The Kuwaiti authorities have recently issued a decision requiring citizens to undergo both genetic and biometric fingerprinting to verify their entitlement to citizenship. This measure has provoked widespread criticism for its breach of the right to privacy. The introduction of mandatory biometric registration, effective from March 2024, has sparked serious concerns about the privacy of Kuwaiti citizens. Justified on grounds of national security, the policy involves the compulsory collection of sensitive biometric data.
However, it is accompanied by retaliatory actions that violate fundamental rights—such as freezing bank accounts, denying access to government services, and withholding healthcare from those who refuse to comply. Citizens protesting and calling on the Ministry of Interior to guarantee that the data collected will not be misused have no legal means to challenge the requirement.
Alkarama has raised this issue—among others—in its report submitted to the Human Rights Council as part of Kuwait’s Universal Periodic Review, scheduled to take place during the 49th session from 28 April to 9 May 2025 in Geneva.
The Al-Muwaizri case
In early October 2024, Kuwaiti authorities at the airport denied entry to former MP and head of the parliamentary finance committee, Shu’aib Al-Muwaizri, citing his refusal to provide biometric data. Al-Muwaizri, a prominent critic of government corruption, was prevented from entering the country in a move considered a violation of his right to freedom of movement—namely, the right to leave and return to his own country without restriction, as stated in Article 13, paragraph 2, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Ministry of Interior confirmed the incident but claimed in a statement that “the citizen left [the country] of his own volition without complying with the government’s official procedures, which include the completion of approved biometric registration upon entry.” Authorities did not stop there—they summoned citizens who expressed solidarity with Al-Muwaizri, continuing the pattern of repression that has followed the dissolution of the National Assembly in May 2024.
Previously, on 5 October 2017, Kuwait’s Constitutional Court annulled Law No. 78/2015—which had mandated the collection of genetic fingerprint data—arguing that some of its provisions were incompatible with the rights to privacy and personal freedom enshrined in Articles 30 and 31 of the Kuwaiti Constitution. Nevertheless, the authorities have recently reintroduced the practice through Ministerial Decision No. 678 of 2025, titled “Principles and Regulations for the Use of Modern Scientific Methods in the Granting, Withdrawal, Loss, or Revocation of Kuwaiti Nationality.”
The decision, published in the official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm, sets out the scientific methods that may be used in such matters—including genetic fingerprint analysis, biometric data, and any other modern scientific method currently known or discovered in the future.