14 February 2019 Special Procedures – Urgent Appeal - Special Rapporteur on Genocide OHCHR-UNOG 8-14 Avenue de la Paix 1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Urgent-action@ohchr.org To Whom It May Concern, URGENT APPEAL Special Procedures, Human Rights - Special Rapporteur on Genocide [1.1] Urgent request for immediate cessation of the erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) of the Bedoon of Kuwait Additional request for investigation of the entire program of ethnic cleansing/genocide of the Bedoon, which has evolved from time of the Nationality Law (1959) to the present day Subject of the complaint: Kuwaiti Bedoon (a minority of the Bedouin tribes of Kuwait) Reason for the complaint: Recent confirmation by government authorities that of 90% of the population’s identity has been erased; 100% program completion will be achieved by early 2019. Multiple new reports from victims they genuinely believe genocide is occurring in relation to the erasure. Key perpetrator: Government of Kuwait At present, a program is being carried out to administrative erase the whole Bedoon population group, managed by the Ministry of Interior’s Central Apparatus. We request for investigation into other aspects of the ethnic cleansing carried out with genocidal intent, for which we provide extensive policy-based and fieldwork evidence collected over the preceding 6 years. However, the situation in Kuwait is deteriorating rapidly for the Bedoon. The Bedoon of Kuwait are a Bedouin ethnic minority closely related at the level of family and tribe, to the Bedouin citizen population of Kuwait. A member of the Bedoon community speaks out against jus cogens taking place in the State of Kuwait, December 21, 2018, ‘Unfortunately, criminals and traffickers are not the only ones who can render persons stateless by denying citizens of the means to prove their citizenship. Sometimes governments commit what is known as administrative ethnic cleansing, or erasure.’ David Weissbrodt, 2006, ‘The Human Rights of Stateless Persons’ It’s like I’m seeing them. The Central Organ extermination is not limited to murder. Sometimes you are killed and killed from the inside when you live a stranger in your homeland, when you oppress and take away our rights, when you see your life and your years of age go, and you did not benefit yourself, and your people [experience of] these forms of extermination, and are annihilated in the country. [A picture of holocaust victims piled upon each other accompanied the comment]. Complainants: Abdulhakim al Fadhli (victim) and Dr Susan Kennedy Nour al Deen (expert) We consent to the use of reference to the general population in communications. Individual names of victims should not be disclosed [1.2] Introduction We wish to report the current situation of the Bedoon of Kuwait and to request urgent investigation into their ethnic cleansing via administrative erasure. We emphasise that while this letter contains some topics that the Human Rights Council may be familiar with in a general sense, we present new information herein that has not been included in the Universal Periodic Review process, providing a much broader contextual and theoretical backdrop against which human rights violations have occurred, as well as far more detailed information that has been presented to date. The current crisis arising from this complaint has been provoked by a recent announcement from Salah al Fadalah, the head of Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior Central Apparatus, confirming that administrative erasure of the Bedoon is now 90% complete, with the remaining 10% to be erased in early 2019. The state had previously consistently claimed it would grant citizenship to at least a third of the group who had valid, outstanding citizenship claims going back to 1965 (although many more likely have similarly valid claims). This is a new stage for Kuwait. Domestic conditions have become sickening as to the expression of bravado accompanying government statements, and the ineptness of the states’ presentations to the Human Rights Council justifying its treatment of the Bedoon, such as attempting to redefine the meaning of statelessness in international law to accommodate its actions in killing off the Bedoon at a rate that is regarded as profoundly dangerous by genocide experts (i.e. the population decline rate alone indicates genocidal intent). [1.3] As a result of the announcement, there is now widespread despair and anger across the group. There is an awareness that the organisations of the United Nations have not been as effective as they should have been in stopping the program, as Kuwait’s international partners are aware the program is taking place, government is now openly flaunting its associations with the United Nations, but ignoring the recommendations put to it in the most recent Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council. The Head of the Central Apparatus, Salah al Fadalah, who is responsible for implementing the erasure, just a few days ago suggested to the national media that due to the success of his ‘status adjustment’ program (erasure of identity), that he wishes to spread his methods throughout the international community, in view of Kuwait’s high status in the world. He was was posing for a photograph opportunity with the UNHCR Kuwait office chief Ms Hanan Hamdan, at the time. Indeed, the program implementation has accelerated since the Arab Spring, concurrent with Kuwait’s interest in the UNHCR statelessness unit, Kuwait’s donations to Syria, and attempt to play the role of peace broker in the Gulf. We are both concerned that the community, particularly young people, are becoming increasingly aware that the group is threatened while the international community does nothing in practical terms, to assist. As a result, the Bedoon now have a very strong awareness that they are victims of ethnic cleansing, and likely genocide. [1.4] The community leader for this complaint is Abdulhakim al Fadhli. Dr Susan Kennedy Nour al Deen is also a complainant and the point of contact for this complaint. We have known each other for over four years, as Abdulhakim al Fadhli was a contributor to Dr Kennedy’s research. Much of the information herein has already been examined in Dr Kennedy’s doctoral thesis, by Professor Elsbieta Halas of the University of Warsaw, Poland (an expert in the theory of cultural systems, including systemic cultural destruction), and Dr Damien Short of the University of London (an expert in sociology and law, including cultural destruction and genocide). Therefore rather than providing references for every claim asserted in this main letter, we have included a summary of points for investigation, and attach a range of related data in Appendices and other documents to support our claims, with references in the thematic sections. We have updated the material in view of the recent crisis by including personal testimony from the Bedoon, and will continue to collect data related to the program of erasure by the Central Apparatus and the more general realization that genocide – both physical and cultural destruction – is now a reality for the Bedoon. We are in the process of compiling some additional documents and these will be sent within 24-72 hours. [1.5] The subject of this complaint The Bedoon of Kuwait are a portion of the main Bedouin tribes of Kuwait, who remain stateless. The Bedoon collective experiences an ongoing ethnic cleansing, which has led them to begin develop new characteristics attributable to a new ethnic sub-group of the northern tribes. They also remain integrated to various extents within their existing tribes. Around one third of the population are part of the northern tribes; the remaining two thirds are likely from the same tribal groups. According to the government of Kuwait they number around 111,000 at present, which is less than 50% than their population numbers as at 1985. However, government population data released by the Ministry of Interior at present appears to date back to 1992, when they group were expelled from the National Census. This data is reported by government in the context of a wholepopulation administrative erasure, and is therefore likely to be quite unreliable. The population is also unmonitored by UNDP/UNESCO population monitoring divisions, so that the number of men, women, boys and girls is not known. [1.6] Reason for this complaint Government confirmation of 90% identity erasure, 100% identity erasure by early 2019. Both ethnic identity and national identity are removed, fraudulent nationality is applied to lose the group in a general migrant population pool. In some cases, names of tribes and names of fathers (i.e. middle names and surnames) are also removed (this is the official policy). Deportation of the entire population group has been on the agenda in recent years. Now, with administrative erasure almost complete, the group are now extremely vulnerable to state-sanctioned enforced disappearance and killings, which in the 1990s led to an approx. 30-50 % population drop that was never investigated by any official organisation. World order is impacted by government’s ongoing promotion of an industry in fraudulent passports and other identity documents (Dr Kennedy can obtain a fake passport in Kuwait City for approx. $100-10,000, depending on the country offered) which is directly related to government’s program to erase the Bedoon. [1.7] This complaint arises from the recent public announcement by Salah al Fadalah of the Central Apparatus, confirming that some 90% of the Bedoon population have now been allocated to a range of different Arab nationality labels, while some 10% of the Bedoon population will be allocated in the new year of 2019. The announcement has caused a crisis via confirming the erasure, also called ‘status adjustment’ and ‘regularising status,’ is almost complete, and also because it confirms that none of those tens of thousands of individuals and families previously assured they will be granted Kuwaiti citizenship, will receive it. After a seven-year period where the Apparatus was tasked with ‘studying’ the Bedoon’s situation to assess which individuals in the population were qualified to receive Kuwaiti nationality and which were not, the Apparatus appears to have never genuinely assessed the Bedoon for citizenship. Moreover, the Bedoon are now facing the situation where the government of Kuwait appears to have never genuinely assessed the Bedoon for their eligibility to receive Kuwaiti citizenship since the state first gained independence from Britain, in 1961. [1.8] The announcement has stemmed from government’s attempt to obtain closure on the Bedoon issue by completing the erasure. The announcement indicates that the state has refuted recommendations suggested by the international community articulated in previous sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Process, urging the state to respect the Bedoon’s right to nationality and human rights in international law. As a result, the community is at present, reeling over their experience of restrictions on freedom of expression and cultural annihilation. The administrative erasure of the Bedoon is a badly kept secret, because the Central Apparatus has so openly used the program to abuse and threaten the group. Around a third of the population has outstanding citizenship claims from 1965, and although it previously appeared that one set of claims from 1980 were never processed, it increasingly appears that no further claims were ever processed, even though earlier in the year citizenship was passed for a group of 4,000, over 107,000 (approx.) are still waiting for the proper processing of their claims. For these reasons, we request the United Nations Human Rights Council to undertake an urgent action. In accordance with recommendations for the tabling of individual complaints, in the following text we provide a context and chronology of events leading to the present crisis. [1.9] 1950s-1960s The government of Kuwait appears to have initially intended to provide all of the Kuwaiti Bedouin with citizenship (i.e. including the Bedoon), in alignment with other Arab states in the region. UNESCO, the Arab League, the ILO, the World Bank and sovereign states across the Middle East were all involved in the development of national settlement programs specifically for the Bedouin tribes. Citizenship and socioeconomic protections including land distributions were sought for them because they were indigenous tribes people and vulnerable to exploitation, according to the mandate of UNESCO at this time. This mandate reflected the early stages of development of international law for indigenous people embodied in the first ILO Convention for indigenous peoples. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other nearby states cooperated with this process, and Kuwait, a Protectorate of Great Britain at the time, developed similar policies. Thousands of members of a range of tribes were recruited into the Bedouin Arab League Force deployed in Kuwait, replacing Britain’s Operation Vantage personnel (in response to Iraq’s claims of sovereignty over the state) upon Kuwait’s Independence in 1961. Certainly this indicates that formal procedures were in place for these servicemen’s permanent settlement in Kuwait and absorption into Kuwait’s military and police forces after the ‘Iraq crisis’ period. Additionally, other tribes people who were not part of the organised Arab League forces, were also recruited into other parts of the public services and Kuwait Oil Company, contributing their services to the establishment of the independent state. These Bedouins were fully integrated in the state as the existing indigenous tribal population, and national policy was developed as a reflection of the state’s desire to incorporate them into its national identity. [2.0] At this time in Kuwait’s history, all Kuwaitis were stateless. A series of promises and commitments to grant citizenship were issued to the Bedoon from the time they were formally and permanently settled in the state, until the present day. While initially the state’s rulers sought to absorb the Bedoon into the citizenship base reflecting the regional agreements to settle all Middle East Bedouin, non-state political actors and intellectual stakeholders from opposing ethnic groups were actively involved in attempting to exclude the group from the nation, working against the state to impose their own political ideals. A desire to exclude as many Kuwaiti Bedouin as possible from gaining Kuawiti citizenship was articulated by nationalists from at least 1965. The complainant has found that at the root of this nationalist ideology, discrimination, racism, even hatred of the Bedouin, was normatively expressed in the academic literature. The ideology was constructed by intellectuals, and remains active in Kuwait among the Hadar towns-dwelling population, who regard it as a fact-based, historical narrative, despite evidence to the contrary. These conclusions are based on extensive documentary research on the attitudes of intellectuals to the Kuwaiti Bedouin expressed in Kuwait and internationally. For these reasons, we reiterate that no one individual in government is to blame for the Bedoon situation and that collective attribution of blame and collective problem-solving is warranted to arrive at concrete solutions that respect the group’s right of citizenship and human rights. However, it would be irresponsible not to emphasise that the protracted nature of the Bedoon’s statelessness and oppression in and of itself, functions as a form of ethnic persecution. [2.3] 1970s The notion that the Bedoon should be expelled from the National Census occurred as a direct forerunner to the ‘status adjustment’ program of administrative erasure. The notion of census expulsion and deprivation of citizenship appears to have first arisen in the early 1970s, within the Committee for Illegal Dwellings. The idea would become formally implemented as government policy in 1992. Until the policy suggestion was introduced in 1976, the National Statistics Office in Kuwait had recorded the Bedoon both Bedouin and ‘Kuwaitis’ with respect to their ethnic and national identity, on the National Census. The expulsion comprised transferring the Bedoon who were listed as ‘Kuwaiti’ and ‘Bedouin’ to ‘other Arab, unknown nationality’ on the Census after the group had already been administratively expelled in 1986. [2.4] Some researchers and analysts began to claim that the Bedoon were ‘illegal migrants’ to Kuwait in the 1960s and 1970s, as if they had broken migration laws at the time they arrived in Kuwait, which they had not. They were variously described as ‘squatters’ and ‘slum-dwellers’ living on the fringe of Kuwait City, even though they lived in organised camps in tribal formation, containing thousands of people at a distance from Kuwait City. These ideas were prompted by Kuwait’s engagement with the United Nations Development Program and other schemes of modernization at the time. Whereas some intellectuals have emphasised the Bedoon descended upon the state in unmanageable numbers comprising ‘illegal’ entry and leading to ‘chaos’ in government, this does not reflect the historical facts but rather, the retrospective development and application of exclusionary nationalist ideology. Intellectuals found the ideology was very powerful – it worked. They discovered they were capable of misleading others in international forums about Kuwaiti society and the state of development of the country, in order to reinvent the Bedouin as a group of unwanted expatriate nationals who simply arrived in Kuwait under their own motivation, and refused to leave. These narratives were constructed in bad faith in order to create an environment where their political, social and economic segregation from their Bedouin citizen family members and tribal affiliates would seem to be an unfortunate consequence of a combination of the Bedoon’s own actions, and ‘chaotic’ government policy. [2.5] In order to accomplish their goals, the intellectuals promoted nationalist ideologies describing the Bedouin as ‘foreign,’ and the application of administrative procedures criminalising the group was described retrospectively as if the procedures existed before the group arrived. This strategy functioned to give the impression that the Bedoon were not part of Kuwait’s ‘original’ Bedouin community, but were unwelcome foreign nationals who had entered Kuwait ‘too late’ to acquire citizenship described in Article 1 of the Nationality Law (1959). Relevant factors such as the group’s qualification for citizenship under other articles of the Nationality Law, linked to the group’s settlement taking place at the request of the state, were omitted. Essentially, the narrative history of Kuwait was constructed by Hadar intellectuals describing their ethnic group as the only persons entitled to Kuwaiti citizenship, due to their evolutionary fitness and identity as ‘true’ ‘pure’ ‘real’ ‘original’ Kuwaitis. Bedouins integrated into Kuwait City as rich ‘elites’ close to the ruling family, were only described as part of the Hadar community on the basis of their wealth and political utility to the Hadar, which qualified them as ‘urbanites’ capable of modernisation. By 1980, a national debate was under way, demonising the whole Kuwaiti Bedouin population while the practical mechanisms for the segregation of the Bedoon within the urban society, and plans to ensure they would be left perpetually stateless, were put in place. [2.6] 1980s Procedures implemented from 1983 that changed the Bedoon nationality from ‘Kuwaiti’ to other nationality labels, began in secret so that the Bedoon were affected by the policy unaware of what was happening to them as a whole group. The most comprehensive aspect of the policy was implemented in 1986 across all Ministries of government, administratively expelling the group from the state and assaulting their cultural identity by calling them ‘illegal residents,’ claiming they were migrant citizens of other states and depriving them of all public resources. Around 1983, government issued letters to all Bedoon employees of the various government Ministries, ordering them to produce ‘foreign passports’ to demonstrate their ‘original nationality;’ they were advised they would be expelled from their positions if they did not comply. In 1983 government began to label identity cards and drivers’ licenses with nationalities of various kinds distributed to military personnel and civilians, respectively. Professor Faris al Waqayan, a parliamentary researcher, reported that thousands of military personnel were systematically deprived of their identity via the application of false nationality label on official government records. The Professor was the first social scientist to theorize the criminalisation of the Bedoon, and the disorganisation and disintegration of the Bedoon’s culture due to criminalisation, stigma and helplessness. [2.7] Racism toward both the Bedouin citizens and stateless Bedoon (family members and tribal affiliates of the Bedouin citizen population) was revealed in two major amendments to laws argued in the National Assembly from 1980 through to 1986, which happened to coincide with the beginning of the allocation of the Bedoon’s identity to false nationality labels (later called ‘status adjustment’ by the Ministry of Interior’s Central Apparatus as we have mentioned). Kuwaiti nationalists and Arab nationalist politicians, intellectuals and propagandists used the National Assembly and the national media at this time, to advance a campaign accusing both Bedouin citizens and the Bedoon of not being ‘real’ Kuwaitis. The Bedouin citizens were accused of having dual nationality in relation to Law 130/1986, while the Bedoon accused of ‘hiding’ and ‘lying’ about their nationality in relation to Law 100/1980. In other words, the Bedoon appeared to be blamed by the Hadar for having one nationality and attempting to steal another nationality from Kuwait – as if they were also attempting to acquire the dual nationality they accused citizen Bedouin of having. In this respect, the Bedoon were blamed – and punished – for the sins of the broader population on account of their ethnicity. This aspect of discrimination is key to understanding the function of the Bedoon’s statelessness in Kuwait. The whole Bedouin population lives under the spectre of the oppression, expulsion and statelessness experienced by a minority of its population, who became known as the Bedoon. [2.8] This ‘national debate’ led to the discovery by members of parliament that from 70,000 to 1000,000 Bedoon citizenship applications had never been processed, much of them asserting the right to citizenship with voting rights (i.e. assertions they were ‘original’ Kuwaitis) led to a parliamentary inquiry into this issue. The relevance of this issue to the Bedoon’s current situation could not be more salient. The Bedoon’s eligibility for citizenship and/or formal claims have never properly assessed against the Nationality Law (1969) of Kuwait. The program of ‘status adjustment’ labelling Bedoons as nationals of other states is carried out because there is no intention to provide the Bedouin with due process regarding their right to nationality. On the other hand, the program also functions to implement the expulsion of the group from the National Census mentioned above, person by person (see ‘1970s,’ para 1). One day after hearings on the fate of the Bedoon nationality assessments were closed, the Parliament was suspended. The Bedoon were expelled in December 26, 1986. While Emiri rule at this time has been blamed for the expulsion of the Bedoon, this position does not account for the fact that the policy doctrine had already been developed by Arab nationalist and Kuwaiti nationalist intellectuals over the two preceding decades. [2.9] The key functions of the 1986 administrative expulsion of the Bedoon are summarised as follows: 1) Attribution (false attribution) of foreign national identity, either ‘known’ or ‘unknown’ and later to be applied 2) Attribution of criminalisation by the creation of the ‘illegal’ category 3) Destruction of the Bedoon’s ability to found families required to sustain their population 4) Targeting the eradication of Bedouin citizen-Bedoon marriage in particular 5) Prevention of education to thwart intellectual development, political development and access to human rights (set out in a 1981 nationalist doctrine) 4) Destruction of past and future economic development to promote conditions for economic exploitation and slavery As a whole, the provisions attacked the right to self-determination and access to basic human rights and liberties outlined in the Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among others. They focused on destroying both the population and culture, and targeted the capacity of the group to procreate i.e. expressed genocidal intent. [3.0] One other aspect we wish to mention in relation to the 1980s, is the grant of home ownership to the Bedoon, a matter that does not seem to have been discussed since the 1990s. Human rights organisations do not appear to be aware of this particular issue, or to have found it to be relevant amidst the plethora of other issues faced by the Bedoon. In the 1980s, Bedoons in the military and police services were transferred from desert settlements to housing compounds. The conditions of these homes were widely regarded as unfit for life by the general population from the 1960s and research showed that the homes were constructed in that way likely intentionally to encourage them to leave Kuwait, but this did not stop government from moving the Bedoon into the same homes up until the 1980s. Intellectuals portrayed those who lived in the desert settlements who were provided with the homes, as ‘squatters,’ ‘slum-dwellers,’ people who lived in filth and poverty of their own causation. In fact, the occupants as we have mentioned were public servants of the state. They were provided with ambiguously worded contract documents that functioned ostensibly as mortgages. The contracted occupants were required to pay government for ownership of the homes via their salaries; the right of home ownership is recognised as a right of Kuwaiti citizenship. This is one of the reasons the Bedoon believed that citizenship had already been granted to them, or would be granted to them imminently. [3.1] Others were expelled or forced to resign around 1992 after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. Bedoon in the military services were similarly expelled and/or forced to resign from their posts, around 1992. The Bedoon were also then, expelled from the homes. Later, some Bedoon managed to rent back the homes from their citizen family members, who in turn rented them from the Public Housing Authority (this remains the case today and includes areas such as Ahmadi, Taima and Sulabiya). As the Bedoon were subject to violence and heinous crimes against humanity by the state after the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from the state, they were not and subsequently have never been, in any position to pursue this matter. Compensation is owed by the state to Bedoon military and police personnel for these purchases. This point is important because it demonstrates the great extent to which those working to marginalise the Bedoon were willing to mislead them into thinking they had already acquired citizen rights (home ownership), so as not to attempt to engage in political processes to ensure these rights were secure. Compensation is owed to the Bedoon who were present in the state of Kuwait during occupation and helped to defend the nation by virtue of their presence at that time, under Kuwait’s Constitution. The relevant clauses of the Constitution are attached. [3.2] 1990s Bedoon military personnel protecting the state at the time of the invasion of Kuwait were never ordered to take action against the invaders. They were ordered to put down their weapons and to cease attempting to defend the state after Iraq had successfully taken occupation. The Bedoon were then demonized as having contributed to the invasion. This demonization was manufactured by propagandists to influence government to retaliate against the Bedoon. The Bedoon were killed and driven out of the country in their tens of thousands and otherwise subjected to heinous human rights violations up to 1995 when the State Security Court (which had implemented martial law) was disbanded. The Ministry of Information, was likely to have provided the ruling family with official statements at that time, instructing the returning population of Kuwait to ethnically cleanse the Bedoon and others who had identified as the enemy. Analysis of these events together with population policy emerging at the time demonstrates a logical timeline in the development of policy and violence action, indicating these coherently fitted together like theory and practice. However, the policy and violence ensuing from it was not triggered by the war, but preceded it. That is, the Bedoon were targeted with mass population loss by virtue of not being re-registered by the state, shortly prior to the invasion of Iraq. [3.3] Ethnic cleansing was carried out with the aid of Western states, although it is not clear whether this ‘help’ was carried out inadvertently or intentionally. Photographs of the ‘Death Highway’ from Kuwait City to Abdali clearly show a plethora of civilian vehicles on the highway that were struck by missiles fired by the Coalition of the Willing in Operation Desert Storm. The vehicles are empty because their human inhabitants were incinerated. Kuwait and the coalition had organised for the Iraq land border to be the only place the Bedoon could exit the country during the war, which the coalition attacked while the government of Kuwait openly threatened the Bedoon with murder if they attempted to travel the other way, to return to their homes in Kuwait City. The manouvre ensured the Bedoon would be driven out along the highway exit. Mass deaths of Bedoon babies occurred in refugee camps near Abdali. INGOs reported only one third of Bedoon refugee camps. These atrocities are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, with many atrocities going unreported, and those reported, never followed up. Bedoon prisoners of war, which may have included both military personnel and civilians, were crossed off International Red Cross lists officially used by Kuwait and its Coalition partners to negotiate the return of prisoners. The state simply refused to ‘register’ much of the Bedoon population after the war (i.e. to reregister those who were already registered with it) in order to reduce the population by administrative means. But because atrocities were never investigated, it is now also impossible to tell the proportion of the population was administrative erased at this time by simple deletion of government files, and the proportion of the population that was killed and driven out of the country. [3.4] Among the multiple human rights atrocities committed against the Bedoon by Kuwait and the international community during and after the invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm appears to have been chiefly responsible for the largest population losses that diminished the population by 30-50% at that time (we are only left with estimates for the reasons stated; no attempt was ever made to establish the size of the Bedoon population after the war, other than for the purpose of continuing to avoid granting citizenship). The manipulation of the Coallition of the Willing by Kuwaiti citizens at this time, is on the record regarding the incubators scandal and the use of public relations firms to garner support. The focus of the international community soon turned to the establishment of UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) to enrich citizens of Kuwait (a large proportion of whom were not even present in the country at the time of the invasion) and corporations in particular. The Bedoon were the only population group among recipients to be determined by the government of Kuwait, and the only population group whom the Commission allowed to be paid directly by the government of Kuwait. Furthermore, the payments were the minimum allowable under the commissions mandate. Payments excluded around two thirds of the Bedoon population, but death compensation was provided to for just one Bedoon individual – the most indecent fact about the Bedoon case the complainant has ever established. Compensation is owed to the Bedoon for war crimes and violent post-war ethnic cleansing committed by the state of Kuwait and its Coalition partners. The Bedoon community who resisted the occupation and defended the state by virtue of their having remained in the state under occupation, are owed compensation under the Constitution of Kuwait. [3.5] After the National Assembly was reinstated; the intellectual political bloc that had fought against the Bedoon since 1965 was installed in power via its capacity as a group of individuals to provide ‘expert’ advice directly to government and bypassing the National Assembly process. The group was now called the ‘Academic Team.’ The Bedoon were expelled from the National Census in 1992 almost immediately. The group was removed from columns of the census labelled ‘Kuwaitis’ as well as ‘Bedouin’ and reallocated to ‘other Arab’ nationality losing recognition of both their ethnic and national identities but also implying other nationality was held by them. Legislation was passed to prevent any large group of Bedouin from receiving Kuwaiti citizenship, on grounds of the tribal (ethnic) identity, even though the same group argued that those with valid1965 claims should eventually, somehow, receive Kuwaiti nationality. This action in itself demonstrated the ongoing discrimination of the Bedoon and the deprivation of Kuwaiti citizenship from them by government, on the basis of the same policy doctrine that had been promoted by nationalists in the 1960s, calling for Bedouins to be restricted from the country’s citizen base on grounds of ethnic identity. [3.6] Another special Bedoon committee was established, given the authority to override documentary evidence submitted by any individuals in the group that demonstrated they had met the legal requirements for a grant of citizenship – in other words, the Bedoon would always have their citizenship rights cancelled under the ‘discretion’ of the Central Apparatus (93). This line of argument – promising around one third of the population they will definitely receive citizenship – was used until the recent announcement by Salah al Fadalah of the Central Apparatus, stating that this portion of the population was too erased and would never receive citizenship. It is also worth noting that the person appointed to run the postwar Bedoon committee was the same person who had reported to the Prime Minister of Kuwait on the weekly number of Bedoon and Palestinian killings accomplished during violent ethnic cleansing. This period involved judicial and extrajudicial killings of the Bedoon, including via mercenaries and some operatives trained by the CIA, to hunt down Bedoons, who were referred to as ‘Iraqis,’ after the withdrawal of Iraqi forces. The Bedoon were consistently referred to as Iraqis during this period to justify eradication of the Bedoon, not only by government representatives at the highest levels, but also academic scholars. The identity was intentionally merged as if Iraqi nationals and Bedoons were one in the same. This is another key point demonstrating the lack of sincerity of the government in attempting to resolve the socalled Bedoon problem. It seems reasonable to assume that those responsible for tallying death counts of the group on behalf of individuals who had called for their ethnic cleansing, were never going to ensure the Bedoons citizenship eligibility would be assessed according to the Nationality Law (1959). Population losses should be investigated with reference to this committee, and the so-called ‘Academic Team’ mentioned above. [3.7] 2000s The administrative erasure program seeking to adjust the identity status of every individual in the Bedoon population was expanded and accelerated in the 2000s. Military personnel were forced to sign affidavits stating they were foreign nationals, which extended the 1983 policy instructing the Bedoon to provide (fraudulent) ‘foreign’ passports to demonstrate they were foreign nationals. This enabled government to justify its labelling of the population as ‘other nationals.’ Government adopted the rationale that any Bedoon’s individual, legal rights to claim Kuwaiti citizenship would be absolved (cancelled) when such an individual signed a document stating they had a different nationality – even if they had already established a valid historical claim to Kuwaiti citizenship according to the Nationality Law (1959) (i.e. their ability to show proof their forefathers had registered for citizenship from the 1960s and/or proof of inclusion in the National Census of 1965). Other aspects of the regime to change the nationality of the Bedoon (1980s policy) and/or to expel them from the country (1990s policy) continued. Provisions for the Bedoon to register and reregister with government to attempt to obtain citizenship, was combined with the establishment of deportation committees to deport Bedoons who had failed to satisfy citizen registration requirements and/or who had declared their ‘other nationality’ via the affidavit process. Since then, the allocation of various nationalities to the Bedoon population became widely known as a process of fraudulent labelling associated with fake passports purchased by the Bedoon in response to direct government personnel instructions. [3.8] 2003-2006 The US Embassy in Kuwait traced the rollout of the ‘status adjustment’ program of administrative erasure from at least 2003 to 2006. Staff expressed concern that the nationalities used to label the Bedoon were ‘fraudulent’ and suggested that the Bedoon were being coerced or forced by government to engage in document fraud to satisfy the procedures, specifically in the case that the Bedoon were genuinely stateless. A report conveyed by Minister Baqer about a migration flow of Iraqis entering Kuwait in 1991 contradicted all evidence available about people flows out of Kuwait at the time (101). The Kuwait Society for Human Rights reported to the US Embassy that posters providing the contacts for dealers in fraudulent documents were pasted on Central Apparatus office walls, to which the Bedoon were directed by government staff. The Embassy remarked that the application of African nationalities to the Bedoon by the Central Apparatus reflected the documents that could be obtained by the document traffickers, rather than bearing any relationship to the Bedoon’s identity, and characterised the situation as ‘ridiculous’. The allocation of African and other Arab nationalities to the Bedoon is well known, while the range of methods used to do so is somewhat lesser known. These communications were distributed to parties throughout the Arab League, indicating governments across the region were aware of the administrative erasure of Kuwaitis, by Kuwaitis, was taking place. [3.9] 2007 In 2007 the Foreign Commonwealth Office in Kuwait sent a letter to the UK Home Office describing the Bedoon as ‘documented’ and ‘undocumented.’ These two categories were adopted as a classification system of the Bedoon. Documented Bedoons were registered with government. Undocumented Bedoons were not registered with government. Discrimination of the Bedoon in Kuwait began to be defined in UK refugee law on this basis, with the assumption being made that undocumented Bedoons were discriminated against while documented Bedoons were not, simply because ‘documented’ Bedoons were ‘registered’ by government. The victimisation of the ‘documented’ - fact that the ‘registration’ with government led to erasure of ethnic and national identity on official government records, was ignored. The discrimination of Bedoons (registered and unregistered) within Kuwaiti society including within non-government social institutions, was ignored. Yet the so-called ‘documented’ Bedoon were discriminated in Kuwait against on grounds of their ethnic identity, as they comprised the individuals whose have had a false nationality imposed upon them, as part of the ‘registration’ process. Additionally, government’s failure to process the so-called ‘documented’ Bedoon’s citizenship applications in accordance with the Nationality Law (1959), also a form of discrimination, was also ignored. [4.0] The so-called ‘documented’ Bedoons are today regarded as not being persecuted or discriminated against in any serious manner, and thus are considered by the UK Home Office as ineligible for refugee status, as stated in their country advices for Kuwait. The premises upon which the UK Home Office has operated in this matter are misleading. The approach appears to have been devised with the Central Apparatus to deprive the Bedoon of refugee status in the UK, as well as citizenship. Other states such as Australia and Canada appear to have followed the UK Home Office approach. The UK Home Office also attempted to remove reference to discrimination against the Bedoon on the basis of their ethnic identity as having the primary bearing on their situation (as had been established in UK courts), via the advancement of policy recommendations in the Home Office Reviews section. The policy recommendations sought to remove reference to persecution of the group’s ethnic identity from the very first point of the country advice text. No evidence was provided that would have justified a request to delete reference to the Bedoon as ethnic group, in relation to persecution on that basis – likely because the recommendation itself, was discriminatory. These developments indicate Home Office had become corrupted in order to forcibly return Bedoon asylum seekers to return to Kuwait, whereas in the past, it had protected the Bedoon by recognising the validity of their cases for refugee status. Further developments between the Central Apparatus and the Home Office are referred to below. Compensation is owed by the Home Office to all asylum seekers it has returned under the so-called ‘documented Bedoon’ policy. [4.1] 2011-2014 In the Arab Spring, the ‘status adjustment’ program was made more complex again by the issue of ‘security restrictions’ against Bedoons, by the Central Apparatus. Security restrictions are regarded by the Ministry of Interior as equivalent to a criminal offence, applied at the discretion of the Central Apparatus. They are not part of Kuwait’s criminal code. Individuals and families who had established valid claims to Kuwaiti citizenship under the Nationality Law (1959) due to their participation in the 1965 National Census and/or due to their fathers or forefathers having been members of the military and police force, were informed they had been issued security restrictions, making them ‘ineligible’ to receive citizenship of Kuwait, and to recieve basic public resources, also called ‘human rights,’ in Decree 409/2011, ‘services,’ ‘privileges,’ ‘facilities’ and so on. The outcome was identical to the procedure of administrative erasure, wherein having succumbed to ‘other national’ identity also cancelled out one’s legal citizenship claim, but erasure was accompanied by the ‘reward’ of access to basic public services for five years (if one did not then receive a security offence). Different types of identity cards linked to claims of illegality and false identity with different timeframes for deportation were distributed at this time, continuing the spectre of mass deportation that had been revisited in the ‘registration’ period in 2000/2001. Initially, it appeared that only Arab Spring human rights activists were targeted with the security restrictions. This was the same group who happened to be from families who had established historically valid citizenship claims. [4.2] As the Central Apparatus came under broader public pressure to produce a solution to the socalled ‘Bedoon problem,’ leadership became increasingly confident and irrational in its approach. Within just two years the Central Apparatus had distributed over 20,0000 security restrictions. At this time, the complainant received information from Bedoons living in Kuwait and those fleeing for asylum, were being harassed by the Central Apparatus and State Security Policy for being assumed to be Arab Spring ‘protestors,’ and issued a security restriction on that basis. Some men were told they would not be issued the security restriction if they would inform on their peers and provide the Apparatus with the details of other ‘protestors’ to issue security restrictions against. In other words, the formal restrictions began to replace the previous system of informal blacklisting that had been used by the Apparatus and the State Security Police to develop informant networks. The ‘restrictions’ were also used as a block to access public resources linked to the identity cards issued by the Apparatus, reported to the Home Office before the Arab Spring. Upon the issue of a security restriction, the Ministry of Interior blocked the identity cards of the affected individuals and/ or their whole families, to deprive them of access to basic public services. According to the Apparatus, access to public services could be turned back on in return for submitting to the program of ‘status adjustment’ by signing documents agreeing they held citizenship in another state. The group was told it could ‘get more [human] rights this way. In other words, human rights were being traded off as an incentive to submit to erasure, a form of ethnic cleansing. This strategy forced the Bedoon to ‘chose’ between basic human rights deprivations or identity erasure. [4.3] This aspect of the status adjustment program was marketed by international humanitarian agencies, academics and journalists as a ‘package of services’ rather than mere access to the most basic public resources promised in Decree 409/2011. These parties sought to normalize the administrative erasure, even though academics and INGOs were sufficiently trained to assess the methods as ethnic cleansing. The same ‘package of services’ – i.e. basic human rights – had been on offer since the 1980s, in return for providing government with fake passports. The security restrictions further criminalised the Bedoon who were already ‘illegal residents’ from 1986. Maj. Gnl. Mazen al Jarrah complained in the national media at this time, that those who had submitted fraudulent passports in the past had allowed them to expired and not renewed them. He urged the Bedoon to produce new ones. The fraudulent passports were actively procured by the Apparatus in front of the whole nation in order to furnish ‘evidence’ of its statements to the United Nations Human Rights Council the Bedoon were not stateless, while also claiming it was a ‘humanitarian state.’ [4.4] Some MPs in Kuwait were growing increasingly uncomfortable with the regime’s actions. They began to discuss the fraudulent nature of the nationality labelling and the broad application of the ‘status adjustment’ program such that other restrictions on the Bedoon like prohibiting enrolment in schools that had become entangled in the program. For example, in 2011 the government of Kuwait corresponded with Human Rights Watch to try to resolve the INGOs claims of human rights violations against the Bedoon, admitting that over 12,400 Bedoon babies did not have birth certificates because their parents would not accept the nationality determined by government, printed on the certificate. The reason was because government had recorded a nationality label on the certificate that did not reflect their actual ethnic or national identity, in compliance with the official Bedoon policy. Instead, any nationality label was recorded on the birth certificate deemed by the Apparatus. Human Rights Watch did not analyse this aspect of the response, or observe it was a clear sign the Bedoon population was in fact, attempting to resist administrative erasure. The issue led to a crisis in 2014 when the children reached school age. Enrolment of this group of children in primary school was banned by the private schools section of the Ministry of Education under orders of the Ministry of Interior, until the Bedoon parents accepted the said birth certificates for their children that stated false nationality labels. [4.5] Having resisted the ‘status adjustment’ of their children, they had rejected the documents and refused to use them. The children had already been enrolled in the schools, including new starters, against state regulations punishing the Bedoon for the failure of the state to provide accurate identity documentation. This meant that the new starters were expelled from school at ages 4 or 5, before they had set foot in a classroom, while children in the early grades would not be allowed to return, just as their own parents had been banned from school in the 1980s and 1990s. The US Department of State later claimed the issue had been resolved, but the local community reported the children had been intentionally placed in inappropriate and unsafe settings, such as in night schools reserved for remedial adult classes, which did not constitute normative primary schooling by national or international standards. MP Hassan Jawhar spoke out in the National Assembly, and connected the bans on school with the ‘status adjustment’ program, pointing out that the bans were a form of punishment for the Bedoon parents who had resisted submitting to the erasure procedures. [4.6] 2014-2017 The so-called Comoros Plan was also a manifestation of the ‘status adjustment’ program. In this phase, the Central Apparatus attempted to change the nationality of the whole Bedoon population to that of just one nationality (the Comoros) instead of to multiple nationalities. Maj. Gnl Mazen al Jarrah explained in a television interview that all ‘criminal’ Bedoon could or would be sent to the Comoros Islands, implying the island would become a Bedoon penal colony for the Kuwait government. The whole Bedoon population was already criminalised as ‘illegal residents’ (from the 1986 administrative expulsion) and thousands additionally criminalised via ‘security restrictions’ meaning all of them could be sent to the island based on Major General Mazen’s criteria. Comments of this nature continued for around two years, intimidating the community as the Central Apparatus management and even MPs in the National Assembly, began to promote the viability of the concept. MPs visited the Island and attend workshops in ‘economic citizenship’ reporting conflicting reports on government’s motives and intentions for the fate of the Bedoon in association with the Island. In response, one MP explained to the National Assembly that through the Comoros Plan, government had proved the falsehood that the Bedoon had ever had other nationalities and had misled the Assembly over the Bedoon’s identity for decades. However, another MP suggested that as an alternative, the Bedoon [human rights] ‘activists’ could be sent to internment camps near the border of Saudi Arabia. Note that these camps were clearly intended to be reminiscent of refugee camps in which thousands of Bedoon were stranded after the withdrawal of Iraqi forces in 1991-1992 during the most violent phase of ethnic cleansing. [4.7] These very public pronouncements of the desire to conduct mass population transfers also constituted methods of ethnic cleansing, but they were never called out as such by MPs, policy analysts, academics, journalists or the like. At this point, international corruption associated with the Bedoon issue became visible to the global public. The head of the UNHCR Statelessness Unit Mark Manly was quoted saying he had no problem with the plan of allocating Comorian nationality to the Bedoon ‘in principle,’ as long as it was ‘voluntary’ even though the process was attached to the outcome a historically enforced erasure program, the intention was to conduct mass population transfer, and the ‘nationality’ acquired would not be effective, because it was just a word used to substitute the term ‘Kuwaiti’. Around this time, the UK Home Office met with visiting Central Apparatus staff to discuss the return of Bedoon asylum seekers to Kuwait and obtained it’s ‘cooperation’ to ‘receive’ such returned asylum seekers, refuting the law of non-refoulement and further intimidating the Bedoon population into believing they could not escape imposition of Comorian nationality and possibly also, deportation to the Comoros Islands from Kuwait. Journalists were more concerned than the UNHCR Statelessness Unit about the erasure, when they gathered comments from other members of the international community expressing disgust at the scheme in order to pressure Kuwait to halt its plans. [4.8] UNHCR Kuwait office representative Ms Hanan Hamdan has promoted the Central Apparatus functions, posing for photographs with both Salah al Fadalah of the Central Apparatus and Mazen al Jarrah of the passports department in local news services, much to the distress of the community. This is the most direct experience the Arab Spring generation have had with the United Nations. As Ms Hamdan represents the outer face of government associated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mjr. Gnl. Mazen al Jarrah represents the inner face of government associated with the Ministry of the Interior, the partnership is incongruent, other than to symbolise UNHCR support for the Central Apparatus role with the UK Home Office in returning Bedoon refugees. Similarly, Mjr. Gnl. Mazen al Jarrah has been visited and has visited in return, the UK Home Office to promote the return of Bedoon refugees, wherein the Home Office has set out to breach the law of non-refoulement. UNHCR officials such as Mr. Manly and Ms. Hamdan have facilitated the policy of administrative erasure of the Bedoon by attempting to normalize it locally and internationally. Even before taking up her formal role as head of the UNHCR office in Kuwait, Ms Hamdan met with Salay al Fadalah to assist him promoting the Central Apparatus process (of ethnic cleansing via administrative erasure), leading to the headline: Al Fadalah: The Central Organ is Open to International Organisations. In the article, Saleh al Fadalah: “stress[ed] the openness of the Central Agency to communicate with international organizations and institutions in recognition of the status that Kuwait has assumed in international forums. He looked forward to continued cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).” (Sulieman, December 23, 2018) This posture by these officials is offensive to the local community and dangerous to the international community, insomuch as the Central Apparatus performs a central function in ethnic cleansing of a minority of Kuwait’s own people, which it appears to seek a role in promoting via the United Nations network. We request the removal of Ms Hamdan from her role in the UNHCR for active participation in the ethnic cleansing of the Bedoon by abusing her office to promote the same. [4.9] The UNDP and UNESCO fund states for country development while allowing states to exclude statistical data on the most vulnerable: the expelled, erased and/or stateless populations excluded from national statistics. Kuwait continued to be provided funding by these organisations after the administrative expulsion and violent ethnic cleansing of the Bedoon, providing the impression to government their actions were regarded as permissible by these organisations. The UNDP and UNESCO did not assist the Bedoon were children were excluded from schools, and at present the statistical division does not measure how many Bedoon children go to school, and how many cannot. Instead, the Central Apparatus published monthly statistics on the tally of Bedoon’s who submitted to ‘status adjustment’ which began to be characterised as ‘conversion,’ ‘reversion’ and ‘regularization.’ The tallies were reported in the official government news outlet, the Kuwait News Agency, the Kuwait Times, and other syndicated news agencies. The relentless announcement of the erasure tally in the public media has been extremely distressing for the community and likely constitutes a form of mental torture. The government of Kuwait has never shown its proof of ‘other nationality’ of the Bedoon because it has claimed; the information it has drawn upon is ‘secret’ and cannot be released to the public. Abdulhakim al Fadhli has challenged government to provide such proofs or accept that they do not have them, as a basis from which to conduct negotiations to stop the program and to restore citizen rights to the Bedoon. The consensus view in the National Assembly at present is that government has never had any evidence, but this has not translated into meaningful reform such as ending the group’s statelessness. [5.0] 2018 As we have mentioned, this complaint arises from the Central Apparatus revelation that it has allocated false nationality to some 90% of the population, including those who have established valid citizenship claims since 1965. Salah al Fadalah, the head of the Apparatus, had declared that the (fraudulent) national identities will be applied across 100% of the population some time during 2019, while the whole population will be issued new security cards then, with another nationality designated on the card. We believe that the announcement signals the government of Kuwait entering a new phase of its Bedoon ‘roadmap,’ marking the completion of the administrative erasure. This is despite much of the population being qualified to receive Kuwaiti citizenship according to Article 4 of the Nationality Law of Kuwait (1959), owing to their fathers or grandfathers having worked in the public service, including the military and police services, for which an Explanatory Note to the Nationality Law applies. The Explanatory note text and explanation is attached to this letter. Clearly, the government of Kuwait no longer cares to distinguish between who has established valid citizenship claims or not, and perhaps this indicates the extent to which the population in general has presented plausible and valid claims. Another issue is that when government does fall back on the position that those who may receive citizenship (if they have no security restrictions) are members of the 1965 National Census group, children of Kuwaiti citizen mothers and those who were in the military services, members of the police services, who are also covered under the Explanatory note as special cases for citizenship, are ignored. International actors are sitting back with a ‘wait and see’ approach while the Bedoon community undergoes administrative erasure and ethnic cleansing. Signs of genocide of the Bedoon have been present for decades. The population is at present expressing its fear and despair, including expressions that they are cogently aware that ethnic cleansing, even genocide, is taking place. [5.1] Kuwaiti citizenship continues to be distributed to thousands of foreign nationals each year, reinforcing what we already know about the ethnic targeting of the Bedoon – they are not deprived citizenship due to a lack of economic resources, or due to a reluctance to broaden the citizenship base as some academics have argued, but because of their ethnic and national identity as Kuwaiti Bedouin is interpreted by elites and intellectuals as an undesirable component in view of a broader cultural prejudice and racism expressed toward the Bedouin tribes. Today, government personnel appear to be largely ignorant of the historical and procedural processes that have led to the present situation of the Bedoon, likely due to indoctrination into the ideology that has portrayed the Bedoon as ‘foreign nationals’ and as culturally inferior. Academic circles in Middle East studies on both the political left and right have contributed to constructing and promoting the racist and discriminatory doctrine and regard those who founded it as their intellectual heroes for challenging the ‘tribal mentality,’ in an attempt to preserve their personal vision of what Kuwait’s urbane, cosmopolitan, ‘modern’ culture should be. Obviously this has prevented them from assisting government and the community finding constructive solutions to the problem. [5.2] The role of Kuwait’s parliamentary committee on human rights While some negotiations are currently taking place with the Bedoon in Kuwait, this has been limited to the Kuwait Parliamentary Human Rights Committee (KPHRC) acting on the case of the young Mr Mohammed al Anezi (whom Salah al Fadalah of the Central Apparatus wrongly accused of being a terrorist attempting to assassinate him), we have previously sent correspondence to this Group about the situation of the Bedoon, including the matter of ethnic cleansing by the Central Apparatus, and the targeting of one of the complainants, Abdulhakim al Fadhli, for speaking out about crimes against humanity committed against the Bedoon. In this case, the other complainant, Dr Kennedy, spoke on behalf of the Bedoon community due to the Bedoon population’s inability to represent themselves (at the time, all Bedoon human rights activists were severely restricted from speaking out due to strict enforcement of punishments related to ‘the Pledge’ and enforced returns of Bedoon refugees and asylum seekers from the UK). Despite the KPHRC’s legislative mandate to respond to all plausible cases put to it, they failed to respond to the complaint, meaning that we had exhausted all internal complaints mechanisms no sooner than we submitted the issue. This experience indicated the HKHRC, as the state’s primary mechanism for hearing human rights complaints installed under the instructions of the United Nations, is itself flawed and takes an arbitrary approach to hearing matters concerning the Bedoon. [5.3] The KPHRC’s recent attention to the Bedoon issue, drafting a law granting civil and social rights for Bedoons, does not constitute and end to the Central Apparatus’ program of administrative erasure called ‘status adjustment.’ It has merely suggested a new bill yet to pass the National Assembly, which essentially copies the Decree 409/2011 ‘human rights reforms’ that were never implemented comprehensively or consistently by the state while the state in fact, accelerated its erasure program at this time. The Bedoon community has officially rejected the proposal as insufficient, and has expressed its concern regarding Committee’s lack of respect for the community’s leadership, which it has attempted to divide by excluding some individuals in negotiations. However at this stage, the community lacks access to resources and supports that assist it in presenting the technically complex aspects of their case. Their intellectual group and community leaders lack these resources and supports because they themselves were banned from educational institutions (schools and university) in their youth. The present generation which includes some Bedoons in education, are too young to manage such a case and the situation is too dangerous for them to assert such a case, as they will face punitive retaliation from the state. For this reason, Abdulhakim al Fadhli is the only complainant from the local community, but we provide evidence of the community’s feelings about the erasure and genoiced, attached to this letter. [5.4] Discrepancies in population statistics demonstrating the potential for enforced disappearances of the Bedoon population The government of Kuwait’s presentation of Bedoon population statistics has not been derived from National Census data since 1986. The group are prohibited from participating in the National Census. The population numbers are collated solely from Central Apparatus data monitoring the implementation of administrative erasure. The population numbers are not monitored by the UNDP or UNESCO. It is not an exaggeration then, to say the data represents the theft of the Bedoon’s identity, and is not a true population count of ‘other nationals’ from a variety of states. Nevertheless, we believe this data is likely to be being merged with the National Office of Statistics data on other national expatriates living in Kuwait, under the Central Apparatus function enabling it to order other Ministries of government to comply with its instructions pertaining to the Bedoon. Transferring the population monitoring function to the Central Apparatus has been crucial to accomplishing: a) Cultural destruction of the group via changing their identity as a whole, expressed in the 1986 administrative expulsion policy, and b) Physical destruction of the group by covering up enforced disappearances and general population decline that would signal genocide was taking place. The population reporting function has been exploited by the Central Apparatus since 2010, specifically to promote the Bedoon’s submission to the administrative erasure as a normative action, and to create an atmosphere of fear, wherein the group are reminded their human rights will be deprived from them, for as long as they resist compliance with ‘status adjustment,’ i.e. the removal of ethnic and national identity and replacement with a nationality label designated by the Apparatus. This has been accomplished by the regular publication of enforced identity ‘conversion’ removing Bedouin and Kuwaiti identity from the Bedoon. [5.5] No plausible explanation exists for gross population discrepancies presented by the Central Apparatus, other than it is corrupting the data either intentionally to hide enforced disappearances (i.e. actual disappearances such as deportations or killings), or due to incompetence. This issue alone warrants the immediate intervention of the Human Rights Council on grounds of ethnic cleansing and the likelihood that genocide is taking place in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Finally, it appears likely that all Bedoon historical claims to citizenship that remain outstanding since 1965, are yet to be assessed by a competent authority. Two examples drawn from Central Apparatus data demonstrate the challenge faced by the state in accounting for its exclusion of the group from the citizen base. Data released by government on the number of Bedoons ‘eligible’ for citizenship throughout the 2000s has ranged from as many as 42,231 to as few as none (i.e. zero). The data has fluctuated bizarrely every year. The application of ‘security restrictions’ at the discretion of the Central Apparatus has been used to explain to diminishment of those ‘eligible’ to receive Kuwaiti citizenship under the Nationality Law (1959) of Kuwait, and to justify the application of false nationality labels what will soon be 100% of the population, according to the recent announcement by Saleh al Fadalah. Over a four year period, thousands of Bedoon supposed to be ‘Iraqi nationals’ were removed from the statistics, while around 60,000 Bedoons supposed to be ‘Saudi Arabian nationals’ spontaneously appeared, without explanation. These numbers did not reflect the gradual increase in identity ‘conversion’ published by the Central Apparatus in the national media. [5.6] We argue that there is no doubt that the program that ‘adjusts’ or ‘regularizes’ the Bedoon’s identity ‘status’ is a form of population-wide administrative erasure manifesting as a result of discrimination, racism and ethnic hatred. The Central Apparatus program resembles very closely systems of administrative erasure used to wipe out the identity of Palestinians, Rohingya, Kurds and Roma, not only in terms of the sentiment present, but also the procedures. In 2018 The Washington Post reported alarm over the erasure of the Rohingya’s actual name, although it had already been conceded the group were subject to genocide. In contrast, the Bedoon have been known by a multitude of labels that do not reflect their actual identity, consecutively replaced one by one, over and over again, for decades. In fact, names have been removed from the Bedoon at every level of the ethnic structure, including individual’s father’s name and tribal names, as part of official Bedoon policy, pointing to the program being designed along the principles of social science theory. This factor is extremely important. It indicates that those designing the policy and procedures were not merely concerned with surveillance or causing violence to the group, but genocide facilitated by attacking every level of ethnic identity that could be linked to an anthropological or sociological theory. [5.7] By allocating the population group to a wider pool of other Arab nationals on official records, the stateless Bedoon population becomes ‘lost’ in national statistics and ultimately deleted from official records. The policy and process constitutes administrative erasure arising from ethnic cleansing and genocide policies. Such polices are described by leading theorists such as Dr. Damien Short (specialist in genocide of indigenous peoples including Palestinians), Prof. Michael Man (specialist in contemporary ethnic genocide) and ethnic cleansing procedures described by Prof. David Weissbrodt (specialist in international law and statelessness). Additionally, Bedoon population losses over the last thirty years constitute genocide according to normative definitions of genocide adopted in the social sciences. Dr Kennedy predicted the outcome of the Central Apparatus erasure in 2014, prior to completing her study. In 2016 she lobbied on behalf of the community with INGOs, the government of Kuwait and the Australian consulate in Kuwait, articulating that intent to ethnically cleanse and/or genocide were present. Members of the Bedoon population are quite aware they are being ethnically cleansed and/or subject to genocide. Dr Kennedy analysed a sample of interview data drawn from the community in 2016 and observed that the group were conscious of ethnic cleansing and genocide by the state of Kuwait. The community has responded to the recent announcement by Salah al Fadalah of the Central Apparatus with renewed expressions of collective annihilation and genocide. Individuals describe the population being buried under the weight of the restrictions imposed on the group, which is forcing cultural disorganisation and disintegration. [5.8] The recent announcement by the Central Apparatus has led to expressions of fear, loss of hope, anxiety and depression among Bedoon twitter users who are brave enough to discuss the problem. Individuals express fear and despair over their life situation and use terms equivalent to ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘genocide’ in Arabic. Examples of data we have collected recently, illustrating the oppression and theft of identity by the Central Apparatus and concerns genocide is being carried out on the Bedoon. Please refer to the attachments to this letter. [5.9] Dr Kennedy complained to the Kuwait Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights in 2016 when the other complainant, Addulhakim al Fadhli, was imprisoned (copies will be sent shortly). The committee has have received information that the group are subject to ethnic cleansing, but have refused to allow Dr Kennedy to discuss the matter and present evidence to them, as she has requested. Given that the state of Kuwait has now confirmed 90% of the population is now effectively erased on government records and has been reallocated to false nationality labels that do not reflect the group’s identity, and that the remaining 10% will be erased in the new year of 20109, it is patently clear that the state of Kuwait has ignored all recommendations given to it by the international community through the United Nations Human Rights Council’s most recent Universal Periodic Review process. Dr Kennedy has had communications from two former Australian Ambassadors and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, but the Australian government refuses to acknowledge the erasure is occurring and has asserted it prefers to rely on behind-the-scenes communications than dealing with the issue in an open, transparent manner. WikiLeaks cables confirm that Western states not only know the Bedoon are being erased by the government of Kuwait, the government of Kuwait have approached Western states to take the whole population in exchange for money (see attachment no. 4 below Bedoon erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) program - Selected testimonies and other data 1994-2019, explaining how the program works). This means the program extends beyond the Comoros Plan and other ideas for mass deportation to Arab states (including Egypt and Saudi Arabia), and involves a range of international states who have been unable or unwilling to convince the state of Kuwait to stop ethnically cleansing the Bedoon through their diplomatic channels. This constitutes a serious failure of the international community and we believe, warrants United Nations intervention in this matter. Due to problems with inter-state corruption on the Bedoon issue, we implore you to appoint appropriate specialists to lead an investigation this matter, whom we suggest below. [6.0] The scope of investigation requested Our concerns about the program extend are not related to political issues related to citizenship distribution, but jus cogens – crimes against humanity. Two major themes of inquiry are requested to cover the broadest and the narrowest dimensions of the program: a) the historical processes of exclusion of nationality/citizenship from the Bedoon at the closure of the British Protectorate period and the beginning of the independent state of Kuwait, and b) the urgent dimension, concerning more detailed and technical aspects of development of government policy to deprive the group of nationality/citizenship and access to the state’s resources from the 1970s to the present day, which would lead to the destruction of the group’s population and culture, and fieldwork evidence that demonstrates its implementation and impact on the Bedoon population at present. [6.1] The need for urgency The most urgent aspect of this investigation falls under the second theme, which is investigation of the program of administrative erasure called ‘status adjustment,’ ‘regularisation of status’ and/or application of ‘other nationality’ labels run by the Ministry of Interior from 1983 until the present day. The program of is currently managed by Salah al Fadalah of the Central Apparatus, Ministry of Interior. This program needs to stop immediately. The reason the investigation is required urgently arises from the announcement erasure is almost complete with no citizenship grants to be provided to the remaining Bedoon population. The announcement has provided confirmation that the state has no intention of following the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council and the international community to grant nationality/citizenship to the Bedoon. Urgent inquiry may assist in the following ways: a) The erasure needs to be stopped immediately to prevent the next stage unfolding, which may lead to mass deportations, disappearances and/or deaths b) The erasure may still be able to be reversed using government records and resources (if citizenship applications and evidence of historical presence in the state, given to it by the Bedoon, have not yet been destroyed) and, c) The intervention will help to alleviate the enormous psychological pressure on the community at present (evidence is provided in this letter, more is being collected), prior to a more lengthy investigation process. To date, psychological pressure strategies used by government have facilitated the process of erasure, ethnic cleansing and genocide. [6.2] The need for appropriate experts to be appointed to any investigation Both complainants have been subject to regular threats and intimidation for a number of years as a result of their work, emanating from both Kuwait and the international community. It is absolutely essential that appropriate experts be appointed to the panel to protect the complainants and with this in mind, we suggest potential individuals who could forma suitable panel for any investigations that might proceed. We have reported some level of corruption at the level of the UNHCR Kuwait office and the UNHCR statelessness unit is discussed herein. The complainants would be willing to provide further evidence to one of the legal experts mentioned below. We ask for specialists in qualitative research on ethnic cleansing and genocide, who are familiar with this case and would understand both the theoretical (policy/programming) and empirical (fieldwork evidence) aspects of the evidence we present to you, based on qualitative social research but which also has a legal dimension. There is a great deal of evidence which can be submitted to support our case, and therefore, it would be helpful for the experts to communicate with Dr Kennedy to enable her to present evidence in a way that would best facilitate the investigation and to ensure some aspects of the evidence are not overlooked or minimised as to their impact on the Bedoon population. We would like to suggest appropriate experts who could function as the mandate-holders investigation, i.e. with regard to decision-making capacities. If a working group is to be formed, we would nominate regional experts from the five areas. For individual appointments, we recommend the following: [6.3] An appropriate expert is law is Assoc. Prof. Hossein Esmaeili of Flinders University Law School, who has experience with mechanisms used by authoritative regimes to prevent populations expressing their freedom of speech and right to assemble, particularly in Muslim contexts. He is also familiar with the application of human rights law and other law to indigenous tribal people who are ethnic minorities. He is familiar with this case and its context. An appropriate expert in law is Prof. Phillip Alston of the School of Law, New York University, a former Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions. He is a specialists who could investigate the most extreme war and post-war aspects we have referred to, with have relevant experience pertaining to regime actions in the Persian Gulf (also called the Arabian Gulf). An appropriate expert in law is His Excellency, James Crawford. He currently sits on the International Court of Justice and has an appropriate background for this matter. An appropriate expert in the social sciences is Prof. Eslbieta Halas, of the University of Warsaw, a specialist in social and cultural systems, including social and cultural growth and development and social and cultural destruction via authoritarian regimes. She is familiar with this case and its context. An appropriate expert is the social sciences Dr Damien Short of the University of London, a specialist on the theory and practical mechanisms of cultural destruction, ethnic cleansing and genocide, qualified in law and sociology. He has worked for the United Nations as a specialist on indigenous people’s rights. He is familiar with this case and its context. Another appropriate expert in the social sciences is Dr Siri Gamage of the University of New England (retired). He is experienced with qualitative social research and has experience with the systems of oppression, ethnic cleansing of indigenous tribal populations and ethnic minorities, authoritarian regimes and nationalist groups. He is somewhat familiar with this case. Appropriate points of reference for the investigation are listed below, and reflects the organisational structure of the evidence listed in the Appendixes data we will provide. Dr Esmaeili familiar with the structure and content of this evidence, including the use of source data by Dr Kennedy. [6.3] The broad historical dimension: development of policy related to the initial implementation of the Nationality Law in Kuwait • Systematic discrimination against the Kuwaiti Bedouin regarding the process of distribution citizenship at the commencement of the independent state, which resulted the exclusion of the proportion of the Bedouin who became known as the Bedoon. This historical dimension involves the processes of exclusion of nationality/citizenship from the Bedoon at the closure of the British Protectorate period and the beginning of the independent state of Kuwait (i.e. development of the Nationality Law of Kuwait in the 1940s-1950s, that would be implemented in the 1960s), including: o o o The enabling of the opposing ethnic group, the Hadar (still emerging at this stage), and a very small, select Bedouin tribal leaders, to together receive citizenship without documentation of their “settlement” or “residency” in the state, while the Bedoon were excluded from the citizenship base on the identical point of law. This process enabled the Hadar to concentrate ‘original’ citizenship (also called ‘first-degree’ equivalent to citizenship with voting rights) and access to the state’s resources crucially including access to quality education, among themselves, and subsequently, to dominate the country (the compact largely operates outside/behind the National Assembly process). Discriminatory inclusion/exclusion took place on the same points of law, by virtue of its arbitrary application of the law, by Nationality Committees. Systematic discrimination and exclusion from citizenship (deprivation of nationality) against those who did not reside within the Kuwait City walls, but resided elsewhere in the state, including seasonal nomadic residence of the Bedouin throughout the state. The investigation should account for Bedouin employed in British Protectorate and Arab League forces based in Kuwait who were promised citizenship by the state, based in desert encampments. This aspect pertains to at least two relevant two concepts in international law: ▪ Nomadic tribes people’s residence is provided for in international law in the Sahara Case (1975) ▪ The concept of terra nullius ‘nobody’s land’ as applied by the state to avoid providing citizenship to the Bedouin proportion outside Kuwait City. This process was described in my research. Bedoon males, particularly male elders, are able to provide oral evidence of this process. [6.4] The urgent dimension: subsequent development of policy and fieldwork evidence through to the present day This aspect describes the detailed aspects of administrative expulsion from the state (deprivation of nationality/citizenship and state resources) and the implementation of policies of ethnic cleansing leading to genocide. Please note evidence of all mentioned in the following points, has already been collated. While we cannot present copies of all law (royal decrees, parliamentary decrees/other forms of legislation/regulations/official procedures), we provide references to these with varying degrees of specificity. We believe that the presentation of evidence from, The Stateless Bedoon in Kuwait Society: A Study of Bedouin Identity, Culture and the Growth of an Intellectual Ideal, Volume II (December, 2016) collates much of our evidence to support our claims that ethnic cleansing/genocide and is taking place. We will add additional evidence shortly, including a copy of the points below connected to an index of evidence and/or existing analysis of evidence. For the time being, we list the issues discussed in a chronological narrative above (recommended on the UNHRC website), as a point-by-point summary that would form a good basis for investigation, below: 1. The announcement, December 2018, that 90% of the population has been erased by the Central Apparatus; that 10% will be erased in the new year of 2019, and that new identity cards will be used to list specific "original nationality" labels to 100% Bedoon population completion of erasure program. 2. Large discrepancies (losses and gains) in statistics published by the Central Apparatus since at least 2010, in the order of more than 60,000 (constituting around half the Bedoon population) over a four year period. 3. Failure to implement Explanatory Note to Nationality Law and Art. 4.4 (for citizenship grants to military servicemen/police), to expedite citizenship grants. 4. Failure to implement the Constitution of Kuwait 1962, Article 25, to military servicemen and we assert our request to consider its application to other Bedoon present in Kuwait during the occupation. 5. The development of the security apparatus today called the Central Apparatus/Central System to Resolve Illegal Resident Status (CSRIRS), which has operated since 2010, and is run by Salah al Fadalah, which carries out 'status adjustment' or 'regularisation of status' to effect erasure, also known as administrative ethnic cleansing, via the application of fraudulent nationality. 6. Administrative erasure (from 1983) including ‘status adjustment’ of identity to other nationality labels and including removal of both ethnic and national identity – also known as ‘regularising status. The current incarnation program of erasure/administrative ethnic cleansing that involves removal of ethnic and national identity at the level of individuals. 7. Investigation into the methods of the administrative erasure implemented by the security apparatus in direct dealings with the Bedoon population, at present, and in the past. This involves the collection of fraudulent nationality documents including foreign passports as (invalid/fraudulent) ‘evidence’ of nationality and punishments such as affidavit-like evidence of ‘confessions’ of invalid identities and criminal wrongdoings, and the application of discretionary ‘security restrictions’ to strip the right of nationality/citizenship under the Nationality Law (1959) of Kuwait; the discretionary restrictions are not included in Kuwait’s criminal code (i.e. invalid/fraudulent) and have been reported by the Apparatus to be in the tens of thousands. Investigation into the enforced ‘retirement,’ as part of erasure that included the confiscation of homes and mortages of men in the military services in the postwar context. 8. Involvement of the State Security Police with the Central Apparatus, for the purpose of implementing Central Apparatus policy and practice. This would require fieldwork with the Bedoon to collect evidence of this practice. We are aware of this practice but have not collected systematic evidence of it at this time. If this is to occur, the complainants would prefer to be involved in this aspect to minimize the impact of potential trauma on the population. 9. The involvement of the Department of Citizenship and Passport affairs (Maj. Gnl. Mazen al Jarrah) with the Central Apparatus, for the purpose of implementing Central Apparatus policy and practice, crossing into the Comoros Plan and threats to deport and encamp the population in the National Assembly. This should include Maj. Gnl. Mazen al Jarrah’s statement/s re: the involvement of two other states (likely Saudi Arabia and Egypt) in plans for mass deportation. 10. The involvement of parliamentarians in threats to transfer the group to desert camps adjacent the Saudi Arabian border. 11. The development of policy leading up to and implementing administrative expulsion (from 1983) including ethnic targeting across every level of the ethnic structure and restrictions on the right to found families, among other items, which impacted the population as a whole group. This aspect includes the 1986 administrative expulsion across all Ministries of government, which transformed the Bedoon population from “Kuwaiti” “Bedouin” to “illegal residents, other Arab nationality, unknown” and subsequently the application of false nationality via the ‘status adjustment’ program, also known as ‘regularising status.’ 12. 1986 Expulsion of Bedoon by a Ministerial panel in response to a parliamentary inquiry and special study into citizenship applications, removing access to education, employment, housing, marriage, birth, death documentation; text referred to desire to restrict the establishment families based on prohibiting stateless Bedoon-citizen intermarriage among the Bedouin tribes, i.e. ethnic targeting. 13. Expulsion of Bedoon from Kuwait National Census - as nationals. Formulated as a procedure connected to deprivation of citizenship and enforced statelessness, in approx. 1974, in connection with the Committee for Illegal Dwellings. 1989/1992 Whole-population transfer, National statistics office - from 'Bedouin, Kuwaiti,' to 'other Arab nationality unknown/unspecified', procedures revising census data to retrospectively apply it, 1985, 1990, 1993. 14. Development of policy of removing use of collective names of the Kuwaiti Bedouin, targeted to evolve into the officially segregated Bedoon ethnic group. 15. Development of policy to remove names of individuals from every level of Bedouin ethnic structure, to eradicate Bedoon culture and facilitate erasure of individuals (e.g. Kuwaiti Bedouin-Bedoon-Kuwaiti-name of tribe-name of father). See Appendices. 16. The above aspect was connected to multiple incarnations of government committees/ special studies established to conduct monitoring, surveillance and social control of the group, initially comprising the Bedouin desert settlements. This lead directly to the criminalisation of the Bedoon from 1986s (this is referred to as the 1986 administrative expulsion, shown in the document called ‘The Study,’ 2003), removing access to education, employment, housing, marriage, birth, death documentation; text referred to desire to restrict est. of families based on prohibiting stateless Bedoon-citizen intermarriage among the Bedouin tribes, i.e. ethnic targeting of the Bedoon due to their comprising a sub-group Kuwaiti Bedouin population identified for erasure/ethnic cleansing/genocide. 17. Investigation of a group called the ‘Academic Team’ who effected legislation in 1992 including the exclusion of the Bedouin from further citizenship grants en masse and identification of the group that could continue to be promised citizenship, appears to have been linked to the 1986 expulsion policy. This group had direct access to advise the Prime Minister on matters concerning the Bedoon, and appear to have been crucial in the reclassification of the Bedoon to ‘illegal migrants,’ helping to bury data on the group amongst other ‘illegal migrants’ who were actually nationals of other states working on expatriate contracts. The group was most active during the violent ethnic cleansing phase and the development of their policies during this phase may be connected to government announcements issued to parts of Kuwait’s population, including instructions to purify the population, and to ethnically cleanse. Their reports were made secret. This group also appears to be linked to a movement called ‘the intellectuals’ who rose in 1980, and a group who have recently appeared to denounce reform on the Bedoon issue, called Group 80 (in reference to their 1980 activities). 18. Violent ethnic cleansing (from 1990-1995) including additional preparations for erasure via removing the Bedoon population shortly prior to the invasion by Iraq (via de-registration on government records), detention in state custody leading to starvation and death, judicial and extrajudicial killings, disappearances, deportations and the death of infants in refugee camps, the closure of exit points forcing the population to exit only through Iraq, and the death of Bedoon civilians under fire of Coalition and Iraqi forces (e.g. civilian victims on the Death Highway indicated in photographs circulated globally), all never officially investigated. 19. Central Apparatus criminal activity, threats and extortion, including enforcing a program of fraudulent passport trafficking, dissemination of tallies of the number of individuals assigned to new country labels and the failure to produce plausible evidence of individuals’ citizenship in those states; The program involving passports affects international order due to the proliferation of passport traffickers operating in Kuwait, and should be investigated in this context. 20. Enforcement of self-censorship via ‘the Pledge’ of silence on Central Apparatus processes including reporting the business of the Central Apparatus assumed to be ‘activism’ (this is an affidavit-like document). 21. Kuwait’s abuse of the concept of statelessness in international law, used as an item of ridicule by the Kuwait representatives to the United Nations Human Rights Council, with which it has replaced ‘stateless’ with ‘illegal.’ The replacement of terms is used to Bedoon enforce submission to erasure and to extract complicity from external parties via its communications at the United Nations Human Rights Council. 22. Ongoing false promises, assurances and legislation indicating citizenship will be granted to a substantial proportion of the population, coinciding with failure to competently assess citizenship applications. This comprises a form of abuse, particularly alongside 'status adjustment' (as a condition of erasure is that "eligibility" for citizenship under the Nationality Law (1959) is cancelled). e.g. at least 11 items from 1961. 23. Kuwait’s abuse of the concept of human rights in international law as an item of barter by the Ministry of Interior and its Central Apparatus, with which it has replaced ‘human rights’ with ‘services’ and ‘privileges.’ The replacement of terms is used to enforce Bedoon submission to erasure and to extract complicity from external parties via its communications at the United Nations Human Rights Council. 24. Investigation into the role of the UNHCR Kuwait Office, in perpetuating the Bedoon ethnic cleansing, and the UNCHR statelessness unit headed by Mark Manly, in relation to ignoring the Bedoon situation offset by Kuwait’s donations to the United Nations. This would address cooperation of the UN missions with the Central Apparatus to acheive censorship of information about the Bedoon human rights crisis pertaining to their mission’s scope of business, particularly the UNHCR Kuwait Office in relation to returned asylum seekers from the UK, breaching the law of non-refoulement. The investigation should commence with inquiry into the relationship between Ms Hanan Hamdan with Salah al Fadalah of the Central Apparatus and Maj. Gnl. Mazen al Jarrah of the Citizenship and Passports department, especially pertaining to a meeting of December 23, 2018, joint media appearances, offical celebrations and prizes recently awarded to this group. 25. Rapid movement to reconciliation and a compensation process should be prioritised, to begin with grants of citizenship and repatriation of the Bedoon diaspora. A reconciliation plan has been developed by the complainant Abdulhakim al Fahdli, to which we add the need for reparations/compensation due to the population discussed in our letter, which we will further elaborate on in our additional documents to be provided shortly. 26. Due to the nature of the issues discussed herein, the complainants request involvement in any investigation pertaining to the issues discussed herein. Abdulhakim al Fadhli is the principle leader in the population with the most appropriate experience for communicating with the community to assist with access to fieldwork data. Dr Kennedy is the closest researcher to the group and has produced the largest body of qualitative data on the Bedoon, and is the first scholar to comprehensively document the state-based and civil society processes which have led to the current situation of the Bedoon. For all of the above points, please refer to the list of Appendices. Due to technical issues, we will provide our supporting documents shortly (we expect within 24-72 hours), but request your urgent action to commence as soon as possible. We believe sufficient information is provided herein to for you commence communications with the parties we have discussed herein. Yours sincerely, ! Abdulhakim al Fadhli (Kuwaiti CSO, victim, community leader) The National Project to Resolve the Kuwaiti Bedoon Case (Kuwait) Dr Susan Kennedy Nour al Deen (expert) End Statelessness Foundation (Australia) Attached to this document: 1. Bedoon living conditions 2. Timespan and scope of the erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) program 3. Bedoon erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) program - Government announcement December 13, 2018 4. Bedoon erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) program - Selected testimonies and other data 1994-2019 explaining how the program works (primary data) 5. Bedoon population’s recent expressions of concern about genocide in response to the government announcement erasure will be complete in early 2019 (primary data) 6. Historical process of entrapment, criminalisation and erasure of the Bedoon 1970-2015 7. First plans for erasure re: National Census expulsion 8. List of agencies entrapping the Bedoon, leading to the develop of the present-day security apparatus 9. Bedoon ‘Other Nationality’ Origins According to the Ministry of Interior (2010 and 2014) 10. Citizen Reduction - the Erasure of Those ‘Eligible’ for Citizenship 1. Bedoon living conditions Bedoon living conditions 1974 Photographs of government regulated desert settlements by Professor Abdulrasoul al Moosa Bedoon living conditions 2014 Photographs by Dr Kennedy Nour al Deen There are not public services for the disabled, or anyone else, in these areas Buildings have not been maintained by government since they were constructed Bedoon living conditions in 2014 Including homelessness, which is criminalised in Kuwait Photographs by Dr Kennedy Nour al Deen Additional photographs can be found in Kennedy, S., 2016, The stateless Bedoon in Kuwait society, Volume 2 2. Timespan and scope of the erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) program The erasure includes removal of ethnic (Bedouin) and national (Kuwaiti) identity. It has also involved expulsion from the National Census (1992), the application of false nationality labels to all government records, the generation of fraudulent identity documents issued by the state, and procurement of fraudulent passports by the Bedoon under the instructions of the state, which the state collects as ‘evidence’ of ‘original nationality,’ and enforcement of affadavit-like documents of ‘admission’ or ‘acceptance’ of the false nationality. The December announcement of near-completion of erasure has involved the issue of new identity cards to the Bedoon by government, which individuals have to sign for on documents stating they accept and agree with the nationality designated by the state, before they are allowed to see the card and the nationality designated to them. 1983 1987 1992 2012 2012 ‘Bedoon’ ‘Kuwaiti Bedouin’ ‘Kuwaiti’ Tribal names Family names (name of father and grandfather). Removal of the term from official identity documents and replacement with other nationality labels (erasure) Removal of the term from official documents in Emiri Decree 41/1987 Removal of the whole Bedoon population from the ‘Kuwaiti’ nationality group on the National Census. Reallocation to ‘other Arab nationals’ of ‘unspecified’ nationality (though specific nationality labels were used from 1983, as above) Removal of tribal names required for citizenship ‘registration’ (though the Bedoon had already registered many times for this purpose) Removal of family names occurred simultaneously to policy removing tribal names. Government claimed Bedoons had attempted to obtain citizenship by changing their family names The micro-ethnic level The ethnic level The national level The sub-ethnic level The family unitindividual level Removal the Bedouin national and ethnic identity from every level of the ethnic structure (1983-2012), adapted from Kennedy, S., 2016, The stateless Bedoon in Kuwait society, Volume I, Table 20. 3. Bedoon erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) program - Government announcement December 13, 2018 Kuwait government announcement 90% population erased December 2018, 100% erasure to be completed early 2019 The erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) of the Bedoon commenced in 1983. During the Arab Spring and in the years since then, the Kuwait Ministry of Interior Central Apparatus has touted a ‘final solution’ involving allocating the Bedoon to their ‘original nationalities.’ The identity theft and fraudulent nationality labelling simply reflects the attempt by the state to allocate every individual Bedoon who was previously listed on the National Census as ‘Kuwaiti’ ‘Bedouin,’ to an ‘other Arab’ nationality, ‘unknown.’ The attempt demonstrates the assumption by Kuwaiti authorities that those observing the Bedoon situation, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, are incapable of recognising erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) and genocidal intent, even when the erasure has been programmed into official government policy since 1983. On 13 December 2018, the Arab Times reported: 90% of ‘Bedoon’ hold IDs, original nationality documents 13/12/2018 KUWAIT CITY, Dec 12: Head of the Central Agency for Remedying the Status of Illegal Residents or the socalled Bedoon, Saleh Al-Fadhalah, has said that the agency will not bow to any pressure whatsoever from anyone, reports Al-Anba daily. He said the issue which took about a full year to study and scrutiny to solve it was presented to the Supreme Planning Council during a meeting that included the members of the Council and ministers headed by His Highness the Prime Minister. The study was also approved by representatives of all tribes and groups. Al-Fadalah stressed that he is an individual and a citizen of Kuwait keen on the national identity of Kuwait, noting that the central apparatus represented by its president and all its military and civilian personnel will not bow to pressures. “We are going on and we are on our way, as we are told in the plan of action and the road map.” He also pointed out that 90% of the Bedoon now hold IDs and this is in addition to their original nationalities. Attack Al-Fadhalah added that if there is an ‘attack’ on us, organized or unorganized, let the deaf hear that we will not bow. As we walk our way, we have a goal and we will not turn back. As for the mechanism of naturalization, Al-Fadhalah pointed to the existence of a committee called the File Evaluation Committee, and “we have the files of 65 census which we send to this Committee, which comprises members from CSRSIR, the Council of Ministers and chaired by the Assistant Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, and undersecretaries of state ministries and state senior officials to review these files and decide, thus CSRSIR has nothing to do with naturalization. http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/90-pc-of-Bedoon-hold-ids-original-nationality-documents/ 4. Bedoon erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) program - Selected testimonies and other data 1994-2019, explaining how the program works The Central Apparatus is the specific agency managing the Bedoon population via erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) and violence through the State Security Police. This agency of the Ministry of the Interior has historically worked in close cooperation with the Department of Passports and Citizenship, also under the Ministry of the Interior, to enforce the program of administrative erasure. The Department of Passports and Citizenship (Sheikh Mazen al Jarrah al Sabah) has joined the Central Apparatus (Sadalah al Fadalah) in media announcements during the Bedoon to purchase the fraudulent passports and to turn them in to the Central Apparatus offices, as ‘proof’ of other national identity. The erasure is inevitably described in the context of restrictions on genuine Kuwaiti passports and travel linked to imposition of fraudulent passports and false nationality labelling on the Bedoon on all government records, and the removal of the Bedoon collective’s ethnic and national identity, and in some cases, their father’s names and tribe’s names (Kennedy, 2016). The erasure program is known to the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. All have allowed the program to continue, while the latter two organisations have reported the program in the past but failed to describe it in significant terms, i.e. to recognise it as typical of erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing) and genocidal intent, and have attempted to downplay the program since the Arab Spring (Human Rights Watch dropped reporting the program altogether; Amnesty International reported the fraud passports scheme was dropped, despite comments from the senior government official administering the fraud program, Major General Mazen al Jarrah, during the Amnesty International reporting period). The program was first discussed by Rashid al Anezi (1989, p.263, n132, p.266-267, n152), who now advises government on international law, while government has ignored its obligations to the Bedoon in international law, while attempting to accelerate the aspect of mass deportations via the Comoros Plan, and plans to send the group to Egypt and/or Saudi Arabia encampments (see Kennedy, 2016) Feedback from the Bedoon community, Kuwaiit members of parliament and the US Embassy in Kuwait recorded over a number of years, outlines how the program works: Recent testimony of Bedoons, 2019: [Government] would convince the people that the Bedoon who have existed in Kuwait for almost 100 years and of known o origins and tribes. Is of Turkish Nationality in 2019? (Bedoon male, February 9, 2019) Who are… those who ask the Bedoon to sign a paper that says the [nationality] data on the [identity] card [issued by the Central Apparatus] is correct… Is this a law or an act of law to acknowledge and validate something that you have not seen? You are exploiting your influence and the need of others. This is considered a coercive declaration. (Bedoon male, February 5, 2019) It’s outside the law, pushing people to confess a nationality they don’t have. Stripping people of their rights make the environment and the lives of Bedoon in the inferno of the continuation of the tightening policy of 1986 [administrative expulsion] this is said about a solution [to the Bedoon problem]. Where is mercy and preservation? (Bedoon male, February 5, 2019) From the end of the year, he [Salah al Fadalah, head of the Central Apparatus] beats a fake residency for the Bedoon on the instructions of the Central Organs, and issue them with a civil card with fake anagram, which has no basis in reality, and reported to the Bedouin that everyone thinks that his file is clean, but they will add a random nationality to him, because it will be the last renewal of his card. (Bedoon male, February 6, 2019) They don’t agree to us receiving or even seeing the [new identity] card unless we sign on a paper saying it’s true (Bedoon male, January 9, 2019) The Civil Rights Act, or the so-called ‘compassionate’ law, according to the Deputy (MP) Adel al Damy, are those Bedoon who do not have nationalities and where no State recognises the Central Organ issued for the Bedoon a card with a fabricated nationality not recognised by the said nations’ embassy. We have two Bedoon: Those without Adel al Day, and those without the benefit of his space. (Bedoon male, February 7, 2019) Human Rights Watch report writers 1994-2000 - 2014 world report and special report on Bedoon 2000 During the year, Kuwaiti authorities escalated pressure on the Bedoons to secure citizenship elsewhere in order for them to remain in Kuwait lawfully. (Human Rights Watch, World Report - Kuwait, 1994, n.p.) Beginning in 1988, statistical data on Bidun in the government's Annual Statistical Abstract was transferred from the Kuwaiti category to alien population categories [reported in Stanton Russell and al Ramadan as commencing in 1992, backdated to 1985 to align with the application of the Immigration Law 17/1959 which made the Bedoon ‘illegal residents’]… in June 2000 the Ministry of Interior ended a nine month program during which Bidun who signed affidavits admitting to a foreign nationality and renouncing claims to Kuwait nationality could apply for a five year residency permit and other benefits. … Immediately following the June 27 deadline, Ministry of Interior officials announced the Ministry would begin turning over files of Bidun who had not "regularized their situation"39 to the Prosecution Office and seek the deportation of individuals convicted of violations of the Nationality Law or the Alien Residence law.40Prosecutions began on July 8, 2000.41 Later that month, Attorney General Mohammad al-Zu`abi announced that the Minister of Interior had issued a decree to establish a committee to deal with the cases of Bidun who are ordered to be administratively or judicially deported. (Human Rights Watch, 2000, Promises Betrayed: Denial of rights of Bidun, women, and freedom of expression. Note that in Human Rights Watch submission to the Human Rights Council UPR-Kuwait in 2014, despite its awareness of the emergence of the Comoros Plan as the means for mass identity transfer and deportation, the organisation did not refer to the erasure program at all.) Amnesty International report writer, 2016 - submission to ICCPR - Kuwait treaty body review While the Kuwaiti authorities assert to the international community that Bidun conceal their “true nationality”, in fact, the government of Kuwait has repeatedly sought to induce or coerce a great many members of the community into acquiring another country’s “nationality”. In the late 1990s the government induced scores, if not hundreds of Bidun to acquire passports of Latin American, African and other nationalities. In return for acquiring these passports, they were promised that their status would be regularized and with that, medical and education services would be arranged and their future secured, albeit as a third country national. Often acquired fraudulently, such passports could not be renewed and the initiative was quietly abandoned, having caused widespread suffering. In 2014 the government of Kuwait announced it would extend unspecified socioeconomic benefits to the Bidun community on condition that they acquired Comorian nationality. Shaikh Mazen al-Sabah, Assistant Undersecretary for Citizenship and Passports affairs in Kuwait’s Interior Ministry announced in 2014 that the Comoros Islands had agreed to offer “economic citizenship” to the Bidun community. He did not define the meaning of “economic citizenship” but stated in November 2014 that the Central System itself “will be distributing applications for Bidoons to request passports of the Comoros Islands”, reassuring the Bidun community that the move would guarantee them a permanent residence in Kuwait as well as access to free education and health services among other privileges. (Amnesty International, Submission to the Human Rights Committee - Kuwait, ICCPR review, p.9, June 20-July 15, 2016. Note that the statement that the fraudulent passports program was ‘quietly abandoned’ is incorrect, as indicated in the WikiLeaks cable by US Ambassador to Iraq, Matt Tueller, below, and statement by Major General Mazen al Jarah al Sabah, November 30, 2015, below. Note also reference to government ‘reassurance’ access to government ‘privileges’ will be provided repeats government policy ver batim, avoids clarification the ‘privileges’ are merely access to public services the Bedoon are entitled to receive under the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, and neglects to call the program what it is: erasure/administrative ethnic cleansing.) Prime Minister of Kuwait and M. Al Khalifa, MP, speaking with the US Ambassador, 2003 US Embassy Cable, WikiLeaks Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and National Assembly Affairs Mohammed Sharar told the Ambassador August 2 (reftel) that … there are now about 40,000 Bidoon, after some 26,000 "got their passports" over the past four years… MP Mohammed al-Khalifa… charged that officials of the Government committee investigating Bidoon cases are encouraging fraud. (For a Bidoon to regularize his status, the first step is to obtain a passport from his country of origin, in which a Kuwaiti residency permit can be placed. For a truly stateless person, that may be impossible. Not surprisingly, there are numerous reports of Bidoon obtaining bogus documents.) Al-Khalifa warned that the Interior Ministry's acceptance of fake passports endangers the security of Kuwait… The Minister said those Bidoon who “admit” their true nationality will obtain residency and work permits so they can "enjoy their life in Kuwait." He added that the Government is willing to give financial support to Bidoon who wish to emigrate to under-populated countries such as Australia or Canada. (WikiLeaks US Embassy Cable, Kuwait 3950a, August 26, 2003, communications by Frank Urbancic, ‘charge d’affairs,’ US Embassy Kuwait) Matt Tueller, now US Ambassador to Iraq, 2006 - US Embassy Kuwait Cable, WikiLeaks They reportedly try to convince Bidoon that if they declare a nationality, they will find it much easier to proceed with this transaction as well as future transactions. Once a Bidoon declares a nationality, however, he has for all intents and purposes permanently given up his chance to get Kuwaiti citizenship. The situation has become ridiculous, with many Bidoon holding counterfeit passports from places such as the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Liberia and Nigeria just so they can get the papers necessary to go about their lives. The Human Rights Society accuses the GOK [government of Kuwait] of actually posting ads in ECIR [Executive Committee for Illegal Residents, Ministry of the Interior] headquarters for shops that provide fake passports. (WikiLeaks US Embassy Cable 06Kuwait4514, 2006, November 26, Kuwait’s Bidoon (Stateless Residents): Background and Update; communications by Matt Tueller, US Embassy Kuwait - currently US Ambassador to Iraq) Kuwaiti government parliamentary officials, 2014 - after bans on Bedoon children attending primary school used to enforce Bedoon submission to false-nationalities on birth certificates (i.e. to force parents to sign ‘acceptance’ of the new identities) The announcement means the government has been providing false information to lawmakers suggesting that stateless people hold nationalities of other countries… A very dangerous development that has not been studied carefully and could lead to the fall of government. (Faisal Duwaisan, MP, ’Government to offer Bedoons Comoros citizenship. MP Slams Move Says Lawmakers Misled,’ 2014, November 5, Kuwait Times) There is not the slightest doubt that there are fallacies about the claim that most Bedoons had another nationality (Faisal al Duwaisan, MP, ‘Comoros Citizenship Offer to Bidoon lambasted’ in Toumi, H. (2014, November 10) Gulf News) On his part, head of the Bedoon Committee, MP Hassan Jawhar was reported to have said, ‘We hope that MOI [Ministry of the Interior] stops its pressure on the Bedoons to acquire nationality other than theirs; these pressures have victimised the students [government banned from schools in September, 2014] who have every right to an education. (‘Tough Requirements of Bedoon Students to be Cancelled: MOE. Record of Birth to be Made Sufficient to Guarantee Enrolment,’ 2014, October 6, Arab Times) Major Mazen al Jarah al Sabah, referring to the continuation of the fraudulent passport scheme from the 1990s through to the present day (contrary to Amnesty International, 2016, statement the program had been abandoned, above) Some bedoons have already legalized their status and got Dominican, Somali and Yemeni citizenships, yet they have to keep their passports valid to be deemed legal residents.’ (General Mazen al Jarrah al Sabah in, ‘Bedoons to get Comoros citizenship soon: Jarrah,’ 2015, November 30, Kuwait Times) Passports provided by Kuwaiti officials to stateless people function just as travel documents, and not documents of citizenship. (General Mazen al Jarrah al Sabah, in ‘MENA Report: Kuwait to analyze passport policy for stateless people,’ 2016, May 10, Albawa) Reference: Kennedy, S. 2016. The stateless Bedoon in Kuwait Society: A study of Bedouin identity, culture and an intellectual ideal. Adelaide, South Australia. Doctoral thesis submitted to The University Of 5. Bedoon population’s recent expressions of concern about genocide in response to the government announcement erasure will be complete in early 2019 The recent announcement by the Central Apparatus has led to expressions of fear, loss of hope, anxiety and depression among Bedoon twitter users who are brave enough to discuss the problem. Individuals express fear and despair over their life situation and use terms equivalent to ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘genocide’ in Arabic. Examples of data we have collected recently, illustrating the oppression and theft of identity by the Central Apparatus and concerns genocide is being carried out on the Bedoon, includes: Yes, it is our right as individuals to demand self-determination. This is a legitimate, legal and human rights, and we derive this right as human beings. Every human being has the right to self-determination. We demand the right to selfdetermination. # UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 23, 2018 They saw the stupidity and lies of the Central Apparatus, the statistics of the Central Organ. Traded such statistics, it shows the extent of falsehood and falsification of those who are Bedoon. 2012 activists and jurists called for peaceful demonstrations on the International Day of non-violence, 2 November, which was quickly turned by the internal forces to suppress the demonstrators, reflecting the government’s desire to miss the opportunity for the claimants of the right of citizenship of the category of Kuwaiti Bedoon. December 30, 2018 ‘Have people noticed in Kuwait, especially the Jahra governate, that phenomenon that has worsened in recent years: the gradual withdrawal of our ‘Bidoon’ and them avoiding mixing with the campaign of nationality? What was isolated from us [their presence in society] only to preserve the dignity of abuse by the ignorant of us; ignorance and money serve the policy of government exclusion.’ 3 December, 2018 The exposure of the Bidun to a historic betrayal of the process [of nationality]. After that they were encouraged by the government to leave the life of the desert to shelter them [i.e. the state] for a long time. They were soldiers with external threats and police to establish internal security, and the participants of oil extraction, the nerve of the economy. They lived [together] generation after generation, they betrayed them and questioned them and left them begging without a decent living. 16 December, 2018 A young man without God’s mercy sells coal. call…. Kuawit# Bedoon# Abdali# For ordering and inquiries, can To all honourable men of law in Kuwait, especially lawyers who have the oath of God to save his work and apply the law, the Kuwaiti Bedoon die from the injustice of the Central Body. Where is your division in the face of this legal manipulation? … the Kuwaiti judiciary is known for honour and victory The questions… about my situation. Who deprived me of my personal identity? And who sold false passports? And who will ensure a future? And who is the man who deprived me of my right to nationality from the beginning? 28 December, 2018 After 60 years, they are still looking for the definition of ‘Bedoon’ to remove the obstacles to the solution as they claim. Bad intentions. Splitting Bidun into rejected slices. The Bedoon are screened after this long period is denies. The people have to be convinced that they are rejected counterfeiters. The government must assume its responsibility. The Emir must issue a decree on the need for immediate and comprehensive naturalization. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide Adjust. 28 December, 2018. Kuwait 2013 donates $110 million; Kuwait 2014 donates $100 million; Kuwait 2015 donates $121 million. Kuwait 2017 donates $10 million. All these contributions are from Bedoon oil quotas in return for not addressing the issue of Kuwait without Kuwait (the Bedoon). Kuwait has paid tens of milions of dollars to the United Nations for human rights and continues to pay for not addressing the issue without Kuwait itself. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide 17 December 2018 What we are feeling is tired, hopeless, antisocial, judged, and scared, what we are seeing is inequality, impoverishment, bereavement, inhumanity and injustice. They killed my soul and my spirit then I killed my dreams, because of them. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 23, 2018 My person expectations for the coming days: The government will naturalize the [stateless] children of Kuwaitis and put within the disclosure a very simple reference to the 1965 statistics campaign [claiming those listed in the National Census 1965] modified their identity to fake nationalities. Why? In order to give t h e i l l u s i o n t o t h e p u b l i c a n d t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o m m u n i t y. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 23, 2018 That the receivable [nationalities] have been granted, and that this is the number that has been naturalised [in the past], and that the rest are counterfeited… why are there ones whose status has been modified to Bolivian passports? To encourage change of the situation, and the extraction of a very malicious scheme. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide. December 23, 2018 No education, no job, no medical service, no right to marry, no right to talk, no right to kill, no right to travel, no right to live, no right to die. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide .December 24, 2018 Without hope and without love, we are only carrying the sadness on our shoulders to bury it before it does the same to us. Are you there? #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide 24 December, 2018 The way the Kuwaiti government treats the Kuwaiti Bedoons (stateless) is full of v i o l e n c e , i n j u s t i c e a n d i n h u m a n i t y. D e c e m b e r 2 4 , 2 0 1 8 . #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide The weakest moment is when you cannot provide your children with food or clothing. December 26, 2018. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide We are in prison (an isolated area), how to leave this place without passport? December 24, 2018. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide Are you there? A call for help to UN Human Rights, from Kuwait stateless. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 23, 2018 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. December 22, 2018. #December 23, 2018. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide Be rich from forgiveness, God have mercy on us and forgive me, God the Almighty and I repent to him. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 22, 2018 A prophet sees the opinion of the Kuwaiti people in the head of the Central Apparatus for illegal residents. Of course this name has no legal or constitutional basis. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 22, 2018 Minister of Health has admitted that the Central Apparatus is responsible for statelessness and is impeding the registration of doctors (stateless) in jobs. This is confession of the minister himself, what are you waiting for it to be removed!!! #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 22, 2018 Killing shouldn’t kill you and end your life. Killing is depriving you of your human rights. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 22, 2018 The biggest fear we had was just walking down the street and seeing a [police] checkpoint, because every time I saw a police, I had to run to the other side, because I didn’t have documents to present. Like come on, I’m not even able to buy a sim card for a phone. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 22, 2018 Suffering from Kuwaiti Bedoon, which is an injustice of 60 years. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 22, 2018 Nationailty is our basic requirement. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide December 22, 2018 The injustice of the darkness of the 1965. We are [still] Kuwaitis today. December 26, 2018 We were not stateless!!! You are without humanity and without morality and without Islam!!! … Retrieve our stolen citizenship. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide 15 December, 2018 Rigging the Central Apparatus# All the organs of the state carry out the orders of wrongdoing in the racist, circular system. And thus no one has done justice to that racist apparatus and its falsification and trampling our files and fabricating the nationalities for us. December 24, 2018 Bedoon and the dream of identity and the virtuous city, they have suffered hardship and pain while they are searching for food and water in their deserts, which have given advantages to others, while denying them and their elders, and have failed them. The mirage is still on their trail. December 26, 2018 The second ruling so far is issued by the court after the announcement of the Secretary General of the Central Organ to deal with the status of illegal residence with the existence of millions of documents and document proving the truth of the funeral of those registered with him in the central office, from the documents they have PhotoShopped. December 25, 2018 If a team is formed for research and investigation of the papers and documents relating to the issue of Kuwaiti Bedoon from 1958 to this day, [it would] claim that [what] passes them was all forms and types of fraud: falsifying numbers, forgery of names, fraud of statistics, fraud and falsification of certificates, fabrication of nationalities. December 25, 2018 The director of civil information when changing information of the Bedoon in the civil information of the state, this is rigging and falsification of papers. And if the order of the virtues and its Apparatus was the first official body and entrusted to that information, you see the law involved in the crime. The law is clear and explicit and [may God] protect all who have responsibilities. December 25, 2018 Their favourite is the civil execution of the Bedoon to satisfy every racist soul and to please them. Of their rights and violation of their human being to enjoy their understanding whenever they suffer. Human violations have increased their euphoria with our torture, and this is seen daily… December 29, 2018 To help free the stateless people in Kuwait, stop the silent genocide now. #UN_Kuwait_Bedoon_Genocide 6. Historical process of entrapment, criminalisation and erasure of the Bedoon 1970-2015 The summary below describes the process of the group’s entrapment by the state, multi-levels criminalisation, administrative expulsion, state-sanctioned, violent ethnic cleansing and erasure (administrative ethnic cleansing), leading up to the present-day application of false nationalities to the whole Bedoon population. 1970 - Indigenous Bedouin settlement recast as ‘illegal dwellings’ housing ‘migrant,’ ‘squatters’ Initially, the Bedoon were managed by the Municipality of Kuwait and the Ministry of Planning, with assistance from the national statistics office. In reference to the Bedouin desert settlements, academic labelling as ‘squatters’ and ‘slum’ dwellers and demands to ‘eradicate’ the settlements, was applied first to Bedouin homes, then to Bedouin people, and then to the Bedoon in particular, selected for segregation. Academics portray the Bedouin as ‘migrants.’ Successful uptake at national policy level, leading to the creation of the security apparatus to manage the ‘illegal’ population. This was evidenced in the transition from the Committee and the Committee Concerning Illegal Dwellings to the Committee for the Study of Illegal Residents in 1985. Recent authors have continued in this way, but have not cited the previous sources. Sources: Al Khatib (1978); al Awadi, (1980); al Moosa, (1976); al Zaher, 1990; Abdo, 1988; Alissa (2013); Beaugrand (2010, 2011); Zhou (1990), in Kennedy, 2016 1980s - ’Illegal residents’ and ‘status adjustment’- demand Bedoon produce foreign passports, committing fraud The intention to shift all Bedoon into an illegal residents category via retrospective application of the Immigration Law, was discussed in the expulsion policy document of 1986 (‘The Study,’ 2003). But from 1983, the Bedoon had been pressured to ‘produce foreign passports’ (al Anezi, 1989) for status adjustment. Sources: Al Anezi (1989, p.263, 266, 267); Alwaqayan (2009); Beaugrand (2010, 2014a); ‘Hope for non-census,’ 2014; Kuwait Government Response to Human Rights Watch, 2011; Reply of Government of Kuwait to the Human Rights Committee (17 October – 4 November, 2011; Stanton Russell and al Ramadhan (1994); WikiLeaks (US Embassy Cable 06Kuwait4514, 2006, November 26) in Kennedy, 2016 1990s - Enemies of the state, fifth column, ‘Iraqi’ etc. The Bedoon were deemed to be enemies of the state along with Palestinian population in a series of scripted announcements by Kuwait’s ruler and government Ministers. Bedoon identity is no longer symbolically interpreted as ‘foreign’ but literally interpreted as ‘Iraqi.’ Mass deaths, deportations and exits. Those never charged, acquitted of charges, or who had finished their sentences, are retained in prisons or deportation centres indefinitely. Non-renewal of ‘registration’ of Bedoon by the Ministry of interior indicating administrative erasure alongside National Census shift indicating expulsion. Sources: Human Rights Watch (1991a, 1992); see also Appendix Fi and ii, in Kennedy, 2016 2000 - Thousands forced to commit affidavit fraud. Mass deportations of Bedoon mixed with deportations of migrant nationals Affidavit program adds to production of fraudulent documents. Thousands of Bedoon are forced to sign false documents to ‘admit’ they have another nationality. Affidavits supplied. Committees of mass deportation set up adjacent renewed to calls for the group to ‘register’ their citizenship claims and crackdowns on illegal residents migrants (nationals of other states who had violated visa laws). This merged the two groups. Along with ‘status adjustment’ already in progress since 1983, the numbers affected were impossible to tell. Status adjustment continues. Sources: Al Waqayan, (2009); Beaugrand (2010); Human Rights Watch (2000, 2001), in Kennedy, 2016 2006 - Status adjustment targets directed to passport traffickers. U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait reports ‘the situation is ridiculous,’ indicating ‘status adjustment’ is out of control. Those identified as having to submit to status adjustment are directed to passport traffickers by Central Apparatus staff. This is causing the purchase of fraudulent passports bearing no relationship to the recipient’s identity, threatening exposure of the erasure and involvement of Apparatus in organised crime. Sources: WikiLeaks (US Embassy Cable 06Kuwait4514, 2006, November 26), in Kennedy, 2016 2010 - Status adjustment goals published. Population numbers allocated to different nationalities are published. Major discrepancy in numbers indicating continued National Census manipulation, e.g. over 50,000 Bedoon are suddenly listed as Saudi Arabian nationals. Integrity of the National Census data is implicated in the Ministry of Interior’s ‘status adjustment.’ Source: The ‘2010 Study’ published in al Qabas, 34 Thousand Candidates for Naturalization from 106 Thousand, see Human Rights Watch (2011, p.21), in Kennedy, 2016 2011 - Status adjustment procedures of erasure published. Central Apparatus takes responsibility for identity documents by Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice citing enforced nationality labels. Ministry of Interior takes full responsibility for determining the identity of the Bedoon, based on secret, undisclosed investigations and research. It determines all Bedoon nationalities stated on documents issued by government, including birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates and drivers’ licences. Continues to deny concepts of statelessness and possibility Bedoon may be statelessness as a pretext for claiming ‘other nationality’ and assumption of criminal identity. Source: Kuwait Government Response to Human Rights Watch (2011); Reply of Government of Kuwait to the Human Rights Committee (17 October – 4 November, 2011), in Kennedy, 2016. 2012- Status adjustment (erasure) procedures streamlined to intensify submission to erasure. Security restrictions applied. Targets identified and oppressed. Dual focus emerges: • a) Those possessing some form of genuine identity documentation are subjected to security restrictions and intense surveillance. Applied en masse to tens of thousands to prevent citizenship acquisition under the Nationality Law and oppress and punish the Bedoons intellectual and leadership classes. New media laws shut down Bedoon publishing. • b) Those with no access to genuine identity documents are pressured more intensively with ‘status adjustment.’ Four categories of identity are given different criminal statuses and different capacities to qualify for citizenship. Contradictory statements issued by Central Apparatus. Confusion over concept of citizenship and concept of passport by Sheikh Mazen al Jarrah. Ministry of Interior begins to firm up its view that citizenship will never be forthcoming to the Bedoon, even for those who prove their qualification to receive it, under the Nationality Law (1959). Access to public services in Decree 409/2011(equivalent to ‘human rights’) are offered in fiveyear parcels as an exchange incentive for submission to status adjustment (identity erasure). Sources: Color ID Cards for Bedoons Soon’ (2012, April 21), ‘8,000 Bedoons’ (2012); ‘From Discriminating’ (2012); ‘Judicial Recourse’ (2012); Nacheva (April 7, 2014); Saleh, (May 12, 2012). 2014 - Bedoon children targeted to submit to false nationality declarations for ‘status adjustment’ in return for access to primary school. Bedoon children targeted to submit to ‘status adjustment’ by declaring a false nationality on birth certificates. Kuwaiti members of parliament speak out in protest. Comoros Plan emerges with caveats for prioritisation of criminal deportation and whole population deportation. Sources: Abbas (April 22, 2014); al Hajji (October 14, 2014); ‘Bedoon Children’ (2014); ‘Bedoon Panel’ (2014); Borqais (November 19, 2014; Carr-Hill (2013); Elgayar (24 November, 2014); ‘Everybody has a right to quality education’ (n.d.), The Arab Times; ‘Government of Offer,’ 2014; Group 29, 2012, p.50-51, including Figure 38; Izzak (November 14, 2014); Izzak (May 17, 2016); ‘Khatatib Bedoons’ (2014); Kuwait Education Program Achievement Report (2010-2014); ‘Kuwait Showcases’ (February 1, 2015); ‘Kuwaiti MP’ (2014); National Report on Education 2004-2008 (2008); Tough Requirements’( 2014); Toumi (November 10, 2014); United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (The United Nations, 1948; U.S. Department of State (2015); U.S. Department of State (2014), in Kennedy, 2016 2014 - The Comoros Plan is introduced - 5 years’ access to human rights to be exchanged for whole-group erasure. Access to public services in Decree 409/2011(equivalent to ‘human rights’) are offered in fiveyear parcels as an exchange incentive for submission to status adjustment (identity erasure) specifically attached to Comorian nationality. ‘Only’ criminalised Bedoons are identified as targeted for deportation to the Comoros (all are criminalised). Policy for Comoros to ‘receive onto the territory, all those deemed ‘criminals’ by Kuwait. 1,900 Bedoon are identified as targeted for mass deportation. Kuwaiti MPs attend workshops to discuss settlement of the whole population on the Comoros Islands. Other MPs introduce ‘policy’ to send Bedoons to desert camps for those who are charged with criminal offences, or speak out about their community’s situation Sources: ‘Bedoons to Get’ (2015); 8,000 Bedoons’ (June 18, 2012); 8,000 Bedoons’ (June 19, 2012); Hope for non-census,’ 2014; Kuwait, Comoros’ (2014); Kuwait Priorities Protection’ (2014); ‘Kuwait Showcases’ (2015); ‘Judicial recourse’ (2012); ‘Kuwait MPs,’ 2016; ‘Kuwait Plans,’ (2013); MENA Report (May 10, 2016); Nacheva (April 7, 2014); ‘MPs Conflicted’ (2016); ‘Magnetic cards’ (2012); Saleh (9 February, 2014); 6051 Illegal Residents’ (2014); ‘6,860 Illegal Residents’ (2015); ‘7,828 Illegal Residents’ (2016; Toumi (August 11, 2014), in Kennedy, 2016 2015 - Bedoon instructed by Ministry of Interior to repeat fraudulent passports offences to maintain access to public services/’human rights.’ Expired fraudulent passports clogging up the system as Bedoon fail to renew them. Renewal of fraudulent passports called for by al Jarrah. Bedoon show resistance to committing identity fraud as awareness of the program increases. Access to public services in Decree 409/2011(equivalent to ‘human rights’) are offered in five-year parcels as an exchange incentive for submission to status adjustment - Sheikh Mazen al Jarrah confirms this is contingent on committing repeat offences of passport fraud to make their identity and residency ‘legal’ under Ministry of Interior procedure. Sources: ‘Bedoons to Get,’ (2015); Kholaif (December 12, 2014); ‘Kuwait, Comoros’ (2014);’ MENA Report (May 10, 2016); ‘MPs Conflicted’ (2016); ‘No Plans,’ (20 May 2014), in Kennedy, 2016. Note: Additional data on criminalisation via the construction of names for the Bedoon, and the deletion of names, can be found in Appendix B, ii, Table B2 and Appendix C, i, Tables C1, C2, and Chapter 6, Table 20 respectively, in Kennedy, 2016 Reference: Kennedy, S. 2016. The stateless Bedoon in Kuwait Society: A study of Bedouin identity, culture and an intellectual ideal. Adelaide, South Australia. Doctoral thesis submitted to The University Of 7. First plans for Bedoon erasure - National Census expulsion, overturning the Department of Statistics allocation of the Bedouin as ‘Kuwaiti’ ‘Bedouin’ on census documents A diagram of Abdulrasoul al Moosa, A. A. (1976) Bedouin shanty settlements in Kuwait: A study in social geography, introducing the notion of expelling the Bedoun from the National Census, following the ‘Special Investigation by the Department of Illegal Dwellings,’ 1974. Reference: Kennedy, S. 2016. The stateless Bedoon in Kuwait Society: A study of Bedouin identity, culture and an intellectual ideal. Adelaide, South Australia. Doctoral thesis submitted to The University Of 8. List of agencies entrapping the Bedoon, leading to the develop of the present-day security apparatus 1965 Municipality of Kuwait and the Central Statistics Office with the Ministry of Planning Source: al Moosa (1976, p.161, 306). 1974-1975 Shanty Clearance Higher Committee and the Committee Concerning Illegal Dwellings The Committee concerning Illegal Dwellings was established in 1975, headed by members of all government ministries; for administrative purposes it was designated under the Council of Ministers (al Moosa, 1976, p.305). Sources: Abdo (1988, p.146); al Moosa (1976, p.161, 305-306); al Zaher (1990). 1985 Committee for the Study of Illegal Residents, with the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) The committee was chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, the Crown Prince of Kuwait, who is today the Emir of Kuwait. Additional information-sharing measures through PACI commenced for the purpose of cross-matching data on the Bedoon in different government departments. Sources: The Study of the country’s problem of the category of the ‘stateless’ (‘The Study,’ August 30, 2003); Beaugrand (2010); Kuwait government response to Human Rights Watch (2011, p.2, 3); Salem (March 17, 2012). A full printout of the news report in ‘The Study,’ (August 30, 2003) is in Appendix E, ii). 1991 ‘Reconstitution’ of Committee for the Study of Illegal Residents under al Awadi Unnamed Decree, issued by Cabinet (Kuwait Government Response to Human Rights Watch, 2011, p.3) Abdul Rahman al Awadi reports on post-war ethnic cleansing - the ‘enemy’ murder count (Bedoon and Palestinians) - to the Prime Minister, citing thousands more than official reports, carried out by the second resistance wave (Mason, 201, p.130). He is appointed to head of Bedoon Committee in 1991 while in the same position, as Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs (Kuwait Government Response to Human Rights Watch, 2011, p.3) (see Appendix F, i). The Supreme Planning Council (SPC), the Population and Human Resources Committee of the Supreme Planning Council and the Academic Team for Population Policy manage administrative expulsion of population embedded in national migration policy After the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait and prior to the resumption of the National Assembly, the Academic Team for Population Policy played a pivotal role in advising the Prime Minister and the SPC directly via its special powers. Sources: al Nafisi (1978, p.213); al Mdaires (2010, p.229, 240, 241); al Ramadhan (1995); Alessa (1981); Human Rights Watch (2011); Kuwait Government Response to Human Rights Watch (2011, p.3; Stanton Russell and al Ramadhan (1994); Mason (2010, p.130); Kuwait government response to Human Rights Watch (2011, p.3). 1993 Central Committee to Resolve the Status of Illegal Residents Established via Cabinet Decree 221/1993, issued on October 19, 1993 to March 26, 1996 Source: Kuwait government response to Human Rights Watch (2011, p.3); Beaugrand (2014b, p.737). 1996 Executive Committee for Illegal Residents’ Affairs Established via Royal Decree 58/1996, March 26, 1996. The decree established individual case files for every member of the population, ostensibly for the resolution of their cases; but actions of the Apparatus indicated this was more likely for surveillance (WikiLeaks US Embassy Cable 06Kuwait4514, November 26, 2006). It also demanded that no official papers of the Bedoon could be accepted without the authorization of the Committee (al Madaires, 2010, p.59). Al Mdaires (2010) implied that the Decree formalized the ability of the Committee to reject valid citizenship applications at its discretion, thereby interfering with the application of Decree 5/1960. Source: Kuwait government response to Human Rights Watch (2011, p.3); al Mdaires (2010, p. 59); WikiLeaks US Embassy Cable 06Kuwait4514, (November 26, 2006). 2000 Judicial and Administrative Deportation Committee July 8, 2000 Source: Human Rights Watch (2000, n42). 2009 Supreme Council for Planning and Development Established via Cabinet Decree 906/2009, October 26, 2009 to November 9, 2010 Source: Kuwait government response to Human Rights Watch (2011, p.3). 2011 The Central System to Resolve Illegal Residents’ Status Established via Royal Decree 467/2010, November 9, 2010 to November 6, 2015. The strategies used to ‘remedy’ the ‘illegal residents’ status (‘status adjustment’) were approved in the Cabinet Decree No 1612 of 2010 (Eman al Nasser in ‘Kuwait Showcases,’ 2015). Source: Kuwait government response to Human Rights Watch (2011, p.3); ‘Kuwait Showcases,’ (2015).See also Kennedy, S.2 016, The Stateless Bedoon in Kuwait Society: A Study of Bedouin Identity, Culture and an Intellectual Ideal, Appendix H, which shows a photographic record of the areas designated ‘squatter’ areas and ‘slums’ (Al Khatib 1978, in al Zaher, 1990, p.192; al Awadi, 1980; Zhou, 1990) managed by these committees. 9. Bedoon ‘Other Nationality’ Origins According to the Ministry of Interior (2010 and 2014) Status/nationality label 2010 2014 ‘Kuwaiti’ Bedoon who qualify as citizens 34,000 Registered in 1965 census, eligible for naturalization Iraqi nationality 42,000 Already ‘Iraqi Citizens’ 11,958 Iraq Saudi Arabian nationality Other nationalities, usually other Arab states not of the Arabian Gulf 58,770 Saudi Arabia 26,000 Other ‘known origins’ Undetermined nationality 4,000 Unknown 7,879 Syria + 1,856 Iran + 520 Jordan + 6,296 ‘others’ = 16, 551 others of known origins Unstated by the source. Approx. 24,000 (calculated by author: 111,000 total population - 87,279 ‘known’ origins = 23,721 ‘unknown’) 106,000 total population (registered with various government authorities) 111,000 total population (approximately – claimed by same source) Note: Sources for the data under 2010 include: ‘34 Thousand Candidates for Naturalization from 106 Thousand,’ al-Qabas, November 5, 2010 (accessed November 14, 2010) in Human Rights Watch (2011, p. 21) (I was unable to access the URL provided by Human Rights Watch) Sources for the data under 2014 include: Nationality origins according to 2014 data announced by Colonel al Wuhaib, Manager of the Nationality Department of the Central Apparatus (Nacheva, April 6, 2014). Reference: Kennedy, S. 2016. The stateless Bedoon in Kuwait Society: A study of Bedouin identity, culture and an intellectual ideal. Doctoral thesis submitted to The University Of Adelaide, South Australia. 10. Citizen Reduction - the Erasure of Those ‘Eligible’ for Citizenship Year of report Approximate number The population regarded as having formally qualified for citizenship according to the Nationality Law (1959) Kuwait 2001 37,000 The number of applications from Bedoon accepted by government as ‘eligible’ for citizenship, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Source: Human Rights Watch (2001). 2002 11,000 A plan was outlined by the Kuwaiti government in 1999, described by the U.S. Committee for Refugees (despite more than three times that number having qualified for citizenship under the Nationality Law, 1959). The remainder would be given permanent residency. Source: U.S. Committee for Refugees in Doebbler (2002, p. 543, para. 2 at n120). 2009 43,231 The number of Bedoon registered in the 1965 census as at January 29, 2007, quoted by the Assistant Undersecretary for Nationality and Passports, Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf. This condition has always been stated as the defining characteristic of the group. Source: Al Waqayan (2009, p. 49). 2013 16,000 34,000 could qualify for citizenship, but noting only 16,000 Bedoon applications were approved in the last 20 years (but were not followed by citizenship grants), according to ‘local reports,’ in ‘Rights Group,’ 2013. Source: ‘Rights group,’ (2013). 2014 36,000 Quoting un-named, government sources in The Kuwait Times, February 9, 2014. Source: Saleh (February 9, 2014). 2014 15,000 The number of Bedoon remaining eligible to receive citizenship (in this group) after the application of approximately 21,000 ‘security restrictions’ between 2012 and 2014, quoting un-named, confidential sources, Saleh, 9 February, 2014, para. 2, The Kuwait Times. Source: Saleh (February 9, 2014). 2015 34,000 Those who had been registered in the 1965 census, quoting Major General Sheikh Mazen al Jarrah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Citizenship and Passport Affairs in The Kuwait Times, November 30, 2015. Source: ‘Bedoons to get,’ (2015). 2015 8,000 The number of Bedoon out of the group of 34,000 above, who had ‘clean files,’ and remained qualified to receive citizenship, according to Major General Sheikh Mazen al Jarrah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Citizenship and Passport (in The Kuwait Times, November 30, 2015). ‘Clean files’ referred to those individuals that had not received ‘security restrictions.’ Security restrictions are secret, undisclosed offences deemed equivalent to criminal offences, which government regards as cancelling individuals’ ‘eligibility’ for citizenship, where they would otherwise qualify for citizenship under the Nationality Law (1959) (‘Magnetic cards,’ 2012; ‘Kuwait Plans,’ 2013; see also Appendix D, iv). Source: ‘Bedoons to get,’ (2015). 2016 32,000 Quoting Major General Sheikh Mazen al Jarrah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Citizenship and Passport Affairs, in The Kuwait Times, April 5, 2016. Source: ‘80,000 Bedoons,’ (2016). 2015 Nil On May 16 to 17, 2016, news articles reported that Comorian officials had confirmed their government had accepted the agreement proposed by the government of Kuwait, to convert the Bedoon population to Comorian citizenship in Izzak, May 17, 2016). The articles implied the whole population would be re administratively re-allocated to the government of the Islands. Within a few weeks, the Foreign Minister of Kuwait published a clarification that the Comoros Plan was not yet implemented because the legal process had not been completed (‘Kuwait’s FM denies,’ June 20, 2016 in The Kuwait Times). The news release showed signs of Ministry of Interior vetting, by coupling notification of sentencing and incarceration of Bedoon individuals with Comoros Plan policy announcements, which had also occurred in 2014, during the UN Human Rights Councils’ Universal Periodic Review of Kuwait. Source: Izzak (May 17, 2016); ‘Kuwait’s FM Denies,’ (2016). Reference: Kennedy, S. 2016, The Stateless Bedoon in Kuwait Society: A Study of Bedouin Identity, Culture and an Intellectual Ideal, Volume I. Doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Adelaide, South Australia.