Kuwait: Kuwait official has announced that the country will launch the ‘Tayseer’ electronic platform soon, with the aim of appointing illegal residents Bidoons instead of expatriate workers in the private sector, local media reported on Sunday, May 29.
The Director-General of the Public Authority for Manpower in Kuwait, Ahmed Al-Mousa, said in statements to the Arabic daily Al-Qabas, “The launch of the platform to register job seekers in the private sector for the category of illegal residents comes in coordination with the Central Agency to address their situation.”
He pointed out that the platform is an institutional mechanism to regulate the participation of illegal residents in the labour market in a more positive and effective manner to create more job opportunities for them.
He further stated that “the general goal of this step is to replace the Bidoon with expatriate workers to preserve the demographic structure, preserve their rights under the umbrella of the law, and provide them with adequate benefit through these opportunities, in line with their qualifications and inclinations.”
The Bidoon, or stateless, are illegal residents of Kuwait and do not hold the nationality of any country.
Kuwait considers that most of its stateless are immigrants from other countries who have hidden their original nationalities.
While human rights organizations supporting them say that with the emergence of the modern state in the Gulf in the 1960s, many did not apply for citizenship, either because they were illiterate or could not provide documents, or did not know the importance of citizenship.
According to government data, at least 85,000 Bidoon live in Kuwait, but human rights organizations say their number may reach 200,000.
In March, Bidoon activists in Kuwait staged a weeks-long hunger strike in an effort to pressure the government to grant them their full rights.
