Human rights panel to issue Kuwait rights report

KUWAIT: MP Riyadh Al-Adasani yesterday strongly criticized the government economic policies especially its decision to borrow to finance the budget deficit resulting from low oil revenues. He said that the government has issued bonds in the international market worth $8 billion and it is not clear how it intends to use them, adding that five public establishments have been holding profits worth KD 20 billion in cash without transferring them to public finances. He said that the government should have utilized part of the funds instead of issuing bonds, adding that the government intends to raise the borrowing ceiling to around KD 20 billion shortly.

The lawmaker, who filed along with MP Shuaib Al-Muwaizri to grill the Prime Minister rejected any attempt by the government to scrap the grilling or to debate it behind closed doors. He said the grilling is 100 percent constitutional as it deals with the premier responsibilities in supervising the state's public policies. Adasani said that hiking prices of essential commodities will not resolve the problem but will complicate it as it is not acceptable to tax the people to finance the budget deficit. He said that if lawmakers give the prime minister more time without grilling him, the level of corruption in the country will only increase.

In the meantime, head of the National Assembly Human Rights committee MP Adel Al-Damkhi said the panel has drawn the main framework for the annual report on human rights conditions in the country. He said the report will cover issues on public freedoms, the freedom of speech and expression, trafficking in persons and Kuwait's commitments for the UN human rights council. He said the report will also cover the rights of stateless people or Bedouns, the rights of workers, the conditions of prisons and detention centers, the rights of women and children and backing Kuwait for applying the death penalty. Damkhi said that it is not necessary that the report will be all positive as it will contain some positive aspects.

By B Izzak