Illegal residents’ situation in Kuwait improving: Official

The situation of illegal residents in Kuwait is improving and the government will look into further measures to better serve this sector of society, an official said yesterday.

In a speech to the conference on the UN Convention against Torture in Geneva, Head of the status adjustment department in the Central Apparatus for Illegal Residents Affairs Colonel Mohammad Al-Wohaib said that the apparatus was further working on improving the situation of stateless people, noting that his country was considering granting the citizenship to a number of illegal residents, according to a press release by the Apparatus.

On the other hand, efforts carried out by the apparatus had resulted in some 8,000 illegal residents revealing their original citizenships, said the official, adding that those individuals were also given facilities to improve their living standards in Kuwait.

He noted that there was a special law which enabled children of Kuwaiti mothers to acquire citizenship, adding that on the legislative level, a draft law had been prepared to grant around 4,000 people the Kuwaiti citizenship this year. Kuwait is keen on boosting and protecting human rights and it is willing to join all international conventions and accords aimed at achieving these goals, said Wuhaib. — KUNA