Introduction
In Kuwait, more than 110,000 people are estimated to be registered as bidoon, which means “without” in Arabic (Weiner, 2017). As the Bidoon are not recognised as nationals of Kuwait, they are stateless, or “without” citizenship (Open Society Justice Initiative, 2011). Although many Bidoon families have lived in Kuwait for generations, their exclusion from early citizenship registration processes in the 1950s and early 1960s set the foundation for a crisis that has since been shaped by state policy (ECDHR, n.d.).
In the decades since, statelessness among the Bidoon has been reinforced through Kuwait’s legal and administrative frameworks. The 1959 Nationality Law, coupled with restrictive evidentiary requirements, created a system in which pathways to citizenship are systematically obstructed (ECDHR, n.d.). This exclusion is the result of successive governments that have framed the Bidoon as “illegal residents” despite documentation proving that many were simply omitted from early registration processes or denied the opportunity to apply (Open Society Justice Initiative, 2011).
Kuwait’s Bidoon crisis remains politically sensitive and relevant to this day. The sentencing of Bidoon activist Mohammad al-Barghash to three years in prison on charges of “spreading false news” for speaking publicly about the community’s treatment demonstrates Kuwait’s attempts to silence calls for reform (Amnesty International, 2024). Moreover, the criminalisation of Bidoon advocacy is an example of the deliberate policy choices made to suppress their voices and further marginalise the Bidoon community. As such, this article examines how Kuwait’s policies have produced and perpetuated Bidoon statelessness and investigates the humanitarian consequences of being denied citizenship, including restrictions on access to education, healthcare, employment, and political participation.
The Legal Backdrop of Bidoon Statelessness
Kuwait’s 1959 Nationality Law is one of the primary mechanisms through which Bidoon statelessness has been constructed and maintained. This law, enacted two years before Kuwait’s independence in 1961, outlines multiple tiers of citizenship, each of which carries varying levels of legal protection and social privilege (Open Society Justice Initiative, 2011). For instance, Article 1 of the Nationality Law grants “original” Kuwaiti status to those whose ancestors settled in Kuwait prior to 1920 and who maintained continuous residence until the law’s enactment in 1959 (Refworld, 1959). While this definition gave automatic citizenship to certain families, nomadic groups and migrant labourers whose documentation was incomplete or lost were unable to prove ancestral residence or continuous habitation of Kuwait.
Beyond Article 1, the 1959 Nationality Law established a second tier of citizenship based on patrilineage. Then, Article 3 grants nationality to any person born in Kuwait whose parents are unknown (Refworld, 1959). Articles 4 and 5 permit naturalisation under narrow conditions, including matrilineage, proof of long-term residence, good conduct, and Arabic proficiency (Refworld, 1959). Although these naturalisation options are outlined in Kuwaiti law, naturalisation decisions are entirely taken by the Minister of Interior, often influenced by political considerations rather than the existing legal criteria, allowing the state to selectively naturalise individuals in ways that reinforce the exclusion of the Bidoon (Human Rights Watch, 2000).
In the 1980s, these structural features of the 1959 Nationality Law became the basis of a broader strategy that reclassified the Bidoon not only as a population wrongfully excluded from nationality, but also as “illegal residents” (Fripp, 2025). This shift marked a decisive turning point as this new classification criminalised the Bidoon’s presence in the country in addition to their already narrow pathways to citizenship. The reclassification of the Bidoon’s status was accompanied by the withdrawal of rights they previously had, including access to public education, healthcare, and lawful employment (ECDHR, 2022).
Over the past two decades, an agency called the Central System for the Remedy of the Situation of Illegal Residents has perpetuated the marginalisation of the Bidoon population through the frequent denial of vital identity documents (Amnesty International, 2020). The Central System employs a strategy of coerced documentation to legally erase the Bidoon’s claim to Kuwaiti identity by refusing to renew identity documents through forced confessions denying their citizenship claims (Amnesty International, 2020). By forcing individuals to “confess” to being from a different country in exchange for temporary access to basic services, the state effectively manufactures evidence to justify their exclusion. This malpractice puts Bidoon people in a position where they either have to sign away their claim to Kuwaiti citizenship to survive or maintain their claim and be deprived of jobs, education, and healthcare.
This legal and administrative backdrop reflects a deliberate and sustained policy approach to alienating the Bidoon population of Kuwait. The combination of restrictive nationality laws, political naturalisation processes, and the institutionalisation of the Bidoon as “illegal residents” has produced a system which maintains a large population deprived of their rights outside the bounds of citizenship. Furthermore, the consequences of this statelessness are lived as a daily experience of exclusion, insecurity, and discrimination. Understanding the humanitarian impacts of these policies is therefore necessary to grasp the full scope of the situation and the impact statelessness has on the Bidoon people.
Humanitarian Impact on the Bidoon Population
The legal mechanisms of the exclusion described above have precipitated a severe humanitarian crisis, effectively rendering the Bidoon ‘civilly dead’ within their own country. Because they lack the civil identification afforded to nationals, the Bidoon face systemic barriers across almost every aspect of public life, including education, healthcare, and employment.
When it comes to education, the impact on Bidoon children is particularly discriminatory. Unlike Kuwaiti citizens who enjoy a free public education, Bidoon children are barred from the public education system (Amnesty International, 2023a). Thus, Bidoon parents are forced to rely on the private market and their own income to send their children to school, even though many can not afford to do so. This leaves some Bidoon children working on the streets to help support their families, while those who can afford private education report that the education and infrastructure of the schools are significantly worse than Kuwaiti public schools (Amnesty International, 2023a).
In terms of higher education, Bidoon students are admitted to Kuwait University under a small admissions quota and only those with a valid government identification card are eligible (Amnesty International, 2023b). Comparatively, recognised Kuwaiti nationals are able to study at Kuwait University for free and when studying at a university abroad, the government pays for them to do so. Ultimately, the lack of equitable access to education perpetuates cycles of poverty for generations of Bidoons, reinforcing their marginalisation and exclusion from a young age.
The Bidoon’s access to healthcare reveals another dimension of the systemic exclusion embedded in Kuwait’s policies. Registered Bidoons can purchase low-cost insurance plans from the government, but these plans often exclude many types of tests, medications, and operations (Minority Rights Group, 2023). In addition to the cost of health insurance, insurance holders pay additional costs for clinic and hospital visits (Human Rights Watch, 2011). These additional fees lead insured Bidoon to forego prescribed medical treatment or prevent them from seeking any treatment at all (Human Rights Watch, 2011).
Moreover, since many Bidoons cannot obtain security cards, or temporary resident cards, they are often denied any form of treatment and are excluded from medical care altogether (Human Rights Watch, 2011). Even when included in low-cost insurance schemes, the exclusion of essential treatments and the burden of out-of-pocket expenses mean that effective healthcare is out of reach for many Bidoons. For those without security cards, complete denial of treatment reinforces a system in which life-saving medical care becomes contingent on legal status rather than need.
Access to employment for the Bidoon follows the same pattern of systematic exclusion found in education and healthcare. The Bidoon remain ineligible for most jobs in Kuwait because they lack the civil identification cards required for employers to register them as legal employees (Human Rights Watch, 2011). This restriction also prevents them from owning property or obtaining business licenses, effectively blocking forms of self-employment and reinforcing their dependence on precarious labour. Although some Bidoon with temporary security cards may apply for a limited set of positions designated for them, or seek work with private employers willing to overlook their legal status, these opportunities are narrow and extremely unstable (Human Rights Watch, 2011).
In terms of employment, their level of education is rendered insignificant as Bidoon workers face discrimination due to their illegal status (Minority Rights Group, 2023). Even if government ministries hire some Bidoon employees, their contracts offer little job security and none of the employment benefits provided by law to citizens and expats (Minority Rights Group, 2023). Furthermore, in both public and private sectors, the salaries offered to Bidoon workers are lower than those provided to citizens and expats doing the same job. This wage discrimination, combined with the scarcity of jobs available to the Bidoons in the first place, leaves Bidoon workers structurally disadvantaged in the labour market.
Conclusion
The treatment of the Bidoon in Kuwait illustrates how statelessness that is embedded within legal, administrative, and political structures produces a persisting humanitarian crisis. From the flawed nationality registration process in the midst of Kuwaiti independence to the establishment of the present-day Central System for the Remedy of the Situation of Illegal Residents, successive governments have maintained policies that systematically deny the Bidoons recognition, rights, and dignity. Their exclusion from citizenship of Kuwait through laws, administrative obstacles, and coercive documentation practices effectively renders them illegal migrants within their homeland.
Moreover, the criminalisation of Bidoon activism demonstrates the ongoing repression of efforts to advocate for reform. This suppression, along with the Bidoon’s complete exclusion from political participation, substantiates their forced invisibility not only in Kuwait but on a global-scale. Furthermore, the state’s construction and maintenance of this system demonstrates how citizenship is weaponised as a tool of control, where a whole population does not receive the protection of the law despite being from and living within the territory. Without real structural change, the Bidoon will continue to live in a condition of engineered statelessness and be forced to contend with the resulting humanitarian impacts.
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