Human rights concerns in Kuwait

The Human Rights Watch group has criticised Kuwait's human rights record and urged the emirate to introduce wide-ranging legal reforms.

The American-based organisation particularly cited women's issues, the need for greater press freedom, and criticised the treatment of about one-hundred-thousand stateless Arabs in the Gulf state.

Human Rights Watch called on the emirate to take immediate steps to ensure that Kuwaiti law and practice met the standards required by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Kuwait joined four years ago. The group also welcomed a UN Human Rights Committee report listing a wide range of concerns over human rights in Kuwait.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service