KUWAIT: MP Saleh Ashour on Monday submitted to the National Assembly a draft law that calls for granting children born to Kuwaiti mothers and non-Kuwaiti fathers the Kuwaiti citizenship, in response to calls of gender equality by a relatively large number of woman and human rights activists.
In his bill, Ashour said that children of Kuwaiti women should be granted the right to choose between their mothers'' and fathers'' nationality.
He stressed that Kuwaiti women should be treated equally with men, as the Kuwaiti law automatically grants children born to Kuwaiti fathers citizenship.
The draft law suggests that once a child of a Kuwaiti woman reaches the legal age he/she should be given the right to choose his father''s nationality if they wish so.
In an explanatory memo, which was attached to the bill, Ashour said that Kuwaiti women who are married to nonـKuwaitis and give birth to a child face many problems since their children are considered foreigners as per the nationality of their fathers.
"Such a suffering emerges once these children reach the school age or in the even they require health care or if they were looking for a job.
"Marrying a foreigner is allowed in the Islamic Sharia and Kuwaiti women should not be punished because of such a marriage," the MP added.
The bill amends the Second Article of the Kuwaiti Citizenship Law and cancels a paragraph in the Fifth Article of the same law.
---Al Watan, Herald Tribune
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