106
13. Kuwait GENERAL, POLITICAL AND LEGAL OVERVIEW With an elected parliament, Kuwait enjoys a level of democracy almost completely absent in other Gulf States. However, in practice, authoritarianism and repression are still the rule, rather than the exception. Although Kuwait is committed to diffusing any form of popular opposition by providing generously to its small population from oil revenues, it has still witnessed widespread political protests critical of the ruling family. The Government have initiated a violent crackdown on voices of dissent, which sees many activists, journalists and intellectuals arrested and jailed for extended periods of time. Recurring political disputes between the Government and Parliament paralysed political institutions and suspended the drafting of new laws following a decision by the Constitutional Court to void the February 2012 elections and reinstate the previous parliament, originally elected in 2009. The Court also approved controversial amendments to the Elections Law, which reduced the number of candidates each Kuwaiti can vote for from four to one, which prompted many in the opposition
to boycott the 2012 elections and embark on widespread street protests. July 2013 elections ushered in a new parliament of 50 members, two of whom were women. Kuwait continues to exclude thousands of stateless people, known as Bedoons, from full citizenship, despite their longstanding roots in Kuwaiti territory. There are at least 105,702 Bedoon people in Kuwait. The Government continues to violently disperse Bedoon protests while promising to grant them social benefits, including government-issued documentation and free education and health care. In 2014, the Government invoked a law criminalising all insults to the Emir in an attempt to crackdown on freedom of expression and curb the Bedoon protests. Many Bedoon activists were arrested in 2014.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS The right to freedom, fair trial and treatment •
Torture and arbitrary arrests
In 2014, the Government resorted to the use of excessive force in their attempts to crackdown on antigovernment protests by Bedoon and other Kuwaiti activists. On 19th February, Bedoon activist, Abdullah Attallah, was arrested one day after marking the third anniversary of Bedoon protests. The expression