07/02/2023
20317 times read
07/02/2023
20317 times read
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 7: Assistant Foreign Minister for Human Rights Affairs Talal Al-Mutairi says the criticisms leveled against Kuwait in the field of human rights are reports of concern to the US State Department, reports Al-Rai daily.
He said this in a press statement issued on the sidelines of a lecture presented by Ambassador Saad Al-Farraji, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to development, at the Saud Al-Nasser Diplomatic Institute on Monday in the presence of several diplomatic cadres.
Al-Mutairi explained, "We are not obligated to implement the observations contained in these reports. However, we are concerned with the obligations incurred by us as parties to the international agreements that we have signed in this context.
Kuwait is fully committed to the provisions of the agreements, including the Convention (CEDAW), which aims to preserve women’s rights.
The articles that Kuwait has reservations about, as they are not in line with the Islamic law, still exist. However, there are articles included in the international convention that we accepted because they are in line with the Kuwaiti constitution.”
He affirmed Kuwait's permanent cooperation with the International Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Al-Mutairi stressed, "This committee issues its recommendations, which we are following up through the permanent national committee that was formed to follow up and implement the recommendations."
When asked whether a date has been set to discuss Kuwait's report in the International Human Rights Committee, he said, "Until today, no date has been set. We are fully ready to discuss the report that was submitted three years ago. Kuwait is ready to respond to international experts in accordance with the general framework of the Kuwait Constitution and national laws on human rights.
Kuwait is fully committed to implementing the provisions of the international agreements it has signed in the field of human rights. Kuwait's periodic report will be discussed this year."
In addition, Ambassador Al-Farraji said, “The right to development is the right of an individual, a group, and the state at all levels. It is related to matters within the state in terms of participation, benefit, and the promotion of financial and moral support.
From the international point of view, aid and strong encouragement must be directed to it so that it becomes an actual deed.
The right to development is not defined by numbers or statistics, but is achieved by the extent of what a person achieves in terms of personal development in all aspects."
Regarding his assessment of the level of right to development in Kuwait, he said: “It is present in the reports submitted by Kuwait to all international references, either in the framework of its membership in international human rights conventions, or in the Universal Periodic Review in the Human Rights Council, or in the United Nations General Assembly.”