The Bedoon or Bidoon (), fully Bidoon jinsiya, are
stateless people in several
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
ern countries,
but particularly in
Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
, where there is a large population of stateless people who lack access to many of the country's basic services.
It is widely believed that the Bedoon issue in Kuwait is
sectarian
Sectarianism is a debated concept. Some scholars and journalists define it as pre-existing fixed communal categories in society, and use it to explain political, cultural, or religious conflicts between groups. Others conceive of sectarianism a ...
in nature.
Kuwait
History
Kuwait has the largest stateless population in the entire region.
Most stateless Bedoon of Kuwait belong to the northern tribes, especially the
Al-Muntafiq
Al-Muntafiq () was a large Arab tribal confederation of southern Iraq and Kuwait. The confederation's tribes predominantly settled in Iraq's southern provinces and northern Kuwait. The confederation is not homogeneous in terms of sect/religion. ...
tribal confederation.
The linguist Bruce Ingham studied the northern tribes in Kuwait in the mid 20th century.
A minority of stateless Bedoon in Kuwait belong to the
'Ajam community.
Under the terms of Article 4 of the
Kuwait Nationality Law, the Bedoon in Kuwait are eligible for Kuwaiti nationality by naturalization.
In practice, it is widely believed that
Sunnis of Persian descent or tribal
Saudis
Saudis (; local dialects: , suʿūdiyyīn) or Saudi Arabians are the citizen population of the Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who speak the Arabic language, a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language, and share a common Ancesto ...
can readily achieve Kuwaiti naturalization whilst Bedoon of
Iraqi tribal ancestry cannot.
As a result, many Bedoon in Kuwait feel pressured to hide their background or sectarian affiliation.
From 1965 until 1985, the Bedoon were treated as Kuwaiti citizens and guaranteed citizenship: they had free access to education, healthcare and all the other privileges of citizenship.
The stateless Bedoon constituted 80–90% of the
Kuwaiti Army
The Kuwait Land Forces (), established in 1949, are land forces and the oldest armed branch among the Armed Forces of Kuwait. Its cavalry and infantry predecessors operated in desert and metropolitan areas in 1919, 1920 and 1928 to 1938, tracin ...
in the 1970s and 1980s until the
Gulf War
, combatant2 =
, commander1 =
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, strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems
, page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
.
In 1985, at the height of the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...
and following an
assassination attempt
This is a list of survivors of assassination attempts. For successful assassination attempts, see List of assassinations.
Non-heads of state
Heads of state and government
Gallery
File:Arrestation Gregori.jpg, Arrest of Louis Gregori, th ...
on Emir
Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah
Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (29 June 1926 – 15 January 2006) (), also known as Jaber III, was Emir of Kuwait from 31 December 1977 until his death in 2006.
The third monarch to rule Kuwait since its independence from Britain, Ja ...
,
the Bedoon were reclassified as "illegal residents" and denied Kuwaiti citizenship and its accompanying privileges.
The Iran-Iraq War threatened Kuwait's internal stability and the authorities feared the sectarian background of the stateless Bedoon.
The Bedoon issue in Kuwait "overlaps with historic sensitivities about
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
i influence inside Kuwait", with many of those denied Kuwaiti nationality being believed to have originated from Iraq.
Since 1986, the Kuwaiti government has refused to grant any form of documentation to the Bedoon, including
birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the Childbirth, birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation ...
s,
death certificate
A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, a ...
s,
identity card
An identity document (abbreviated as ID) is a documentation, document proving a person's Identity (social science), identity.
If the identity document is a plastic card it is called an ''identity card'' (abbreviated as ''IC'' or ''ID card''). ...
s,
marriage certificate
A marriage certificate (colloquially marriage lines) is an official statement that two people are married. In most jurisdictions, a marriage certificate is issued by a government official only after the civil registration of the marriage.
In s ...
s, and
driving licence
A driver's license, driving licence, or driving permit is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, car ...
s. The Bedoon also face many restrictions in employment, travel and education. They are not permitted to educate their children in state schools and universities.
In 1995,
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
reported that there were 300,000 stateless Bedoon, and this number was formally repeated by the British government.
According to several
human rights organization
A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...
s, the State of Kuwait is committing
ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...
and
genocide
Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
against the stateless Bedoon.
The Kuwaiti Bedoon crisis resembles the
Rohingya
The Rohingya people (; ; ) are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who predominantly follow Islam from Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Ro ...
crisis in
Myanmar
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
.
In 1995, it was reported in the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
that the Al Sabah ruling family had deported 150,000 stateless Bedoon to refugee camps in the Kuwaiti desert near the
Iraqi border with minimal water, insufficient food and no basic shelter, and that they were threatened with death if they returned to their homes in
Kuwait City
Kuwait City (; ) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate, containing Kuwait's Seif Pal ...
.
As a result, many of the stateless Bedoon fled to Iraq, where they remain stateless people even today.
The Kuwaiti government also stands accused of attempting to falsify their nationalities in official state documents. There have been reports of
forced disappearances
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...
and
mass graves
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...
of Bedoon.
The 1995
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
report stated:
"The totality of the treatment of the Bedoons amounts to a policy of denationalization of native residents, relegating them to an apartheid-like existence in their own country. The Kuwaiti government policy of harassment and intimidation of the Bedoons and of denying them the right to lawful residence, employment, travel and movement, contravene basic principles of human rights. Denial of citizenship to the Bedoons clearly violates international law. Denying Bedoons the right to petition the courts to challenge governmental decisions regarding their claims to citizenship and lawful residence in the country violates the universal right to due process of law and equality before the law."
British MP
George Galloway
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...
stated:
"Of all the human rights atrocities committed by the ruling family in Kuwait, the worst and the greatest is that against the people known as the Bedoons. There are more than 300,000 Bedoons—one third of Kuwait's native population. Half of them—150,000—have been driven into refugee camps in the desert across the Iraqi border by the regime and left there to bake and to rot. The other 150,000 are treated not as second-class or even fifth-class citizens, but not as any sort of citizen. They are bereft of all rights. It is a scandal that almost no one in the world cares a thing about the plight of 300,000 people, 150,000 of them cast out of the land in which they have lived hen
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen, HEN or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in R ...
many have lived in the Kuwaiti area for many centuries."
By 2004, the Bedoon accounted for only 40% of the
Kuwaiti Army
The Kuwait Land Forces (), established in 1949, are land forces and the oldest armed branch among the Armed Forces of Kuwait. Its cavalry and infantry predecessors operated in desert and metropolitan areas in 1919, 1920 and 1928 to 1938, tracin ...
, a major reduction from their presence in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 2013, the UK government estimated that there were 110,729 "documented" Bedoon in Kuwait, without giving a total estimate, but noting that all stateless individuals in Kuwait remain at risk of persecution and human rights breaches.
The Bedoon are generally categorized into three groups: stateless tribespeople, stateless police/military and the stateless children of Kuwaiti women who married Bedoon men.
According to the Kuwaiti government, there are only 93,000 "documented" Bedoon in Kuwait.
In 2018, the Kuwaiti government claimed that it would naturalize up to 4,000 stateless Bedoon per year but this is considered unlikely.
In 2019, the Iranian embassy in Kuwait announced that it offers Iranian citizenship to stateless Bedoon of Iranian ancestry.
In recent years, the rate of
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
among Bedoon has risen sharply.
Demographic engineering
The State of Kuwait formally has an official
Nationality Law
Nationality law is the law of a sovereign state, and of each of its jurisdictions, that defines the legal manner in which a national identity is acquired and how it may be lost. In international law, the legal means to acquire nationality and for ...
that grants non-nationals a legal pathway to obtaining citizenship.
However, as access to citizenship in Kuwait is autocratically controlled by the
Al Sabah ruling family it is not subject to any external regulatory supervision.
The implementation of the Nationality Law is arbitrary and lacks transparency.
The lack of transparency prevents non-nationals from receiving a fair opportunity to obtain citizenship.
Consequently, the Al Sabah ruling family have been able to manipulate naturalization for politically motivated reasons.
In the three decades after
independence in 1961, the Al Sabah ruling family naturalized hundreds of thousands of foreign Bedouin immigrants predominantly from Saudi Arabia.
By 1980, as many as 200,000 immigrants were naturalized in Kuwait.
Throughout the 1980s, the Al Sabah's politically motivated naturalization policy continued.
The naturalizations were not regulated nor sanctioned by
Kuwaiti law.
The exact number of naturalizations is unknown but it is estimated that up to 400,000 immigrants were unlawfully naturalized in Kuwait.
The foreign Bedouin immigrants were mainly naturalized to alter the demographic makeup of the citizen population in a way that made the power of the Al Sabah ruling family more secure.
As a result of the politically motivated naturalizations, the number of naturalized citizens exceeds the number of Bedoon in Kuwait.
The Al Sabah ruling family actively encouraged foreign Bedouin immigrants to migrate to Kuwait.
The Al Sabah ruling family favored naturalizing Bedouin immigrants because they were considered loyal to the ruling family, unlike the politically active Palestinian, Lebanese, and Syrian expats in Kuwait.
The naturalized citizens were predominantly Sunni Saudi immigrants from southern tribes.
Accordingly, none of the stateless Bedoon in Kuwait belong to the Ajman tribe.
The Kuwaiti judicial system's lack of authority to rule on citizenship further complicates the Bedoon crisis, leaving Bedoon no access to the judiciary to present evidence and plead their case for citizenship.
Although non-nationals constitute 70% of Kuwait's total population the Al Sabah ruling family persistently denies citizenship to most non-nationals, including those who fully satisfy the requirements for naturalization as stipulated in the state's official Nationality Law. There is no official national census disclosing sectarian affiliation in Kuwait. However, it is estimated that 60-80% of Kuwait's Bedoon are
Shia Muslims
Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...
as a result, it is widely believed that the Bedoon issue in Kuwait is
sectarian
Sectarianism is a debated concept. Some scholars and journalists define it as pre-existing fixed communal categories in society, and use it to explain political, cultural, or religious conflicts between groups. Others conceive of sectarianism a ...
in nature.
The Kuwaiti authorities permit the forgery of hundreds of thousands of politically motivated naturalizations
whilst simultaneously denying citizenship to the Bedoon.
The politically motivated naturalizations were noted by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, political activists, scholars, researchers and even members of the Al Sabah family.
It is widely considered a form of deliberate
demographic engineering
Demographic engineering is deliberate effort to shift the ethnic balance of an area, especially when undertaken to create ethnically homogeneous populations. Demographic engineering ranges from falsification of census results, redrawing borders, d ...
.
It has been likened to
Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
's politically motivated naturalization policy.
Within the GCC countries, politically motivated naturalization policies are referred to as "political naturalization" (التجنيس السياسي).
Asylum seekers in Europe
A large number of stateless Bedoon regularly immigrate to Europe as asylum seekers. The United Kingdom is the most popular destination for Bedoon asylum seekers. According to the
Home Office
The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...
, Kuwait is the eighth largest source of asylum seekers
crossing the English Channel on small boats in 2021.
Iraq
Immediately after the
1991 Gulf War
, combatant2 =
, commander1 =
, commander2 =
, strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems
, page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
many stateless Bedoon from Kuwait migrated to Iraq, most with no recognized nationality or official papers.
There are currently tens of thousands of Kuwaiti stateless Bedoon living in Iraq.
The process of obtaining citizenship is much simpler in Iraq than in Kuwait owing to the presence of judicial court systems of reviewing citizenship.
Since August 2017, the
UNCHR
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the United Nations System, overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a ...
has been coordinating with Iraqi NGOs to help stateless Bedoon receive Iraqi citizenship.
United Arab Emirates
According to Federal Law No 17 of the United Arab Emirates Citizenship and Passport Law of 1972, any Arab who resided in the
Trucial States
The Trucial States, also known as the Trucial Coast, the Trucial Sheikhdoms, or Trucial Oman, was a group of tribal confederations to the south of the Persian Gulf (southeastern Arabia) whose leaders had signed protective treaties, or truce ...
before 1925 is eligible to obtain
UAE citizenship.
Many stateless people who live in the UAE have failed to obtain
Emirati passport
The Emirati passport () is a travel document issued by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to individuals holding any form of Emirati nationality. It grants the bearer international passage in accordance with visa requirements and ...
s, either because they have failed to demonstrate that they lived in the region before 1925, their roots cannot be traced back to the UAE region or because they arrived in the region after 1925. Stateless people are generally considered descendants of immigrants of Badia Arabs from
Balush or
Iranian
Iranian () may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Iran
** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran
** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia
** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...
Baloch ancestry. The UAE also deported some Bedoon people after the
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...
.
All stateless people in the UAE unable to obtain any passport are offered the
Comorian passport
The Comorian passport is issued to citizens of the Union of the Comoros for international travel. As of 1 January 2017, Comorian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 48 countries and territories, ranking the Comorian passport 88th ...
, free of charge, through a government initiative for a
citizenship by investment deal worth millions of dollars with the government of
Comoros
The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni, ...
and enjoy certain citizenship privileges such as subsidized education and access to government jobs in the UAE.
Saudi Arabia
Bedoon in Saudi Arabia are not considered Saudi citizens and therefore have no benefits. Saudi Arabia has revoked citizenship of certain Saudis in the past too, which means these people become Bedoon. However some of them have the right to education, free healthcare and access to jobs that are not exclusive to citizens. Most of these Bedoon are displaced from Yemen or Jordan and Syria.
Islamic Republic of Iran
There are also stateless people in different provinces in the Islamic Republic of Iran, known as Bedoon-e Shenasnameh, which means without having a birth certificate or ID. The majority of the stateless people in Iran are
Baloch people living in the province of
Sistan and Baluchestan. A small minority of stateless people live in
Khuzestan
Khuzestan province () is one of the 31 Provinces of Iran. Located in the southwest of the country, the province borders Iraq and the Persian Gulf, covering an area of . Its capital is the city of Ahvaz. Since 2014, it has been part of Iran's ...
and
Kurdistan
Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...
provinces.
Qatar
Qatar has a number of stateless people living within its borders. Qatar has stripped the citizenship of and imprisoned many of the members of the Al-Ghufran tribe.
Bahrain
Like neighboring Qatar, Bahrain also has a number of stateless people, some of whom were dissidents.
See also
*
Statelessness
In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are s ...
Notes
{{Demographics of the United Arab Emirates
Stateless people
Society of Kuwait
Anti-Shi'ism
Human rights abuses in Kuwait
Sectarianism
Genocides in Asia
Ethnic cleansing
Mass graves
Human rights in Kuwait
Ethnic groups in the Middle East
Social history of Kuwait
Statelessness