xpats discrimination in Kuwait as a result of racism and the effects of the act in the whole nation

xpats discrimination in Kuwait as a result of racism and the effects of the act in the whole nation

Abstract

Kuwait is a small country with a majority of expatriates. Approximately 2.9 million of a total of approximately 4million people the whole population in Kuwait are the Expats. There have been incidences of violence occurring between the citizens and the expatriates who come from different communities all over the world. Expatriates are the people who go and settle in Kuwait either permanently or temporary and have left their mother country. There have been several incidences in which Kuwaiti harass the expats because they don’t belong to that country. The Kuwaiti takes that they are the owners of the nation and the expats cannot be treated in similar ways compared to them. This leads to discrimination in many sectors such as labor department, hospital, in business sectors among others. This has led to psychological and mental problems to those who are discriminated against. It would thus be important to stop being blind to racism and take actions to curb this problem in Kuwait. There have been death issues due to racisms and lack of proper reinforcement of the human rights in the Kuwait government. In this paper, a discussion on racism in Kuwait will be addressed. The paper is about expats discrimination in Kuwait as a result of racism and the effects of the act in the whole nation. The researcher will use the secondary data and methodology to support the findings of racism in Kuwait. There is a mixture of expats in Kuwait some of whom are from the United States among other nations. Most expats from Asia are not well off compared to the expats from the United States and have to rely on public medical services.

Introduction

Racism refers to the act of discriminating against someone who belongs to a different race due to the belief that one’s race is more powerful or superior. In the United States, for example, there have been incidences of discriminating against black Americans because of their color and the belief that the Whites are more superior compared to the Blacks. This paper exemplifies racism in Kuwait. Therefore in this paper, there will be a discussion about racism in Kuwait based on different sectors such as; healthcare, Jaber Hospital case, Labor rights, Parliament Member Opinions (Saf’a Alhashem), Islam Actual Teaching on Racism and how racism can be solved in Kuwait.

Healthcare, Jaber Hospital case

Hospitals in Kuwait will only treat the citizens justly compared to the foreigners, and this has been confirmed by the officials. There has been discrimination against the Gulf States whereby millions of the expats are lowly paid and are given manual positions in heath care sectors. A hospital by the name Jaber in Kuwait wy8hich was built at the cost of 304 million dinars offer public services to the expats through pressure and at a very high fee yet in Kuwait medical attention in government healthcare is free. Although opt for the Westerns who resides in Kuwait opt for providing medical attention, most of the Arabs and Asians in Kuwait from foreign countries cannot afford. Thus, these expats have to pay heavy fees for them to receive just treatment in Jaber hospital in Kuwait (McKernan). Employers of the expats usually pay 50dinar per year for medical insurance fee which is not the same case for the citizens’ workers. According to Dr. Yousef al-Muhanna, a 34-year-old surgeon in Jaber hospital made a statement that the immigrant ought to be treated with dignity when seeking medical attention in Jaber or any other hospital in Kuwait. In 2016, there was a report of Kuwait’s clinic and medical healthcare banning form using the emergency services. There was a case in April 2016 in which the legislation passed on a rule to increase the prices of water for the residents in which no Kuwait nationals applied. This is racism and not fairs for the foreigners since water is the source of hygiene and people need water to survive. Those foreigners who cannot afford such expenses may end up in poor sanitation which may lead to health issues. Thus, it is clear that in Kuwait racism is an issue which has been on the increase affecting approximately 2.9 million of the immigrants.

Labor rights

In April 2013, the Labor Prime Minister Thekra al-Rashidi announced that there are plans to deport 100,000 expatriate in every year from Kuwait so that to reduce the number of expats living in Kuwait. The plan was meant to reduce the number by 1 million in the next one decade. It is only through changing the law that such a plan got resolved. However, recently, another plan came up from the minister of labor in Kuwait stating that all the foreign workers must meet a certain salary requirement for them to be allowed to stay in Kuwait. The aim of this strategy is to increase the amount of tax earned form these foreigners to increase Kuwait’s government revenue. Thus, this strategy is only meant to favor the nation’s welfare and not the expatriates. These expatriate workers are also discriminated against driving as there is a rule that they should stay for a minimum of 2 years before they obtain a driving license. According to an analyst by the name Hind Francis, foreigners are always blamed for Kuwait’s social illness, and this is just meant to support the idea that foreigners should not participate in parliament issues or any form of authority. The payment of workers is also unfair compared to the payment made for the real citizens in Kuwait. According to Al-Saley an Mp in Kuwait, deportation of expats would help the nation to reduce the unemployment in Kuwait for the sake of Kuwaiti who are unemployed. However, he claimed that deportation of the expatriates would have to be done in a just way which honors them dignity.

Parliament Member Opinions (Saf’a Alhashem)

The government-parliament in Kuwait held a meeting on September this year to discuss financial fees on services the expatriates receive. However, these opinions had to come from the Kuwaitis who are members of the parliament in the government (Saleh). It thus means that the foreigners are not given an opportunity to speak their minds concerning the same issues. They would have to accept the parliament opinion about the government using this method to achieve the economic reforms planned for Kuwait to grow economically. The opinions from the parliament members in Kuwait suggest ideas like imposing insurance cover for health care services for all the immigrants. The fees are only meant for the expats residing in Kuwait, and this can be extended to all the visitors who visit Kuwait. The healthcare and the legislative authority agreed on implementing health fees, and no expats opinion was involved in such discussion. The parliament members have other plans of building new hospitals for only expats who will be treated with heavy insurance fees. The political positions are only persevered for the citizens and discriminating against those expat who would wish to contest on political rallies. This is since the Kuwait government would not wish a situation in which expats would have positions in the parliament and raise opinions to fight for expatriates rights. This has made it possible for the expats to be discriminated against in Kuwait in many departments. In situations where Kuwaiti discriminates against the expats, the cases end up concealed, and there is no justice done for the expats. The expats suffer in silent because the racism is always twisted and the government does not practice racism directly. There are always explanations for a new strategy intended to discriminate the expats making it impossible for the legislative authority to detect this problem and fight for every human rights in Kuwait. For example, the idea of deporting expats form Kuwait is explained by an excuse of trying to curb unemployment in Kuwait which sounds so logic (Saleh). Corruption is also on the increase in Kuwait such that in case of racism is detected; there is a corrupt action to keep everything in silent. This makes it hard to fight for the expatriate’s rights in Kuwait since even the government is involved in practicing racism and the foreigners have no department in government sector to take their complaints and grievances

Islam Actual Teaching on Racism

In most schools in Kuwait, Islam teaches students on how to oppose discrimination based on religion beliefs. Many teachers in Kuwait teach students against racism and in both primary and secondary education racism syllabus are discussed. Therefore, even Muslims are fighting against racism using creating awareness to young students as they start education. There have been incidences of Muslim discrimination in Kuwait because of their beliefs which makes Islam teach against racism in schools among other public and private institutions. For example, in Kuwait, a woman by the name Fouzia Khatun raised a complaint back in 2016 of being discriminated in job sectors because she had hijab. She posted on the Instagram that the nursery which she was to be hired discriminated her due to religion issues. However, there have been incidences of racism based on other factors apart from religion. Fouzia Khatun wrote in her wall” I will always consider myself as one lucky person because I have never been a victim of Islamophobia or racial discrimination” This is proof that racism is present in Kuwait and it’s practiced openly without any fear. Many teachers in Kuwait teach students against racism and in both primary and secondary education racism syllabus are discussed. Therefore, even Muslims are fighting against racism using creating awareness to young students as they start education. Islam plays a role in opposing racism in Kuwait through enlightening young Muslims about the side effects of racisms and teaching them the importance of treating every human being with love despite their religion. However, this has not managed to curb racism in Kuwait as racism is on the hike and no appropriate measures are taken to prevent it.

How can I help?

Promoting international community education on religion tolerance especially on the Palestinians can help. This is where I would create awareness to the population in Kuwait about tolerating and respecting every person’s religion beliefs which can help to reduce discrimination and racism in Kuwait. The international population who relocate to Kuwait should also be educated about their rights and be courageous enough to fight for freedom among other rights in Kuwait. I believe this can help to create transparency in Kuwait about racism and expose such behavior to the ministry of human rights for disciplinary action to be taken.

I suggest the government come up with a policy on wages and salary for both the citizens and the expats which ought to be equal in working sector. This policy would help to avoid many employers from discriminating the expats regarding amount of salary they offer to the expats. Ministry of labor should also ensure that such policies are implemented in the working areas to create awareness to all the employers that every worker whether expat or Kuwaiti deserve fair remuneration in the working organization

I suggest that the expats should be allowed to raise their opinions in the parliament and also be allowed to occupy positions in the authority and politics. This can help to have expatriates in the government sectors who could talk about behave of all the expats and take care of their welfare. Expats in government positions in Kuwait could have better experience about the other expats in Kuwait and thus attend to their problems accordingly. This can prevent corruption on racism issues and also ensure that any racism offense is treated with justice.

I can encourage teachings against racisms starting form nursery school all the way to tertiary level. This will give a strong foundation against racisms and children will grow knowing racism is not good. This can promote the reduction of racism in future by creating solidarity in the upcoming generation. Eventually, racism will come to an end in Kuwait by following this strategy. Teachers should also teach through example. They should not discriminate against any expat student in school or treat them with distaste. The other students will follow the teacher’s example and thereby residing racism in Kuwait. Punishment should follow racism incidences conducted by young children in school. Could there be an incidence where a Kuwaiti student discriminates an expat, the school management should punish Kuwait to alter the poor behavior. This will also serve as a warning to other students who may be tempted to harass expats students studying in Kuwait. The children will, therefore, know when they are still young that racism is an offense and as they become adults both expats and citizens in Kuwait will work together with unity and love.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there have been several incidences in which Kuwaiti harass the expats because they don’t belong to that country. The Kuwaiti takes that they are the owners of the nation and the expats cannot be treated in similar ways compared to them. This leads to discrimination in many sectors such as labor department, hospital, in business sectors among others. This has led to psychological and mental problems to those who are discriminated against. It would thus be important to stop being blind to racism and take actions to curb this problem in Kuwait. There have been death issues due to racisms and lack of proper reinforcement of the human rights in the Kuwait government. Racism in Kuwait based on different sectors such as; healthcare, Jaber Hospital case, Labor rights, Parliament Member Opinions (Saf’a Alhashem), Islam Actual Teaching on Racism and how racism can be solved in Kuwait as discussed above.

Work Cited

McKernan, Bethan. Kuwaiti hospital “will refuse to treat migrant laborers’. 2017. <www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/kuwait-city-migrant-workers-discrimination-new-hospital-a7593406.html>.

Saleh, Khalil Al-. Migrant workers suffer from racism govt decisions: Kuwait Human Rights Society. 2017. <www.arabtimesonline.com/news/migrant-workers-suffer-racist-govt-decisions-kuwait-human-rights-society/>.