Cash for citizenship: rich Arab countries may pay poor islands to take ‘stateless’ Bidoons
Published: 15/Nov/2016
Source: Overseas Development Institute
Earlier this year the Comoros Islands, a small archipelago off the coast of Mozambique, expressed interest in entering talks with the Kuwaiti government. The subject? A deal that would grant Comorian citizenship to the stateless Bidoon population of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in return for aid.
The negotiations have been largely overlooked and even recently denied by the Kuwaiti government. We urgently need clarity about what’s happening: this initiative would both have drastic consequences for stateless people in the UAE and Kuwait, and set a dangerous precedent for vulnerable populations worldwide.
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