Kuwait

August 2016: CAAC Open Debate: “Israel has been destroying schools and recreation centres”.

March 2017: Bede wrote to the Ambassador in France to encourage participation in Buenos Aires. Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools.

October 2017: GCPEA met with the expert in Geneva. She expressed skepticism about the possibility to mitigate the effects of bombardments, e.g. in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, but pledged to share the information with capital.

January 2018: GCPEA and HRW (Zama) met with the Kuwait mission and were promised a positive note back to capital. She agreed that Feb when Kuwait has the presidency would be a good time to announce. She cared what other GCC countries had endorsed. Unfortunately, she will not be making the decision! But she will report to her ambassador and to capital. HRW plans to raise it in capital and with the DC ambassador’s wife.

February 2018: GCPEA wrote to Mission in Geneva to advise of upcoming HRC activities, NY meeting, share framework in Arabic, and ask for an update.

July 2018: Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).

August 2018: Sent an email to the mission in Geneva requesting for a meeting. No success.

February 2019: GCPEA met with the Advisor. He reassured that Kuwait was supporting humanitarian issues across the globe, and that they support the aims of the Declaration politically. He shared that Kuwait will provide a statement during the Clustered Interactive Dialogue with SRSG on “violence against children” and “children and armed conflict”. The Interactive Dialogue is part of the 40th Session of the Human Rights Council and will take place on 5th March. He seemed interested in the Spain conference and took careful note of it. He promised to make a positive recommendation for endorsement to capital.
Follow-up: GCPEA followed up in writing, sharing a letter for the Foreign Minister. The letter was transmitted to capital.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG Ms. Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva:referred to the issue of attacks on/or and military use of schools.

April 2019: GCPEA (Zama) had a positive meeting with the Permanent Mission in New York. They said there were no obstacles to endorsing and that Kuwait is currently looking at the prospect of signing the Declaration during the Spain conference.

October 2019: Nevena followed-up with the Advisor in the Mission in Geneva and requested a meeting.

October 2019: Kuwait endorsed the Vancouver Principles.

October 2019: She was very positive and open to the initiative. She remembered meeting with Zama earlier this year and said that she had made a positive recommendation to capital. She felt that the only reason Kuwait hadn’t signed yet was because of the slow bureaucratic process in the Ministry. She said that advocacy meetings are useful as it allows them to continue the internal conversation and push for endorsement. She shared that following advocacy by civil society, the government had decided to endorse the Vancouver Principles. She was interested to hear how Kuwait could implement the commitments of the Safe Schools Declaration. I responded that we encourage countries to revise existing codes of conduct, policies, and military doctrines, to include protection education from attack and military use, in line with the Safe Schools Declaration and the Guidelines. I shared the findings from the research in Nigeria and the DRC and how the Declaration can be a tool for protecting girls from sexual violence. I also highlighted the opportunity for Kuwait, as a current UN SC member, to announce endorsement at the upcoming WPS open debate. Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister, the factsheet on the implementation of the Declaration, and key points on how they can implement the Declaration.

May 2020: The Mission in New York shared a letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs (in response to the letter sent by GCPEA). The letter says that GCPEA’s request for endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration will receive the necessary care and attention. Human Rights Watch made a submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Kuwait. It recommends to the Committee that it call upon the government to endorse and implement the Safe Schools Declaration and to deter the military use of schools, including by bringing the Guidelines into domestic military policy and operational frameworks.

January 2022: Nevena and Apolline met with Mr. Fahad from the Permanent Mission in New-York. We presented background information on the coalition, the Declaration, the Guidelines, progress on the protection of education – particularly at the UNSC level with resolution 2601 (2021), and growing endorsement level, focusing on the region. The representative said that before signing on to any declaration or international instrument, his country carefully looked at the level of endorsement within the GCC group for consensus, and in this case only one GCC member (Qatar) has endorsed which is not encouraging for them. GCPEA provided an overview of latest engagement with the other GCC countries and positive responses from Oman and UAE towards endorsement, stressing that Kuwait should show leadership and endorse the SSD before the others and be a strong voice on these issues in the region.

July 2022: We had a catch-up call with the New York Mission. The First Secretary is personally very supportive, and said that most probably his ambassador would sign the endorsement letter (he asked for the procedure). He didn’t have any feedback from his capital, and he said the bureaucracy was the issue. He asked again if we had any recent engagement with the other GCC countries. He suggested that we can do a regional briefing in Geneva for the GCC members. We underlined how Kuwait could announce endorsement at the International Day or the TES.

September 2022 Transforming Education Summit: Kuwait: “The Kuwaiti government is working to improve the quality of the educational process in all its stages, […], providing a school environment that is comprehensive, safe, protective”

November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.