By Evelyn G11
The UNHRC has come together today to debate the topic of “Bidoons” in the Middle East and their access to education, healthcare, and government. Bidoons are minority stateless individuals in Middle Eastern countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Stateless individuals are those who are not recognized as having any nationality. This creates large communities with undefined statuses. This can be a result of discrimination against minority groups, gaps in nationality laws, undocumented persons, immigration, and many other causes. These communities of stateless individuals including the Bidoons in the Middle East lack access to basic human and civil rights of the nation in which they reside; this includes access to education at any level, healthcare, employment, and freedom of movement (“About Statelessness”). Kuwaiti-born Bidoon Mona Kareem now with US citizenship has become an activist about the critical issue. She exclaimed, “Authorities don’t want us to live in Kuwait, they don’t want us to leave, they don’t want us to get passports and come back” (“US-based Bidoon”). The unavailability of these fundamental rights leads to a lifetime of severe obstacles and a lack of recognized identity for those who are stateless.
The UNHRC has previously “called upon Kuwait to ensure that no one becomes or remains stateless and provide full protection against discrimination in all spheres to Bidoon and other stateless people in the country”(“UN Human”). The UNHRC has aimed to eliminate statelessness by 2024 (“About Statelessness”). Today, delegates from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States and France come together to propose a resolution to this large pressing issue of the lack of fundamental human rights that a substantial population in the Middle East faces.
Pakistan proposed the first resolution – recognizing the challenges Bidoons face and resolving the statelessness crisis in the Middle East; contributing towards the United Nation’s goal to eliminate statelessness. Some fruitful debate arose following some submitted amendments, India submitted an amendment concerning clause 10: “Calls for improved security controls in Kuwait ensuring potential violent extremism is exterminated by aiding the creation of legal framework under UN auspices”, which passed. On the other hand, China’s suggested amendment to revise clause 3b. “Is financially supported by UN member states who contribute 0.00001% of their GDP on a yearly basis” as they believed the contributions they donate are already enough and more money would not be beneficial to their Nation. This amendment did not pass and countries must contribute a slightly higher proportion of their GDP. The resolution as a whole passed and the delegation of Pakistan is “very happy this resolution has passed as it has created a large amount cooperation on a very important issue”.
The second resolution proposed by Iran passed easily with no amendments following a very favourable motion to divide the house where all countries voted yea.
The positive vote from the Saudia Arabian delegation was a surprising turn of events today considering their strong economic and political ties to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. When interviewed the delegate stated, “as the representative of Saudi Arabia, I can’t go against Saudi Arabia’s main principles of state sovereignty.”
The delegations participating in the debate today shared the same perspective on Bidoons. Recognizing the importance of eliminating statelessness and improving human rights in the Middle East. The delegates today displayed very impressive communication and collaboration on the topic of statelessness.
If you want to explore the resolutions passed in the HRC today:
Works Cited
“About Statelessness.” UNHCR, http://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/about-statelessness/#. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
“UN Human Rights Committee publishes findings on Iran, Kuwait, Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America and Venezuela.” United Nations, 3 Nov. 2023, http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/11/un-human-rights-committee-publishes-findings-iran-kuwait-korea-trinidad-and. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
“US-based Bidoon activist ‘traumatised’ after denied Kuwait entry.” France 24, 5 May 2023, http://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230105-us-based-bidoon-activist-traumatised-after-denied-kuwait-entry. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
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