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• Introduction Part I: Nationality in Perspective
• Chapter 1: Citizenship in the Arab Gulf States: Redistribution and Distinction
• Chapter 2: Nationality: From a Standard to a Right Part II: From State Formation to 'Stateless People'
• Chapter 3: The Transnational Foundations of the Kuwaiti Emirate
• Chapter 4: The Kuwaiti Social Pact: Conceptions and Practices of Nationality
• Chapter 5: Turning the Al-Sabah Rule into a Constitutional State Part III: Social Integration vs. State Discrimination
• Chapter 6: Administrative Violence
• Chapter 7: Biduns' Coping Strategies
• Chapter 8: External Pressures and the Promotion of the Human Rights Regime Part IV: Political Economy of Naturalisation: Solving the Biduns Issue?
• Chapter 9: Keeping Welfare Privileges, Buying Time
• Chapter 10: 'Give Biduns Their Human Rights'
• Chapter 11: Emerging Biduns' Voices? Conclusion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Foreword Acknowledgements Preface
• 1. From Invisibility to Stigma: Who are the Biduns?
• 2. The Transnational Foundations of the Kuwaiti Emirate
• 3. From Shanty Bedouins to Illegal Residents
• 4. The Manufacturing of Illegality
• 5. The Emerging 'Cause' of the Biduns: Supporters and Opponents
• 6. Sans-papiers Mobilisation in an Oil Monarchy Conclusion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The Kuwaiti population includes around 100,000 people - approximately 10 per cent of the Kuwaiti nationals -whose legal status is contested. Often considered 'stateless', they have come to be known in Kuwait as biduns, from 'bidun jinsiyya', which means literally 'without nationality' in Arabic. As long-term residents with close geographical ties and intimate cultural links to the emirate, the biduns claim that they are entitled to Kuwaiti nationality because they have no other. But since 1986 the State of Kuwait, has considered them 'illegal residents' on Kuwaiti territory. As a result, the biduns have been denied civil and human rights and treated as undocumented migrants, with no access to employment, health, education or official birth and death certificates. It was only after the first-ever bidun protest in 2011, that the government softened restrictions imposed upon them. Claire Beaugrand argues here that, far from being an anomaly, the position of the biduns is of central importance to the understanding of state formation processes in the Gulf countries, and the ways in which identity and the boundaries of nationality are negotiated and concretely enacted.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Foreword
• Preface
• From invisibility to stigma : who are the biduns?
• The transnational foundations of the Kuwaiti Emirate
• From shanty Bedouins to illegal residents
• The manufacturing of illegality
• The emerging 'cause' of the biduns : supporters and opponents
• Sans-papiers mobilisation in an oil monarchy
• Conclusion

The Kuwaiti population includes around 100,000 people - approximately 10 per cent of the Kuwaiti nationals -whose legal status is contested. Often considered `stateless', they have come to be known in Kuwait as biduns, from `bidun jinsiyya', which means literally `without nationality' in Arabic. As long-term residents with close geographical ties and intimate cultural links to the emirate, the biduns claim that they are entitled to Kuwaiti nationality because they have no other. But since 1986 the State of Kuwait, has considered them `illegal residents' on Kuwaiti territory. As a result, the biduns have been denied civil and human rights and treated as undocumented migrants, with no access to employment, health, education or official birth and death certificates. It was only after the first-ever bidun protest in 2011, that the government softened restrictions imposed upon them. Claire Beaugrand argues here that, far from being an anomaly, the position of the biduns is of central importance to the understanding of state formation processes in the Gulf countries, and the ways in which identity and the boundaries of nationality are negotiated and concretely enacted.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Summary
• Key recommendations. To the police ; To the Ministry of Justice ; To the Ministry of Interior ; To the Ministry of Health ; To the National Assembly
• Methodology
• Background. Policing gender ; Problems with the law ; Fatwas
• Police abuse against transgender women. Sexual violence, physical abuse, and torture ; Procedural violations ; Amira's story
• Ramifications of the Amendment to Article 198. Sexual assault by civilians ; Obstacles to healthcare and employment
• Lack of protection and redress.

Key recommendations -- To the police -- To the Ministry of Justice -- To the Ministry of Interior -- To the Ministry of Health -- To the National Assembly -- Methodology -- Background -- Policing gender -- Problems with the law -- Fatwas -- Police abuse against transgender women -- Sexual violence, physical abuse, and torture -- Procedural violations -- Amira's story -- Ramifications of the Amendment to Article 198 -- Sexual assault by civilians -- Obstacles to healthcare and employment -- Lack of protection and redress.
"In 2007 the Kuwaiti parliament outlawed "imitating the opposite sex", paving the way for police to arbitrarily detain, torture, and sexually harass and abuse transgender women in Kuwait with impunity. Despite a formal state recognition of Gender Identity Disorder, arrests of transgender women continue unabated. The police often take advantage of the law to blackmail transgender women for sex, and redress for police abuse is difficult, if not impossible, for fear of reprisal and re-arrest. The law does not criminalize any specific act or behavior, but rather an appearance whose interpretation is left entirely up to the whims of the police, giving them free reign to decide who is breaking the law and how it is broken. This report documents the abuse, violence, and persecution faced by transgender women at the hands of the police as well as the discrimination they face on a daily basis as a result of this law"--P. [4] of cover.

As protestors took to streets throughout the Middle East in early 2011 demanding rights long denied by their governments, Kuwait's stateless Bidun population also held mass demonstrations to protest against years of disenfranchisement and discrimination. Government forces used tear gas and water cannons to break up the gatherings, and detained dozens of apparently peaceful protestors. This report addresses the Kuwaiti government's failure to resolve the longstanding problem of the Bidun, more than 106,000 stateless persons who claim Kuwaiti nationality but have remained in legal limbo since the country gained independence fifty years ago. International law defines a stateless person as one 'who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law,' and calls upon countries to consider an individual's personal, social, and economic ties to a country when evaluating citizenship claims. Stateless Bidun in Kuwait face violations of their right to government-issued documentation, and often are unable to obtain birth, marriage, and death certificates as well as passports, leaving them marginalized and disadvantaged. Uniformly classified as 'illegal residents' in the country of their birth, they may be denied access to primary education, health benefits, and gainful employment. This report urges the Kuwaiti government to address the Bidun's protracted statelessness by providing a timely and transparent process for reviewing their claims for Kuwaiti citizenship, and by repealing local laws barring such claims from judicial review. The report calls for the amendment of current restrictive nationality laws that discriminate against Kuwaiti women by denying them the same citizenship rights as men and result in new cases of statelessness each year. Prisoners of the Past also calls on the government to ensure the rights of the Bidun while they remain stateless by providing them with access to identification documents, education and health rights, and legal employment.

• 1. al-Qānūn
• 2. al-Ḥaqq.