ShareBy Majd Othman
Kuwait: "She does not know what her children's future will look like" - in these exact words, the founders of the Gray Area campaign described the situation of Kuwaiti mothers who have children from non-Kuwaiti men, explaining the insecurity and fear from their uncertain future, which prevents them from getting their rights and depriving them from being secure and safe in the only homeland they know. Kuwait Times spoke to the founders of the Gray Area campaign and discussed with them, the steps taken towards spreading awareness of this cause and the steps taken to solve this issue. The team founders preferred not to mention their names, choosing to highlight the cause instead.
Kuwait Times: Tell us more about your campaign? And what is your main purpose?
Gray Area founders: Gray Area is a local civic society organization, which was founded in September 2018 and advocates for the naturalization of citizenship of the children of Kuwaiti mothers, aiming to raise awareness on the state of simultaneous inclusion and exclusion experienced by people born of a Kuwaiti mother and non-Kuwaiti father. The Kuwaiti nationality is not granted to the children of Kuwaiti mothers and foreign fathers, leaving them in a gray area when it comes to their identities and legal status. Conversely, nationality is automatically granted to the children of Kuwaiti fathers and foreign mothers. In addition, spouses of Kuwaiti men can also apply for Kuwaiti nationality, whereas spouses of Kuwaiti women cannot.
KT: What are the main issues that you are covering under the cause of children of Kuwaiti mothers?
Gray Area founders: Children of Kuwaiti mothers do not enjoy the same legal rights as other Kuwaiti nationals. For example, children of Kuwaiti mothers are required to renew their residency permits every five years in order to stay in the country. Their mothers, who serve as their 'sponsors' in the country, often cite feelings of stress and insecurity regarding their children's future. In the event that a Kuwaiti mother passes away, her children would have their residencies revoked, forcing them to leave Kuwait for their fathers' countries - sometimes for the first time in their entire lives. For children of Kuwaiti mothers and stateless fathers, there is often nowhere else to go.
In addition to this, children of Kuwaiti mothers are not legally allowed to inherit their mothers' houses, as expatriates are allowed to own property in Kuwait only under restrictive and specific conditions. Children of Kuwaiti mothers also face discrimination at the workplace, as Kuwait continues to implement Kuwaitization (policies prioritizing the hiring of Kuwaitis over expatriates) across both the public and private sectors. Children of Kuwaiti mothers also experience social discrimination, frequently citing hardships regarding identity and belonging.
Gender inequality in the nationality laws is also creating statelessness. According to a 2019 report released by the UNHCR, Kuwait is one of only seven countries around the world that have nationality laws that create the greatest risk of statelessness due to gender inequality. According to a 2019 report released by the Ministry of Justice of Kuwait, 127 Kuwaiti women married stateless persons in 2018. Thus, the common issues faced by the children of Kuwaiti mothers are the temporary residency issue, difficulties in getting a job, as well as the challenge in inheriting the house after their Kuwaiti mother passes away.
KT: Do you think that the new assembly changes will help the case of Kuwaiti children?
Gray Area founders: It depends on the candidates who will win in the election - if they support this cause or not. Despite the many candidate campaigns adopting this cause in the current or previous elections, nothing has happened so far, therefore we cannot predict the next assembly position until we see an actual move. From the slogans we hear in the current campaigns, we do see a reformative approach being taken, while if it is true, then this cause has to be in the list of reformation priorities, and if not, it will just be mentioned for the purpose of getting votes.
KT: Tell us about the campaign's achievements.
Gray Area founders: In the short time that Gray Area has been active, we have managed to raise awareness on the lack of legal rights pertaining to children of Kuwaiti mothers. We have used storytelling to offer children of Kuwaiti mothers, a platform that they can use to share important stories regarding their legal rights, social status, and identities.
Other accomplishments include activities carried throughout the course of the campaign, such as helping to combat misinformation and disinformation regarding the children of Kuwaiti mothers. During the previous elections, we created a website as well to help guide citizens to vote for political candidates that support our cause. Throughout the pandemic, we helped to raise awareness about the fact that the country was not prioritizing the vaccination of children of Kuwaiti mothers. In December 2020, Gray Area's campaign, Gray Stories, also won the European Union Delegation's Chaillot Prize for the Promotion of Human Rights in the GCC Region.
Meanwhile, in June 2022, we collaborated with the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights to create a workshop for budding activists who wished to learn more about nationality rights and naturalization policies in the Arab region. We also ran a survey in 2019 on both Kuwaitis and children of Kuwaiti mothers, to assess their perceptions regarding the naturalization of the citizenship of the children of Kuwaiti mothers and regarding their attitudes towards granting children of Kuwaiti mothers, the right to permanent residency, the right of inheritance, and other rights.
KT: Why do you think that women in Kuwait who married non-Kuwaitis are suffering to get their rights?
Gray Area founders: Women in Kuwait in general do not have many rights, especially in the political scene because of the society which still doesn't accept women in some places and the society does not understand the true meaning and the importance of gender equality. As a result of that, our local society judges the women and her marital choices and they burden and blame her if she chooses to marry a non-Kuwaiti man.
We did a campaign before about granting citizenship to the children of Kuwaiti mothers and how to respond to society when blaming them for their marriage choices, as well as their rights to choose who they want, and why they shouldn't be deprived of their legal rights due to their choices, especially when the constitution of Kuwait guarantees freedom for both genders.
KT: How do you plan to increase the reach of your campaign?
Gray Area founders: Continued awareness. We are currently working on a campaign to help Kuwaiti voters vote for candidates who have vowed to make the children of Kuwaiti mothers a priority in their political plans.
KT: How did you find the reaction from citizens toward the campaign?
Gray Area founders: More and more Kuwaiti citizens seem to be learning about the issue. We noticed a tremendous lack of awareness among citizens at the start of the campaign, but have also noticed that the gap in awareness is narrowing down. Moreover, we have also noticed more political candidates making our cause a focus of their political campaigns, which we can attribute to the rise in awareness among the local population.
