Online Racist Group In Kuwait Causing Amnesty International Condemnation

Amnesty International is hitting out at a Kuwaiti online group attempting to foster hatred and cause disputes between nationals and expats.

The group, at present calling itself ‘Kuwait Movement against the Marginalisation of Competent Kuwaitis’, is being strongly criticised by Khalil al-Shamroukh, Amnesty International’s member councillor in the emirate, who believes the movement is unpatriotic as its actions are distorting Kuwait’s international reputation. He’s also branding its recent name change from ‘Kuwait Movement against the Penetration of Expatriates as a move attempting to hide its members’ nefarious aims and true nature. Al Shamroukh is also planning to complain to Kuwait’s Cyber Crimes General Department about the group’s attempts to promote racism by using fake social media accounts.

At the same time, expats in Kuwait are having difficulty using their online health insurance payment pages since the option of manual payments was discontinued at the end of last month. Expats unable to use the online service include those with newborn babies, holders of new or recently extended passports, expatriate children who’ve just reached 17 or 18 years of age and those who’ve changed their names on their passports. According to sources, Kuwait’s Ministry of Health is now working to complete unfinished transactions by reopening a temporary manual payment system.

Also in the news for expats in Kuwait is a recent call by environmental activists to charge fees for access to all public utilities including Kuwait’s popular beaches in order to maintain cleanliness and restrict access. The group maintains the beaches are left covered in leftover lunches and littered with garbage. According to the activists, expats as well as locals are complaining about the state of the beaches and are concerned over environmental issues in the emirate.