UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reviews Kuwait — mass expulsion of migrants and Kuwaiti nationality revocations (11 August 2026)

Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur Ibrahima Guisse cited reports of the 'forced deportation of around 40,000 migrants from Kuwait in 2025' and asked Kuwait's delegation to comment on 'allegations of arbitrary mass expulsions of migrants,' including whether individual protection-needs assessments were carried out before expulsion. Kuwait's delegation responded that administrative deportation was 'based on objective legal measures and was only applied in grave cases after careful consideration,' with 'no targeting of minorities,' and noted 2025 legislation limiting arrest to 30 days (with possible extension) before a deportation decision.

USE IN A REPORT/BEFORE A TRIBUNAL: this is Kuwait's own delegation, on the record before a UN treaty body, characterising its administrative deportation regime — a primary source for how the government itself frames a practice an individual case may need to challenge as arbitrary.

First primary UN record in this Dossier of Kuwait's own government characterising its deportation practice, on the record.

Committee Experts Ibrahima Guisse and Abderrahman Tlemcani questioned Kuwait on nationality revocation under 'Decree 107 of 2024,' which the Committee said 'broadly expanded the executive's powers related to nationality' — asking what 'procedural guarantees and legal remedies' exist and whether appeal is barred for withdrawal decisions the way it reportedly is for naturalisation refusals. Reports cited before the Committee put the number of people stripped of Kuwaiti nationality at approximately 70,000 since 2024, with a further approximately 40,000 people — mostly women — denaturalised in 2023 alone. The Committee separately noted the Bidoon population had declined from approximately 220,000 in 1991 to approximately 85,000 in 2018. Kuwait's delegation did not accept a statelessness designation for the Bidoon, referring to them instead as 'residents in an irregular situation'; the Committee also raised their access to identity documentation, education (approximately 35,000 currently enrolled), healthcare, and sports.

USE IN A REPORT/BEFORE A TRIBUNAL: this is the most current (August 2026) primary UN record of both the scale of nationality revocation under Decree 107/2024 and Kuwait's own official position rejecting the 'stateless' designation for Bidoon — directly rebuts any suggestion the government has since changed its position on this point. Figures are as reported to the Committee, not independently verified by Kuwait Mirror; cite as 'reported to CERD,' not as an established fact, unless independently corroborated.

The most current, and most severe, statistic in this entire Dossier — treat as 'reported to CERD' pending independent corroboration, not as verified fact.