Discussion: Kuwait’s denial of citizenship to the Bidoons

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Discussion: Kuwait’s denial of citizenship to the Bidoons
Kuwaiti government’s move to offer citizenship to stateles Arabs in Comoros is somtheing that could be considered as a simple stratergy of disowning their people and blantant refusal to safeguard the rights of every citizen. According to Hayden, there are at least 100,000 Bidoons in Kuwait who have been applying for citizenship and have been denied. Bidoon is derived from Arabic phrase “without nationality.” The Kuwaiti government has often cited security reasons for not granting citizenship to the Bidoons. Notably, they have been living in the country long before they gained independence in 1961. Historians argue that the woes facing the community originated from the early years of independence where a majority of the Bidoons refused to apply for citizenship despite calls by government. The generation that came later was considered stateless as they could not acquire citizenship through the partineal descenet (an inheritance or a status that is derived from the father’s side of one’s family). In Kuwait, one’s nationality is determined by the nationality of one’s father. A person with a Kuwaiti father has Kuwaiti citizenship. Others argue, the move to deny them citizenship is based ...