In a submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the GDP and the Migrant Rights Research Open Repository (MRRORS) direct the Committee’s attention to Kuwait’s detention and removal of migrants on immigration status related grounds.
The submission examines how immigration enforcement practices—including detention, deportation, and restrictions linked to residency status—affect migrant communities and raise concerns under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The report calls particular attention to the use of immigration detention as a tool of migration control, gaps in legal safeguards, and the broader impact of Kuwait’s sponsorship-based system on migrants’ ability to access protection.
Background
Kuwait is an important destination for migrant workers, particularly from South and Southeast Asia, and more recently from East Africa. As of January 2025, 68 percent of the population was non-Kuwaiti.
While the country relies heavily on migrant workers, it has adopted a policy of labour “nationalisation”–“Kuwaitization”–in which it has sought to reduce its dependence on migrant labour and increase the employment of Kuwaiti nationals in the public and private sectors. Authorities have introduced quotas for Kuwaiti hires within specific sectors, and authorities have sought to cap migrant worker arrivals from specific countries. Egyptians, for example, have been amongst those targeted, with new conditions introduced in 2022 such as requiring them to pay 100 USD entry fee, increased work permit fees, and the requirement for a medical evaluation from specific health centres.
Simultaneously, authorities have carried out a series of enforcement actions in recent years, targeting non-citizens for arrest and deportation, in particular those without valid residence papers or work visas. Successive crackdowns have led to the expulsion of tens of thousands of non-nationals, as well as over-crowding in detention centres and prisons.
Like many Gulf States, Kuwait maintains an employer-tied visa system (kafala system), which exposes migrant workers to a variety of abuses such as passport and wage confiscation, movement restrictions, labour exploitation, and physical, sexual, and psychological violence. Those who seek to change or leave their employer are left vulnerable to arrest, detention, and deportation for illegal stay. Under this sponsorship system, the migrant’s work and residence permit is linked to the employer (Kafeel), with no recourse to renew their visas independently.
Additional protection concerns have also arisen within the context of recent hostilities involving Iran, with migrant workers facing heightened risks of arrest, detention, and deportation, as well as concerns regarding their safety and access to protection while in detention.
