Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International — "Gulf States: Repression of Migrant Workers During Conflict" (11 June 2026), including police phone checks in Kuwait

METHOD. HRW interviewed 38 Indian, Nepali and Bangladeshi migrant workers in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in March 2026; in April the two organisations spoke with 15 workers and community leaders in Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.

FINDINGS. GCC governments, embassies and employers issued repeated warnings against "spreading rumors" and sharing conflict-related content; Amnesty had documented more than 1,000 arrests across the GCC in May. Workers and community leaders in Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar described random police checks of phones. "One Kuwait-based restaurant worker said that on his commute in April 2026, police randomly checked phones of workers, including his own", and that people had been fined up to KD 1,000 (about US$3,200) "and even jailed" if videos or photos of attacks were found; his salary was KD 150 a month. Workers report self-censorship and reluctance to speak to researchers even anonymously. Trade unions are banned, exclude migrants, or are tightly restricted.

STANDARD. Restrictions on expression must be provided by law and strictly necessary and proportionate (Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 34).

USE IN A REPORT: regional evidence of wartime surveillance of migrant workers; the Kuwait material is one worker's account and should be presented as such.

The Kuwait-specific evidence in this release is a single, anonymous worker's account, including the figure of fines of up to KD 1,000; it has not been matched to any published regulation or court ruling. It should be read with Amnesty International's June 2026 release on more than 1,000 war-related arrests across the Gulf (on the Dossier) and the State Security Court prosecutions described in ADHRB's August 2026 report.