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Kuwaiti Association for
basic Evaluators of Human Rights
KABE.HUMANRIGHTS
Introduction
The
Kuwaiti Association for the basic Evaluators of human
rights is a civic association, officially defamatory and
licensed in the State of Kuwait, no (2005/99), it
embarked on the issuance of this report to do its part
towards the issues and violations of human rights and
the removal of all such violations to enhance the
pioneering reputation of Kuwait in the field of human
rights by monitoring the most important human rights
issues related Kuwaiti affairs. We built in the
preparation of this report on specific criteria, namely:
1. The reference of human rights in the country.
2. Harmonization of domestic laws with local agreements.
3. Attention to vulnerable groups in society as
stateless, employment and women.
4. Complaints and suggestions received by the Society.
5. Monitor humanitarian violations as well as studies
and researches on this matter.
First: The absence
of an independent national board for human rights
The establishment of that independent board for human
rights is the most important demand of relevant
organizations in the civil society where that board will
have independent control of all the issues and
violations of human rights within the State of Kuwait in
the first place. It is better to be configured by
members of government, relevant organizations in the
civil society and human rights activists and jurists. In
this regard, the Kuwaiti Association for basic
Evaluators of human rights has made a number of steps
through the formulation of a vision to the bill for
establishing such a board, and this vision was presented
to the relevant organizations in a special meeting and
was approved in principle, and then was introduced with
that approval to the minister of social affairs and
labour at that time. To complement these efforts, the
association held two meetings with the Committee of the
Defense for Human Rights in the Kuwaiti parliament to
submit a draft law to the Council for approval and it
has not achieved any progress in this regard. We moved
into the claims series that in the case has not been
created the National Board for Human Rights, the
alternative, which is indispensable, is to include
relevant organizations concerned with human rights to
the Higher Committee for Human Rights in the Ministry of
Justice so that it may have greater credibility and
genuine representation in international organizations.
Recommendations:
-
Speed up the approval
of the draft concerning the establishment of the
National Board for Human Rights.
-
Granting the
National Board for Human Rights broad powers after
its creation.
-
Claim at this time as
quickly as the inclusion of civil society
organizations related to the Higher Committee for
Human Rights in the Ministry of Justice.
-
Involvement of relevant
organizations in the civil society in perceptions,
studies, development plans and refer to them when
drafting any law or doing any project related to
human rights.
-
Launch awareness
campaigns in common with human rights organizations
to promote a culture of human rights in society.
-
Raise the level of
response and governmental interaction with the
complaints that civil society organizations
receives.
Second: Kuwait and
its position on the signing of international conventions
Kuwait has a proceeding rank among the institutional
countries, and that has led to the signing of Kuwait on
a number of international conventions related to human
rights, but failed to sign and join a number of
important agreements which respect the rights of certain
categories of human beings such as the Convention on
Human Rights with a disability and the Protocol thereto,
and the Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and their families, and that has not led Kuwait to sign
these conventions and others, so these categories have
not received their human rights _ because that Kuwait is
not obligated to do so before the international
community because it did not sign or accede to the
related conventions _ as a cause these categories feel a
kind of discrimination and injustice.
The Association has sent civil society organizations and
a number of governmental agencies on the Rights of
Persons with a disability to determine the extent of the
progress made on the issue of accession to the
Convention, and it required the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to give reasons for the failure to Kuwait's
accession to the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with a disability so far received, and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs replied that the agreement is under
discussion and study in the National Assembly.
Recommendations:
-
Demand that the
government should hasten to accede to international
conventions related to human rights and in
particular the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities.
-
Demand that the
government needs to quickly finish the study of
international conventions related to human rights
within the known and public bounds of time, and
possibly by a special committee comprising the
relevant ministries as well as human rights
associations and the men of law, it is responsible
for examining international conventions.
Third: stateless
Stateless file is one of the most sensitive files and
hot spots in the State of Kuwait, where the government
is sometimes slow and other times fail to solve the
problem affecting more than one hundred thousand people
(according to official statistics). Seen working in the
field of human rights to the problem as a purely
humanitarian problem does not get stateless persons to
the most basic human rights such as education,
employment, health care and other rights. The
Association has a large effort on the completion of all
forms of discrimination against stateless through the
provision of a bill to accord to stateless persons of
all civil rights and humanity, but has not been approved
yet. This led to the spread of crime and increase rates
for this category because of difficult living conditions
they are experiencing as well as their sense of
discrimination. But we should not forget the measures
that the government was recently taking to participate
in solving this issue through the resolution, which
allows for stateless persons to join teaching wire in
the Ministry of Education, the military and health, as
well to allow documenting the marriage contracts, which
was a requirement for this category since many years.
Recommendations:
-
speed the passing of
civil and humanitarian rights law as a start to
solve the problem of statelessness in order to
establish the principle of justice and equality,
which is an urgent humanitarian requirement.
-
Demand that the
government should need to develop an effective
mechanism to allow this group to integrate in
society and contribute to the development process
and political participation, and all activities and
privileges enjoyed by others.
Fourth:
Migrant workers (expats)
The violations issue of the rights of foreign workers in
Kuwait is considered as an obsessed thing in the Kuwaiti
government concern, human rights activists and the
organizations of the international community alike.
Expats constitute about 70% of the population, and it is
not approved the labour law in the civil sector and the
law of criminalizing trafficking in human beings are the
main reasons for such violations, which are monitored
every day throughout the affected complaints received by
the Association or by official and independent
newspapers (such as forcing workers to work in outdoors
in temperatures up to 50 degrees Celsius _ withholding
of passports_ delayed payment of wages and salaries _
loss of occupational safety _ forced workers to sign
blank sheets of paper "bills" to be used in the pressure
on them, and imprisoned in some cases, especially taxi
companies_ trading of visas _ false communications of
absenteeism) in addition to turning the sponsorship
system currently in place to clear violation of human
rights, due to abuse of the system as a whole and the
apparent lack of relevant legislation. Many of the civil
society organizations called to cancel the sponsorship
system and work to develop an alternative system that
preserves the rights of all parties in a legal and human
frame.
And in light of this huge number of violations, the
government has represented in the Kuwaiti Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labor to take some important
decisions like the decision to allow a certain class of
workers to transfer their residence to another employer
without requiring the consent of the sponsor, and
subject to specified conditions. In addition to
orientation to allow the owners of some of the liberal
professions to ensure themselves. The Association
touched the government's seriousness in the drive to
abolish the sponsorship system, during the meeting with
the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor in September
last year, but despite these positives, but we believe
that these decisions did not live up to the minimum
limit of the aspirations of civil society organizations
concerning migrant workers.
Recommendations:
-
Demand not to be the
administrative deportation only after the ruling,
and after conducting a transparent investigation by
an independent committee.
-
Claim to stop granting
the employer the right to absent communications
where it is the abuse of this right from an
unlimited number of employers.
-
Prompted passage of the
law of human trafficking and the thick punishment
for the inconsistent.
-
Claim quickly approving
a law of work in the private sector.
-
Claim to cancel the
sponsorship system, and work on for an alternative
system that preserves the rights of all parties in
accordance with legal ,transparent humanitarian and
clear grounds.
-
Claim to the
appointment of a special sector of employment and
the development of this sector so as to take
responsibility for the majority of the Kuwait.
Fifth : Home
Employment
Violations of human rights against employment constitute
a major challenge to human rights activists and civil
society organizations in Kuwait. The biggest problems
with domestic workers are in the absence of a law to
protect them from injustice and abuse, and to regulate
the relationship between the server and the employer.
That has allowed unlimited quantities of violation of
human rights against this oppressed group in some cases
to torture, humiliation, rape, non-payment of salaries,
imprisonment and beatings. The Association provided
general huge number of these violations in addition to
the worrying rise in the frequency of suicides in this
category because of egregious violations of their right
as well as their sense of injustice and discrimination.
Recommendations:
-
Prompt the enactment of
a law regulating the relationship between the server
and the Employer.
-
Enforcing the laws on
violations of the rights of domestic workers as
required in accordance with humanitarian and legal
standards.
-
Prompt the development
of the headquarters of harboring domestic employment
commensurate with the terrible beneficiary and in
accordance with international norms and humanitarian
laws.
-
Claim the Kuwaiti
government to play a strict control on the domestic
labor recruitment offices which spread all over
Kuwait, where these offices made terrible violations
against this group before, during and after
recruitment.
Sixth: The conditions of prisons
and detention and arrest centers
Detention and arrest centers of the Ministry of Interior
in any of the countries of the world are the mirror that
reflects the human rights situation and how the State's
application for humanitarian norms and international
standards concerning the centers of detention and
arrest, especially as the image is etched in the minds
of some about these centers is a bad image often
associated with torture, humiliation and a worsening
humanitarian situation, especially when we talk about
the Middle East. The State of Kuwait is a Middle Eastern
country, so it needs to open the file of police stations
and prisons in human terms, and to reconsider the terms
of reference to international humanitarian standards
which a large number of detention centers lacks to those
standards on the one hand health care provided. It has
been monitoring the death of at least one of the inmates
in one of these centers in the year 2009 due to
deteriorating health care. This is in addition to the
accumulation of large numbers of detainees in small
rooms badly ventilated and designed to withstand such
high numbers. This is in addition to the arrest of some
of the defendants for indefinite periods without a legal
trial. The Kuwaiti Association for the basic Evaluators
of human rights has monitored several instances where
defendants suspended for indefinite periods and without
legal proceedings, and this is contrary to law. Truth be
told we must never lose sight of approval from Kuwait to
launch a qualification training program OK with
international standards for returnees from Guantanamo in
a good sign for the rehabilitation of these detainees as
a prelude to bring him back into society.
Recommendations:
-
Claim the need to train
and educate police officers and investigators of
human rights in general and the rights of detainees,
in particular, methods and norms to deal with them
during and after the arrest.
-
Prompt the development
of prisons and detention centers to match the
standards of humanity.
-
Claimant and an
emphasis not to allow the deployment of photographs
of the suspects before charging them and tried by
the judiciary.
-
Claim the government to
separate the General Administration of Criminal
Evidence and attach to the Attorney-General.
Seventh: Freedom of expression and
public freedoms
Despite the fact that Kuwait belongs geographically to
the Middle East which was known as the restriction of
public freedoms and freedom of expression, but it
assumed a high rank in this area where it got the first
place in the freedom of the press at the level of Arab
States and the Middle East in 2009, according to the
report of the Organization " Reporters Without Borders.
" took into account local laws where the rights of
individuals, groups and institutions to express their
views freely, without prejudice to the others. That has
been recently observed the bad use of freedom by
offending the religious and political symbols, public
figures, and no doubt that civil society organizations,
including the Kuwaiti Association for the Evaluators of
Basic Human Rights, consider this behavior a violation
of the law and a violation of the rights of others,
where it does not mean that the enjoyment of Kuwait for
legal items provide domestic expression of opinion
freely opening the door to challenge the others.
However, despite this freedom, the Ministry of
Transportation has closed a number of codes and
electronic espionage to fill them in accordance with
published in the Arabic Network for Human Rights
Information at the end of last September.
With regard to the public freedoms, door is open to the
creation and display of civic organizations and trade
unions and associations, without the obstacles that
recalls in this matter in accordance with applicable
local laws. Kuwait has also a high rank in the field of
religious freedoms. Kuwait has more than one hundred
nationalities and religions of different faiths and with
the religion of the State, and in spite of that,
everyone practiced rituals and religious rites freely in
accordance with Kuwaiti local law.
Recommendations:
-
Prompt the enactment of
legislations that protect individual right, icons
and public figures from the bad use of freedom of
expression.
-
Claim not to touch the
freedom of people to express their opinions through
the Internet and other media channels, in accordance
with local laws.
-
Claim to refer any
abuse of freedom to the judiciary and competence and
not to be the arbitrary decisions are the solution
in facing bad use of freedom guaranteed by law.
Eighth: Women
Kuwaiti women have been suffering for a long period of
social and political exclusion, therefore, the Kuwaiti
Government has taken a number of historical decisions on
granting women their political rights and social issues,
and it has recently been developed the field of women's
rights by allowing them to political participation as
well as posting. And so on, but at the same time it
detected a slowdown on the approval of women's civil
rights law in the National Assembly, and for the sake of
women, also it was sentenced recently the Supreme
Constitutional Court to allow Kuwaiti women to issue a
passport without requiring the consent of the husband
and what was in place for many years, which is an
achievement on women's rights.
Recommendations:
-
Ask the government to
reconsider the laws and decisions regarding women's
rights, which may be in some of spoiling women's
rights.
-
Ask the government to
speed up the approval of the civil rights draft of
women.
Health Human Rights
Issues In Kuwait
High Prices of medications compared to rest countries of
the region
WHO denoted in its last
report published in the mid of AUG 2009 in the Kuwaiti
reports, denoted that prices of medications are too
high. Public employee, receiving low salary, may pay 3-8
days salary to buy typical medications for common
diseases. In the same time, the non-skilled Kuwaiti
worker to pay about 8-22 days salary for the same
reason.
Mr. Mubarak Al-Harby,
Director of the national committee for control high
prices, prepared a comparative prices for medications in
Kuwait and KSA which made clear that price differences
is sometimes 330% (copy attached).
Health Hardships for Comers
A decree law 1/1991 is
issued in Kuwait to obligate comers to have medical
insurance during their stay in Kuwait, the average value
of health insurance in 50 KD per annum. Labor market in
Kuwait says that this value is incurred by comer in most
of times except home servants for which the sponsor or
the employer incurs this value. Given that current law
states that employer (pursuant to article 2) pays
insurance installments or the health insurance.
Despite the law gives
health insured persons coverage for basic medical and
health services whether diagnostic or treating, as it
states in article 4, and then it gives Minister of
health the power to define such services, yet the
current applicable unfortunately in Kuwait do not cover
the least health needs for comers. For example, the
comer still must pay above the insurance, 1 KD for each
evaluation clinic and 2 KD for each evaluation in the
hospital, he is also obligated to pay amounts for most
medical checks required for diagnosis, for example he
pays 10 KD for normal SONAR, and 75 KD for color x-rays
or 90 KD for MRI, and 75 KD for Cardiac catheterization,
30 KD for Endoscope and other amounts for many medical
analysis such as iron, vitamins and thyroid glands,
hormones etc ranging from 3-10 KD for each. The same
applies for Non-Kuwaitis.
As to treatment also,
there are tenths of medications banned for comer and
they cannot get unless via incurring their cost from
pharmacies with high prices such as some medications for
diabetes and hypertension, haemophilia, solutions and
asthma sprays, and some antibioticsm and medications for
Tuberculosis and stomach and colon ulcers, etc.
Then what is the use of
medical insurance if the one coming to Kuwait has to pay
such amounts for diagnosis and treatment?? especially
for comers or insurance hospitals and health insurance
hospital as solutions for this problem, yet all
suggestions found its last destination in the drawer.
Handicapped
Number of handicapped
enrolled in the Higher Council for the Disabled Affairs,
about 20 thousand Kuwaiti and 2500 non-Kuwaiti, despite
the law serving this class (49/1996), yet it's a
disabled law and many of its provisions are ineffective.
Civil societies concerned with handicapped issues in
Kuwait seek to treat shortcomings of these provisions,
and set new laws serving such classes, and so activists
in the field of handicapped rights gathered such
requests in a document called "Document of Hope"
consisting of more 50 request, the most eminent of which
applying article of international treatment for
handicapped, this case is still before agenda of peoples
assembly.
Negative Smoking
Despite state of Kuwait
issued a law to control smoking (15/1995) stating
no-smoking in all public places, yet such resolution is
still a document as there is no effect for application,
and there is no entity to follow such resolution and see
if it's applied.
There is no doubt that
smelling smoke unwillingly when being in public places
(negative smoking by doctors) is a sever aggression upon
human rights especially for healthy life free from harms
which is one of the principles approved by Islamic
Sharia, Law and International covenants.
Kuwaiti Association for the Evaluators of Basic Human
Rights
The State of Kuwait_ Salmiya _Region 6_ street Bahrain_
Floor 8_ Office 29
Pp. B. No. 26023_ Safat 13121 _Kuwait
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