Gulf Centre for Human Rights — two analyses of Kuwait's 2024–2026 nationality amendments and the withdrawals of nationality (September 2026)

The report treats the Nationality Law as revised by Decree-Laws 116/2024, 52/2026 and 79/2026. It says the withdrawals took place while the National Assembly was dissolved.

PROCEDURE DESCRIBED. People learnt of withdrawals "through weekly newspaper lists of names". Those affected must show "proof of seriousness" within three to four months. That means returning Kuwaiti identity documents to the Central System for illegal residents (CARIRS) and signing a waiver. They then receive a temporary document and have one year to restore an original nationality or obtain another, after which they may apply for ten-year residence. GCHR calls this practically impossible for those naturalised through parents or grandparents.

EFFECTS DESCRIBED. Once the decision is announced, the report says, access to banking, education, healthcare, social support, jobs, pensions and telecommunications is suspended pending adjustment of status. This is based on testimony from people affected.

THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS DOCUMENT. GCHR says it received a leaked Council of Ministers document (No. 110002864, dated 22 June 2026), addressed to the Minister of Defence. The document records initial approval of a CARIRS proposal on benefits for four groups: those who acquired nationality through Kuwaiti mothers, foreign wives of Kuwaitis, those naturalised for honourable service, and those registered in the 1965 census. The benefits depend on "seriousness in adjusting their nationality", documents from a former country within four months (extendable by the Minister under Art. 13(4)), and last one year. They are:
- continued employment on new contracts, without leadership posts;
- education and scholarships;
- retention of existing housing and property, but no new homes;
- existing commercial interests, without increasing shareholdings;
- banking and healthcare;
- exemption from the fitness condition for residence.

The benefits are withheld after a final conviction for an offence of honour, integrity or state security, for conduct destabilising security or morals, or on failure to adjust within a year.

GCHR also describes a separate concession for women naturalised through marriage under the former Article 8. It says they may hold a blue Kuwaiti passport and an identity card and be treated as Kuwaiti "for all practical reasons", without nationality. Pensions: contributors not yet entitled receive their contributions back without interest; there is no clear rule for retirees.

THE SCALE. The report gives about 70,000 as the number who have lost nationality, citing the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem ("over 70,000 individuals"), who visited Kuwait in September 2025. It adds this to "an existing stateless Bedoon population of over 90,000", and estimates 250,000–300,000 with dependants ("almost a quarter of the Kuwaiti population, mostly women and children").

NAMED INDIVIDUALS. GCHR names as having lost nationality Mansoor Al-Harbi, Lulwa Al-Hussainan, Mohammed Al-Matar, Abdullah Al-Saleh, Abdulaziz Al-Foudari, Fawaz Al-Kathiri and Tareq Al-Suwaidan, "as well as their families". It says the state publishes the full names of those affected in national newspapers.

LAW. GCHR also states that the revised Article 11 allows withdrawal from Kuwaitis resident abroad continuously for more than two years, and that a Kuwaiti by origin is someone who lived in Kuwait in 1920 and remained until December 1965. It concludes that the campaign did not respect four principles: no arbitrary deprivation, individual responsibility, avoidance of statelessness and the best interests of the child.

USE IN A REPORT: the two GCHR publications are an NGO's account, built on testimony from people affected and on a document it says was leaked. They are useful evidence of how the withdrawals are experienced and administered: newspaper lists, the one-year adjustment window, loss of identity documents and services. Attribute every figure and every account of the benefits regime to GCHR (and the 70,000 figure to the UN Special Rapporteur), and cite the statements of law to the Decree-Laws themselves.

The statements of law in these publications should be checked against the text of the decree-laws before they are relied on; the Dossier's nationality entry records the 2024–2026 amendments from the published text. Three points differ from that record or cannot be confirmed from it:
- GCHR dates the publication of Decree-Law No. 52 of 2026 to 10 May 2026. The Gazette issue recorded in the Dossier is No. 1786 (supplement) of 13 April 2026, the date Amnesty International also gives.
- GCHR describes Article 7 as excluding naturalised citizens "and their descendants" from political rights. The Dossier's record of Article 7, as amended by Decree-Law No. 79 of 2026, refers to the naturalised person. GCHR also describes Article 11 as allowing withdrawal after two years' continuous residence abroad; the Dossier's record does not cover Article 11, so this reading should be checked against the text.
- The first report describes its principles as "International Humanitarian Law". The principles it lists — the Universal Declaration's Article 15, the statelessness conventions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child — are international human rights and statelessness law, and a report should describe them as such.

The Council of Ministers document is described as leaked and has not been published; Kuwait Mirror has not seen it. The 250,000–300,000 estimate is GCHR's own and rests on unnamed "investigative reports" and "reliable local sources". Where the size of the affected population matters, the most authoritative figure available is the UN Special Rapporteur's "over 70,000", which is stated as a figure for those directly affected.

GCHR states that it has received "multiple requests to support and advocate for those affected" by withdrawals and revocations of nationality since 2024. It describes Decree-Law No. 52 of 2026 as the most recent major revision and dates its publication in Kuwait Al-Youm to 10 May 2026.

The analysis identifies seven changes:
- (1) Nationality remains transmitted through the father; "Kuwaitis by origin" are defined by residence requirements dating back to 1920.
- (2) A Kuwaiti woman married to a non-Kuwaiti still cannot transmit nationality on equal terms. GCHR says the earlier route, for divorced or widowed mothers whose children lived in Kuwait and applied at majority, has been closed, and reports "entire generations rendered stateless". Limited exceptions remain: the Minister of Interior may treat a minor child of a Kuwaiti mother as Kuwaiti until adulthood where the foreign father is dead, imprisoned or has irrevocably divorced the mother; separate provisions cover children of unknown or unestablished paternity.
- (3) A foreign wife of a Kuwaiti, or of a naturalised foreigner, does not acquire nationality; a naturalised man's minor children may choose their original nationality at majority.
- (4) Under Article 11 bis a naturalised person must renounce any other nationality within three months and prove it to the Ministry of Interior, or the grant may be void.
- (5) Kuwaitis by origin can now have their nationality revoked, and GCHR says human rights defenders have been affected ("Nationality became weaponised against political activists").
- (6) Article 7 bars naturalised citizens "and their descendants" from voting, standing or being appointed to any representative body.
- (7) Consequences extend to family members whose nationality derives from the person concerned.

On numbers, GCHR says there are no official figures. It cites "investigative reports" for more than 71,059 people affected (about 4.6% of the population), and says the total "may reach 250,000–300,000" (about one in five Kuwaitis) with dependants and descendants. Its human-rights assessment relies on CEDAW, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and CERD, whose recommendations on equal transmission it quotes. It notes that Kuwait is not party to the 1954 or 1961 statelessness conventions and that the courts treat nationality as sovereign. Its four conclusions are: unequal transmission rights; children of Kuwaiti mothers left without nationality; broad withdrawal powers creating risks of arbitrariness and statelessness; and limited judicial review. Its recommendations are safeguards against statelessness, equal rights, transparent procedures and independent review.