19th November 2020
This document, produced in partnership with Abolish Article 153, is an analysis of Kuwait’s domestic provisions in relation to international human rights standards that it should adhere to, and provides recommendations for amendments to strengthen its legislative provisions and ensure greater protection for survivors of sexual violence.
Although Kuwait ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1994, the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, and other international human rights instruments, its legal provisions remain inadequate in the prevention of violence against women and girls and the protection of survivors of sexual violence.
Even though equality under the law is ensured under Article 29 of the Constitution of Kuwait, which states that “people are peers in human dignity and have, in the eyes of the Law, equal public rights and obligations”, provisions are in place in the Penal Code which provide impunity for perpetrators of gender-based violence.