Deprivation of nationality in the Gulf: Stories from Kuwait and Bahrain

This article by Nazeeha Saaed was first published on Muwatin on October 2, 2025. This edited version is published on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
This post is also part of Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.” This series offers insight into the issue of statelessness and how it hinders people’s freedom of movement, educational opportunities, political access, and more. You can support this coverage by donating here.
The denial or revocation of nationality in the Gulf states is a political practice shaped by each state’s internal dynamics and governance style. It reflects the failure to uphold human rights, chief among them, the equal right of every individual to acquire a nationality and never be arbitrarily deprived of it.
In 2025, Kuwait passed amendments to its Nationality Law, making it easier to revoke Kuwaiti nationality. In parallel, the country launched a broad campaign to review nationality acquisition. Through the Supreme Committee for Verifying Kuwaiti Nationality, more than 42,000 people have reportedly had their citizenship revoked since 2024 — an unprecedented escalation.
The campaign has targeted naturalized citizens, dual nationals, and those accused of acquiring nationality fraudulently. Many affected are women who acquired Kuwaiti nationality through marriage under Article 8 of the law, which has now been repealed. These revocations were carried out without judicial oversight or avenues for appeal, raising serious legal and human rights concerns.
Many of those stripped of their nationality are now stateless, deprived of access to essential services like healthcare, education, and employment. Their identity documents and passports are confiscated, effectively curtailing their freedom of movement and participation in public life.
Kuwait’s Bidoon population has faced statelessness since the country’s founding, leading to profound economic and social marginalization, with many struggling to access education, healthcare, and employment because of their lack of an official identity.
Khadija, a Bidoon woman from Kuwait born into a family of 10, realized early on that her family lacked the privileges others enjoyed. When she was in primary school, she and her sister were forced to stay home because the family could not afford tuition fees, despite public education being free for Kuwaiti citizens.
“We stayed home and studied using last year’s textbooks until the time came when my sister and I had to help our struggling family,” Khadija recalls. “We worked to save money for bunk beds like our brothers had, and for school fees the following year. I longed to run, play, and draw like other girls. But our little project irritated a municipal employee, or so he claimed. He threatened us — and that ended our business.”

Facts Only

* An article by Nazeeha Saaed was published on Muwatin on October 2, 2025.
* The post is featured in Global Voices’ July 2026 Spotlight series, “Statelessness.”
* Kuwait passed amendments to its Nationality Law in 2025 to facilitate the revocation of Kuwaiti nationality.
* A campaign was launched to review nationality acquisition in Kuwait.
* More than 42,000 people reportedly had their citizenship revoked since 2024 through the Supreme Committee for Verifying Kuwaiti Nationality.
* The campaign targeted naturalized citizens, dual nationals, and those accused of fraudulent nationality acquisition.
* Many affected were women who acquired Kuwaiti nationality through marriage under Article 8 of the law, which has been repealed.
* Revocations occurred without judicial oversight or appeal.
* Those stripped of nationality became stateless and lacked access to healthcare, education, and employment due to confiscated documents.
* The Bidoon population in Kuwait has faced statelessness since the country’s founding.
* Khadija, a Bidoon woman from Kuwait, experienced family hardship related to educational costs and business disruption.

Executive Summary

The denial or revocation of nationality in the Gulf states is described as a political practice determined by internal state dynamics and governance styles, reflecting a failure to uphold the equal right of every individual to acquire and retain nationality without arbitrary deprivation. In Kuwait, amendments were passed to its Nationality Law in 2025, which facilitated the revocation of Kuwaiti nationality. A campaign targeting naturalized citizens, dual nationals, and those accused of fraudulent acquisition has resulted in the reported revocation of citizenship for more than 42,000 people since 2024. This process disproportionately affected women who acquired nationality through marriage under a now-repealed Article 8, often without judicial oversight or appeal. Those stripped of nationality have become stateless and are deprived of essential services like healthcare, education, and employment, along with confiscation of identity documents, curtailing freedom of movement. Furthermore, the Bidoon population in Kuwait has experienced statelessness since the country's founding, leading to economic and social marginalization regarding access to resources.

Full Take

The narrative juxtaposes formal legal processes with lived experiences of statelessness and systemic marginalization. The mechanism described—revoking nationality without judicial oversight affecting vulnerable groups like women and the Bidoon population—suggests a disconnect between state policy and fundamental human rights principles, indicating that political decisions are implemented through administrative action rather than adjudicated justice. The personal account of Khadija illustrates how formal legal changes translate directly into tangible loss of agency, economic opportunity, and social standing when identity documentation is removed. The historical context of the Bidoon population facing marginalization long before these specific nationality disputes provides a deeper pattern: systemic policies create vulnerability, which political actions then exploit to enforce a hierarchy. The lack of recourse against revocation highlights an absence of due process, transforming legal administration into an instrument of exclusion. The implications point toward how the state's internal dynamics define the very reality of its citizens, suggesting that nationality is not merely a legal status but the prerequisite for full human agency and dignity. What structural mechanisms allow these revocations to proceed without review, and how does this pattern of administrative action reinforce existing socio-economic stratification?

Sentinel — Human

Confidence

The article functions as a mix of political reporting and personal testimony, exhibiting the structure and voice typical of human-authored advocacy content focused on human rights issues.

Signals Detected

Sentence length variance is noticeable, reflecting shifts between formal exposition and narrative anecdote.

The text effectively transitions between high-level political analysis (revocation of nationality) and specific, emotive personal testimony (Khadija's story).

The statistics regarding nationality revocations are presented contextually but lack external citation markers.

The anecdotal section appears to be a carefully embedded narrative, suggesting human input focused on illustrating the abstract legal points.

Human Indicators

Inclusion of specific, emotionally resonant personal anecdote (Khadija's story) directly linked to the overarching theme, which is a hallmark of human-driven advocacy journalism.

The juxtaposition of legal/political statistics with first-person storytelling demonstrates an intent to build empathy rather than simply report facts.