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Kuwait

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Kuwait

Al-Sabah Dynasty Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prime Minister Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah National Assembly Political parties Elections: 2006, 2008, 2009 Governorates (muhafazah) Districts Foreign relations Human rights Key Political Issues Impeachment Votes

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Human rights in Kuwait are mixed. Whereas male Kuwaiti nationals enjoy a moderate range of rights, there are severe allegations of human rights abuses among foreign nationals. Kuwait uses the death penalty for serious crimes like murder and drug trafficking.

Contents 1 Treaties 2 Human Trafficking 3 Women's Rights 4 Press 5 Katherine Phillips detention incident 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Treaties

Kuwait is a party to several international human rights treaties, including^[1]

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
• Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery
• Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
• United Nations Convention Against Torture
• Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour
• Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour
• Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
• Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
• Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
• Convention against Discrimination in Education

[edit] Human Trafficking

In June 2007, Kuwait became among the worst offenders in human trafficking according to a report issued by the United States Department of State. The inclusion was due to the Kuwait government's repeated failure to tackle the problem. Migrant workers were often subject to poor housing, severe beatings, confiscation of passports, and extremely long hours with little or no wages. Migrant workers were also placed under the sponsor system which puts them under the mercy of their employers restricting their movement which has been widely described as "modern day slavery".^[2][3]

[edit] Women's Rights

In June 2007 the National Assembly of Kuwait unanimously passed a law to restrict the hours that women are allowed to work. The law bars women from working between 8:00 pm and 7:00 am with an exception for women working in the medical profession. Women are also prohibited from jobs that "contravene with public morals" and that require women to be in otherwise all-male environments.^[4]

[edit] Press

Inthe mid 2000's Kuwait ranked 85th in the Reporters Without Borders world survey of the freedom of the press^[5]. According to the 2004 full report, Kuwait ranks among the most free countries in the Middle East for the press, but there is still widespread self-censorship of local and foreign press, and certain subjects are understood to be taboo.^[6]

[edit] Katherine Phillips detention incident

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (October 2009)

One noted human rights situation was the incident in which Katherine Phillips, an American educator and former vice-principal of the private Al-Bayan Bilingual Middle School in the Gulf State Kuwait,^[7] was detained.^[8][9] It stemmed from an incident in which Phillips disciplined the son of Fawaz al Marzoug, who felt Phillips unfairly disciplined his son, Khalid Al Marzou, when Khalid broke up a fight on school grounds. Instead of rewarding the boy Phillips punished him which Marzouq felt was unfair.^[10] This case in particular had caused widespread concern among US overseas educators.^[7][9]

On June 13, 2007, Phillips was at the Kuwait International Airport intending to leave the country. She was stopped at immigration where she was informed that there was a case against her, pending further investigation and that a travel ban had been placed on her 15 months after the incident.^[10] Phillips has said, "The parent said that he would make this personal and this seems to be what he is intent upon doing." ^[7][8]

The case of Katherine Phillips made headlines in the local and international press after the teacher posted on the Internet a letter, asking for help.^[7][8][9] The incident also sparked comment in many blogs, particularly ones dealing with the issues of westerners residing in the middle east, and ones dealing with overseas educators.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}

The U.S. embassy in Kuwait confirmed in a statement a travel ban had been imposed on her, adding its consular section was in contact with the authorities to help Phillips leave Kuwait as soon as possible.^[8][9][10]

On Tuesday, 3 July, 2007, due to the efforts of Al Bayan Bilingual School management, Kuwaiti legal counsel and the Kuwait Human Rights Society the situation regarding Phillips was resolved, and she was allowed to leave the country.^[7][10]

[edit] See also

• LGBT rights in Kuwait
• Religion in Kuwait

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Censorship in Kuwait - IFEX
• Kuwait Health - Promoting health reform

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