KUWAIT CITY, Dec 7: Kuwait fares better than other GCC countries when it comes to human rights protection but it still needs to take certain steps to handle violations committed recently, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting Human Rights Watch (HRW) Executive Director Kenneth Roth.
Roth pointed out Kuwait has been grappling with the Bedouns issue since his last visit to the country after the Liberation War.  He also cited problems related to freedom of expression, women’s rights and naturalization.
Asked to assess the situation of Bedouns in Kuwait, Roth said the interim government has undoubtedly taken positive steps in granting these people their basic rights such as education and health care.  However, the naturalization issue and challenges in the renewal of security cards have yet to be addressed.  He disclosed the HRW presented a detailed report in this regard during their previous meeting with Chairman of the Central System for Remedying the Status of Illegal Residents (CSRSIR) Saleh Al-Fadhalah, other officials and Bedoun activists.
On the position of expatriate workers, Roth said the interim government has taken certain measures to solve their problems but the sponsorship system still curtails the freedom of these workers, who often face difficulties in transferring to another sponsor, especially those maltreated by their employers.  He also highlighted the fact that there are about 60,000 domestic workers, most of whom are women, yet they are not covered by the labor law.
On the freedom of expression, Roth praised HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for instructing the acting information minister to cancel the cases filed against the media in January this year, yet some Twitter users have been arrested for criticizing the Saudi and Bahraini governments.
 “We demand for freedom of expression in all media forms, including the Internet, to allow the people to criticize the officials constructively, not to encourage them to engage in violent acts,” he concluded.