legal safeguards for workers under investigation for alleged infringements of regulations; article 44 requires the employer to give the worker sufficient advance notice of termination of the worker’s employment contract; article 45 prohibits termination of the employment contract during any of the worker’s leaves; article 61 requires the employer to pay the worker’s wages in respect of any period of total or partial suspension of business activities for any reason not attributable to the workers; and articles 80–90 regulate the procedures pertaining to security, occupational health and safety and compensation.
45. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has issued numerous decisions relating to workers’ rights, including: Decision No. 212/2011 amending Decision No. 189/2010 concerning working hours in unenclosed locations; Decision No. 201/2010 concerning forced labour; Decision No. 199/2010 concerning rules and conditions for the accommodation and transport of workers; Decision No. 198/2010 concerning the requirements and conditions to be met in workplaces in order to protect workers and visitors against occupational hazards; Decision No. 208/2011 concerning safety levels,
criteria and standards in workplaces; and Decision No. 204/2011 concerning the assessment of proportional incapacity in cases of industrial injuries and occupational diseases.
46. In addition to the above-mentioned safeguards, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour issued Decision No. 103/2012, updating Decision No. 173/2008, under which a hotline was set up to receive workers’ complaints concerning violations of their rights by employers. Such complaints are referred to the Labour Inspection Department, vested with judicial investigation powers under the terms of article 133 of Act No. 6 of 2010, which transmits them to the judicial authorities.
Domestic workers
47. Legislative Decree No. 40 of 1992, concerning agencies engaged in the recruitment of personal servants and the like, regulates the status and rights of workers such as private servants, chauffeurs and gardeners who, not being covered by the Labour Law, are recruited under tripartite employment contracts signed by the employer, the employee and the recruitment agency. The said decree makes provision for: an 8-hour working day; a weekly day of rest; inadmissibility of requiring the employee to work for a third party;
entitlement to accommodation, food and clothing; inadmissibility of requiring the employee to perform work prejudicial to his or her dignity; retention of the employee’s passport;
repatriation of the employee’s body, in the event of his or her death, at the employer’s expense; and provision of a two-way travel ticket if the employee is to return after taking his or her leave entitlement.
48. In order to ensure the protection of workers, Ministerial Decision No. 2282/2010 made numerous amendments to Decision No. 617/1992 and broadened the scope of the safeguards to protect workers against exploitation and trafficking through the stipulation of statutory conditions for the granting of licences to agencies wishing to engage in the recruitment of personal servants and the like. These conditions include the following: the licence applicant must not be a civil servant in any of the State’s public institutions or authorities; the licence applicant is required to furnish a surety bond, in the amount of KD 20,000 (equivalent to US$ 69,252.08) and in favour of the Ministry of the Interior, which remains valid throughout the duration of his business activities and for one year thereafter;
the licence is not transferable or assignable to a third party wishing to run the business and expires on the death of the licensee.
With regard to the investigation and prosecution of cases of ill-treatment of domestic workers
49. The State of Kuwait, represented by the Ministry of the Interior, is diligently taking the measures needed to safeguard all the rights of domestic workers. These measures include the establishment of a Domestic Workers Department mandated to receive complaints by domestic workers against their employers and to conduct periodic inspections of recruitment agencies. The Department has recorded numerous infractions by some of the 1,236 licensed agencies, as a result of which the licences of 866 have been withdrawn, leaving only 370 in business.
50. A section has been established to receive complaints from embassies and settle such complaints in an amicable manner, failing which the embassy and the worker are invited to bring a civil action before the Kuwaiti courts. The Ministry of the Interior has also established a centre, supervised by the Department in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, for the accommodation of expatriate workers, and especially domestic workers involved in disputes with their employers. This centre, which is already in operation, is staffed by health-care providers, investigators and male and female sociologists. It contains offices for some embassies and has all the necessary accommodation facilities, including living rooms, cafeterias, restrooms, a medical clinic
and a consulting room for psychological and health counselling. Every endeavour is made to ensure that workers receive their full financial entitlements before returning to their home countries.
51. The worker’s obligation to remain in his job for three years does not apply to domestic workers. Article 5 of the Private Sector Employment Act No. 6 of 2010 exempts the category of domestic workers from this obligation since their terms of employment are regulated by Legislative Decree No. 40 of 1992 which does not set a minimum duration for their period of service with their employer.
With regard to the need to allow workers to remain in possession of their passports 52. Article 8 of Legislative Decree No 17 of 1959 stipulates that, during their period of residence, foreigners are required to present their passports or equivalent documents whenever so requested. This implies that passports are the property of their holders and cannot be sequestered or confiscated by third parties. Employment contracts, whether bipartite or tripartite, also contain a provision stipulating that the worker’s passport is a personal document which he is entitled to keep in his possession. Several judgements have been handed down in this regard, including a ruling by the Cassation Division of the High Court of Appeal at its session of 27 November 1989 on appeals Nos. 16 and 18 of 1989 in both of which a worker was awarded compensation of KD 1,000 (equivalent to US$
3,462.60) in respect of sequestration of his passport, as well as similar rulings in cassation appeal No. 127/2003, First Civil Division, session of 22 December 2003, and cassation appeal No. 146/2004, Second Labour Division, session of 19 December 2004. All these rulings show that workers can obtain rapid access to their travel documents through the summary judgement procedure which, up to 24 April 2012, was invoked by 1,328 workers from various countries.
With regard to the enactment and enforcement of legislation to protect expatriates, and particularly domestic workers
53. Article 24 bis (a) of Amiri Decree No. 17/59 concerning the Residence of Aliens Act stipulated that anyone who, in return for a payment, benefit or promise thereof, facilitated the acquisition by a foreigner of a permit to visit or reside in the country would be liable to a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to KD 3,000. The State of Kuwait’s ratification of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, together with its two supplementary protocols on the prevention of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and the smuggling of migrants, constituted a logical sequel that was fully consistent with the principles on which the Kuwaiti legal system is based.
Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances
54. The State of Kuwait is making considerable endeavours to address the problem of narcotic drugs through a twin-track approach. In tandem with the legislation that has been promulgated and the penalties that have been prescribed to deter traffickers, educational and remedial measures are being taken in collaboration with ministries and civil society institutions. In the educational sphere, the dangers inherent in narcotic drugs are highlighted in academic curricula and campaigns are conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Awqaf and other agencies. The State has also tightened its control of psychotropic pharmaceutical substances and increased the penalties prescribed for trafficking therein under the terms of Act No. 48 of 1987 regulating the use of, and prohibiting trafficking in, psychotropic substances. The Ministry of the Interior, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, regularly updates the list of types of psychotropic pharmaceutical substances the use of which has detrimental effects. A
treatment and rehabilitation centre has been in operation in the Central Prison since 2002;
aftercare units were introduced in reform institutions in 2008; and a halfway house was established in 2012 to provide care and rehabilitation services for addicts after their discharge from the Addiction Treatment Centre in order to facilitate their social and occupational reintegration. By the end of 2013, a total of 1,075 persons had benefited from these rehabilitation programmes.
55. With a view to ensuring proper protection and follow-up, a hotline number 97928282 has been designated for the receipt of addiction-related complaints and reports from families and employers. The Office of Public Prosecutions is notified so that the addict can be referred to the Centre for treatment without being questioned by the police or the judicial authorities and without any entry being made in his criminal record. The primary health-care centres also help through the medical examination, monitoring and counselling of patients and by raising their awareness of the dangers of narcotic drugs and ways to protect themselves therefrom.
Health
56. The State of Kuwait is diligently providing health care through its 100 primary health-care centres, 6 public hospitals, 36 specialized medical centres, the diabetes clinics (the number of which recently rose to 73) and the Dasman Diabetes Research Centre, which provide a health umbrella for the entire population. These government health services are provided free of charge to citizens and at token costs to foreign residents and services are also available in the private health sector.
57. A School Health Department was established pursuant to Ministerial Decision No.
172 of 2012 to supervise the modern clinics that have been installed in schools and which are at the forefront of the endeavours to raise public health awareness in fields such as dental health, nutrition and the prevention of diseases and epidemics. The State is also considering the introduction of electronic health records for students.
58. The maternity, paediatric, family and public health clinics provide services for expectant mothers, children and families free of charge to citizens and at token costs to others through the health insurance and social security schemes.
59. The preventive health units play a role in the prevention of contagious diseases and the State is endeavouring to ensure that all children are immunized, free of charge, with various types of vaccines (the immunization coverage rate amounted to 99 per cent in 2013).
60. The Public Food and Nutrition Authority was established pursuant to Act No. 112 of 2013 which emphasized the need for healthy food and the promotion of community nutrition in order to attain the optimal standards of physical, mental, psychological and environmental health and safety, curb the proliferation of diseases associated with malnutrition, protect public health and monitor the enforcement of laws and regulations concerning food and nutrition.
61. The projects implemented for the benefit of Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti children stricken with cancer and other incurable diseases include the Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice, established in 2011 to cater for the needs for children, as well as their families, during the final stages of terminal diseases by providing them with care, comfort, recreation and a family environment under the supervision of a team of specialized physicians, sociologists and psychologists qualified to alleviate the suffering of patients and their families in this sanatorium situated on the seashore in a non-hospital ambience.
62. Patients are sent abroad for treatment if they cannot be treated within the State. In the year 2010/11, a total amount of KD 62,948,543 (equivalent to US$ 218,195,787.15)
was disbursed for this purpose. For the year 2013/14, an amount of KD 120 million (equivalent to US$ 416,562,823.66) was budgeted under the heading “treatment abroad”, while the actual costs totalled KD 325 million (equivalent to US$ 1,128,525,675) in that financial year.
63. The International Committee of the Red Cross commended Kuwait for the exemplary health care that it provided in prisons, noting that the State had outstripped the World Health Organization by 40 years in calling upon the countries of the world to place prison health care under the supervision of the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of the Interior.
Mine clearance
64. Following its liberation in February 1991 after the iniquitous Iraqi invasion, Kuwait set about clearing its territory from mines and explosive remnants of war. The number of mines that have so far been cleared amounts to around 1,646,514, of which 1,078,829 were anti-personnel mines (65.5 per cent of the total), the others being 567,685 anti-tank mines (34.5 per cent). Although 95.7 per cent of the anti-personnel mines and 91.4 per cent of the anti-tank mines have been destroyed, many others have yet to be cleared in view of the large diversity of their types and the high density with which they were laid. It is noteworthy that ongoing endeavours are still being made in this regard notwithstanding the difficulties impeding clearance, exemplified by the lack of information and details on the minefields and the fact that the predominant features of the natural landscape and climatic conditions have made the mines hard to detect.
Promotion and teaching of human rights
65. In the education sector, human rights curricula are taught in general and higher education and are being introduced in other educational institutions within the framework of the implementation of the Arab Plan for Human Rights Education 2009–2014. A booklet containing guidelines for human rights education has been issued and training courses have been held for teachers and curricula developers in accordance with a plan for the scheduling of four courses per year, in addition to ongoing lectures and symposiums.
66. In the prison and reform sector, the Department of Corrections is collaborating with local, regional and international committees and bodies concerned with human rights, as exemplified by: attendance at the meeting held in Geneva in June 2014 to review the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and a meeting with its representative during his visit to Kuwait in December 2013; participation in the Conference on Penal Reform: Towards a national strategy for the development of the correctional system, held in Jordan in 2013; and participation in a course on “the human rights approach to prison management” held in Geneva in 2013. In recent years, the Department has held numerous human rights-related training courses, as shown in the following table:
Training season
Categories targeted
Total Officers NCOs Privates Civilians Female staff
2008/2009 72 112 22 0 430 636
2009/2010 43 17 119 0 246 425
2010/2011 89 31 36 14 624 794
2011/2012 68 142 79 18 199 506
2012/2013 29 49 2 2 135 217
