In its Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Kuwait’s human rights record was examined officially under international scrutiny on May 7, 2025, by the UN Human Rights Council. Kuwait is in the fourth cycle of the UPR session and the meeting highlighted the advances, backsliding and opposition on the current reforms. The Kuwaiti representatives at Geneva were headed by Minister of Justice Nasser Alsumait who responded to enquiries and suggestions by member countries.
This review, which is done periodically, including all the 193 members of the UN, involves states giving a report on progress made in terms of human rights, and answering the assessments of the UN organizations and civil society groups. Being planned on a collaborative basis, it is in many cases a window into the conflict between national states and the global human rights anticipation. The session in Kuwait 2025 was not an exception.
Reform Steps and Enduring Obstacles
Legislative Changes and Positive Developments
Since the last review, Kuwait has made various changes to the law. Minimum age of marriage has been raised to 18 years and Article 153, which decreased penalties on honor crimes, has been repealed, and it was recognized as significant. Such transformation was fulsome of commendation by both the European missions and UN special rapporteurs. Some member states highlighted Kuwait’s measures to strengthen women’s rights and promote gender inclusion in governance.
Minister Alsumait said these advancements are evidence of serious commitment by Kuwait towards the importance of human rights and the objective of being involved in international discussions. Once again, he said that Kuwait was open to the feedback and that it will undertake a nationwide consultation in 2025 to consider all the 290 recommendations it had received.
Statelessness and the Bidoon Community
Although the subject of legal changes has improved, Kuwait is facing a lot of scrutiny concerning the way it treats stateless individuals, particularly Bidoon group. More than 60,000 people, between whom a great number are native-born Kuwaiti, have no citizenship. Such people have limited access to education, health and work, and to the systems of civil documentation.
Analysts of human rights were incensed that new changes to the Nationality Law resulted in the denaturalization of nearly 30, 000, mostly wives who are foreign nationals of Kuwaiti husbands. Such reversal of the legal position gives rise to a major concern regarding Kuwait and international law. The representatives of the United Kingdom suggested Kuwait to guarantee maintained accessibility to privileges and services to the women who are stripped of their citizenship.
UN agencies and Non Governmental Organizations have appealed to give a clear and transparent procedure to acquisition of nationality to the Bidoon and to ensure that arbitrary denationalization is curbed.
Judicial System and Capital Punishment
Resumption of Executions
Kuwait restarted executions making it of international concern. In Kuwait, the death penalty was reintroduced after a moratorium period between 2007 and 2013, and an estimated 54 are now under capital punishment, and at least 24 executions have occurred. In September 2024 alone, six executions occurred, all of them on persons convicted of murder.
Such advances have prompted other countries such as the UK, Germany and Sweden to request Kuwait to restore its moratorium and consider permanent abolition. The state of Kuwait is also being challenged in reports to enhance transparency through publishing disaggregated data of the use of capital punishment and demographics of prison.
Discrimination in Criminal Justice
Legal scholars and human right advocates pointed at the deep-rooted inequality in Kuwait’s criminal justice system. Stateless, migrant workers, and women are more vulnerable to the inequalities of access to legal representation and flawed sentencing. The Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Law were called to be amended in order to ensure that there is more oversight of judges and that there is a lesser possibility of arbitrary detention.
Civic Freedoms Under Strain
Press and Speech Restrictions
One of the issues expressed in the UPR of Kuwait is the decline of freedom of expression. Despite the constitutional safeguards, the reports of civil society show an almost consistent practice of arrests, intimidation, and internet curbing of journalists, blog writers, and previous political leaders.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, working in partnership with the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, recorded a number of examples of harassment, travel restrictions and shutdowns of independent media outlets. According to critics, these trends symbolize an organized process to minimise conflict and decrease the capacity of people to hold discussions.
The Nordic countries and the EU urged Kuwait to bring its local legislation into line with article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights so that it is not a criminal offence to criticize the government on the basis of cybercrime and national security laws.
Civil Society and Assembly Rights
International NGOs cautioned that the condition of registration, cash financing and the issuance of licenses to comprise NGOS participation in civil society activity. Oppressive legislations restrict the capability of organizations to lobby towards human rights, gender and environment.
The highlight of the delegation of the UK was on the importance of the transparent and equitable form of regulation protecting the right to peaceful assembly and association in accordance with international standards.
Labor Protections and Structural Inequality
Migrant Labor and Domestic Workers
The Kuwait labor market has continued to rely on foreign labor especially in both domestic and construction sectors. The kafala system has been abused even after the signing of ILO conventions by the governments and certain reforms adopted. The workers encounter exploitative working contracts, wage delays, taken passports, and impossibility to seek justice.
The human rights dialogue held between the EU and Kuwait in December 2024 highlighted the need to implement protection measures at workplaces and increase the scope of monitoring and reshaping the sponsorship system. Changes have not achieved a significant effect in the supervision of mechanisms and grievance arrangements.
Anti-Discrimination and Equal Access
Though the Kuwait Constitution prevents discrimination, there is not an equal implementation. People without nationality, women and non-citizen residents experience unfair treatment with regard to accessibility to governmental services and employment. The international observers have requested Kuwait to implement broad based anti-discrimination laws and enhance gender and nationality equality provisions of social and economic rights.
Sovereignty and the Politics of Accountability
Kuwait’s Response to Criticism
In the Geneva session, Minister Alsumait spoke on behalf of Kuwait to uphold the sovereignty of the nation and the need to be minimal on the politicization of the human rights evaluation. He said
“We reject attempts to use international platforms as tools for pressure,”
citing concerns also expressed by other countries of the Global South in this regard about selectivity in scrutiny in international mechanisms.
The leadership of Kuwait believed that constructive dialogue was based on respect, and only then can significant steps be made in the right direction, not by applying external pressure. The official reaction to the 290 recommendations will take place during the next 60 th Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
The Balance Between Sovereignty and Obligation
This tension—between respecting national sovereignty and ensuring adherence to international human rights norms—defines Kuwait’s position in the global human rights landscape. While Kuwait continues to engage with international mechanisms, it remains cautious of reforms that appear externally imposed or politically motivated.
International and Civil Society Reactions
Kuwait’s engagement with the UPR has been cautiously welcomed by the international community. While progress in women’s rights and legal reforms is acknowledged, key areas—statelessness, freedom of expression, and due process—remain unresolved.
Civil society actors, including both domestic organizations and international partners, continue to push for accountability and concrete benchmarks. Their role in documenting abuses, supporting marginalized groups, and participating in consultations will be crucial in translating recommendations into policy.
Regional Context and Future Directions
Kuwait was playing the leading role in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and was relatively more open to politics compared to other partners in the region. However, it has the same challenges: balancing the old forms of governing the nations and global demands to respect human rights.
Regional background also encompasses continuous controversies on judicial reform, citizenship acts, as well as media rights. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE closely monitor each other in terms of development, and both share their conditions in terms of legal cultures and political trends.
Expert Perspectives
Beckett Unite has addressed the issue, stating that it is not easy to tie the domestic reform patterns with international pressure systems. In his argument, UPR although a structured form of dialogue is also based on the concept of human rights as a given that when there is compliance, human rights are respected or when there is defiance, it is not respected which reduces the scale to understand the context of local political reality.
The remarks by Beckett point to the requirement of global standards being applied uniformly and the risks of picking and choosing when to bring them into effect:
The Kuwaiti 🇰🇼 parliament expels an Israeli 🇮🇱 delegation:
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) April 13, 2024
“The most dangerous type of terrorism and it’s State terrorism.”
Israel 🇮🇱 should be treated by all as a pariah, terrorist nation:
Boycott Israel
Arms embargo
Sanctions
The Hague now.pic.twitter.com/2ATbNCxaYD
The Road Ahead for Rights and Reform
Kuwait in its 2025 Universal Periodic Review gave an elaboration of the reforms which have been done and issues that remain to be addressed. The legal reforms are significant, yet adoption and inclusion of laws- notably to the stateless, political critics and the vulnerable workers are indispensable.
Whether Kuwait chooses to act decisively on the 290 recommendations or continues to resist external scrutiny under the banner of sovereignty will shape not only its international image but also the future of its citizens’ rights. With the changing regional patterns and global demands, the role of constructive engagement in leaving permanent reform will be measured by what Kuwait would do next.
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