Basra Human Rights Commission Calls for Action on Iraqi Women Stranded in Kuwait After Citizenship Revocation

Basra Human Rights Commission Calls for Action on Iraqi Women Stranded in Kuwait After Citizenship Revocation
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The High Commission for Human Rights in Basra has said it contacted the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office, urging urgent measures to address the situation of several women of Iraqi origin, most of them from Basra, after their Kuwaiti citizenship was revoked, leaving them facing serious humanitarian and legal difficulties.

Mahdi Al-Tamimi, director of the commission’s office in Basra, said the commission called on the Prime Minister’s Office to instruct the Ministry of Interior to send a specialized team to Kuwait to reissue official Iraqi documents for the affected women, given the difficult humanitarian conditions they are facing.

Al-Tamimi explained that some of the women are married to Kuwaiti citizens, and some have obtained court rulings granting them custody of their children. However, Kuwaiti authorities require valid Iraqi documents before issuing them legal residency permits. The women are unable to obtain those documents because their records were previously removed from Iraqi civil status departments after they acquired Kuwaiti citizenship.

He added that Kuwaiti authorities also withdrew the women’s official documents, including passports and identity cards, worsening their living and humanitarian conditions. He stressed the need for swift Iraqi government action to reissue their Iraqi documents and help resolve their legal status.
The issue comes as Kuwaiti authorities continue reviewing citizenship files. Kuwait’s Higher Committee for Nationality Investigation has announced the revocation and withdrawal of citizenship from thousands of people under the provisions of the 1959 Kuwaiti Nationality Law and what it described as the “higher interest of the country.”