BA and others (Bedoon, Statelessness, Risk of persecution) Kuwait CG [2004] UKIAT 00256 — the foundational Country Guidance case

Heard 11 June 2003, promulgated 15 September 2004, before three Vice-Presidents of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal (Dr H H Storey, Mr A R Mackey, Mrs J A J C Gleeson) — a combined hearing of two joined appeals, expressly intended as a country guideline decision.

HELD: both appeals allowed. The Tribunal's five-point summary of conclusions: (i) the appellants are stateless persons, and given the events of 2000 it would be rare for a Bedoon who did not obtain nationality before leaving Kuwait to be considered a Kuwaiti national; (ii) it is not reasonably likely the Kuwaiti authorities will accept either appellant for re-admission — in practice they are not currently or foreseeably returnable; (iii) given the widespread and systematic nature of the discriminatory measures they experience, the majority of (but not all) Bedoon in Kuwait face a real risk of persecution; (iv) the appellants' individual circumstances neither significantly add to nor detract from the situation they would face in common with other undocumented Bedoon; (v) because the Bedoon have a tribal identity and are not simply a collection of stateless persons, they face persecution by reason of the Refugee Convention ground of race, and can also be seen to form a particular social group (applying the Court of Appeal's criteria in Montoya [2002] INLR 399).

USE IN A REPORT: this is the origin point for the 'race' and 'particular social group' findings that every later Kuwait Bidoon authority (HE 2006, NM 2013, and the current CPIN) builds on and cites directly — cite it as the founding authority, not only its successors, when the PSG/race analysis itself is in issue rather than merely the documented/undocumented distinction NM later refined.

The foundation the entire body of later Kuwait Bidoon jurisprudence rests on — HE (2006) and NM (2013), both already on this record, are refinements of BA, not replacements for its core race/PSG finding.