Bedoon Rights: An Online Reference on Statelessness in Kuwait

Bedoon Rights is a network founded by stateless Kuwaiti advocate Mona Kareem putting together contributions by a number of stateless volunteers mostly based in Kuwait. The network is the only online reference in English devoted for the case of statelessness in Kuwai. It provides relevant official documents translated, reports made by international organizations, daily reporting, videos, photos, and it offers help to journalists, correspondents, and bloggers interested in spotlighting the stateless struggle in Kuwait by offering information, on-ground guidance, and relevant interviews.

There are at least 120,000 people bidun jinsiyya (without nationality) in Kuwait today suffering from the lack of human rights. They cannot legally obtain birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates. The same applies to driving licenses, identification cards, and passports. They do not have access to public education, health care, housing or employment. And while they face some of the state’s harshest discrimination policies, they have no recourse to the law and its courts. Simply stated, the bidun (or bedoon)—who comprise about ten percent of the Kuwaiti population—do not exist. They have been dehumanized and rendered invisible by government policies coupled with pervasive social stigmatization.

The stateless of Kuwait have always been an underrepresented minority in Kuwait. Local mainstream media has shamelessly misrepresented them to serve the government’s interests. This network comes as a necessity due to the lack of references in English about our cause and struggle. Stateless activists and protesters in the past few years have been harassed, arrested, mistreated, and put to trials for speaking up. The network makes sure newsletters are sent regularly to organizations and media outlets to inform them of the situation and violations of those "bedoon" human rights.

Learn more about Beedon Rights at http://www.bedoonrights.org.