Abdullah Al-Fadhli
Abdullah Al-Fadhli is a Bedoon minority rights defender. The term Bedoon, meaning 'without' in Arabic, refers to the community of stateless persons, native to Kuwait, who are prohibited from obtaining any official state documents such as birth, death or marriage certificates. As a consequence, they face difficulties in finding employment, and accessing healthcare, education, and other social services provided to Kuwaiti citizens. Abdullah Al-Fadhli has been promoting human rights since 2011; he is a social media activist and one of the organisers of demonstrations demanding human rights for the Bedoon minority. He was previously arrested for his work defending human rights in 2012 and released on bail after few days.
While the Constitution of Kuwait contains explicit guarantees for the right to free speech and association, in practice human rights defenders (HRDs) exercising these rights are targeted and face systematic violations.
