{"id":46,"area":"Asia","region_name":"Kuwait","iso_2":"KW","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Penal Code established by Law No. 16 from 2 June 1960 & Law on Press and Publications, Law No. 3 from 2006 & Law Regarding the Regulation of Electronic Media, Law No. 8 from 2016","legal_code_title_citation_1":"Text of the law is available at: http://gulfmigration.eu/database/legal_module/Kuwait/National%20Legal%20Framework/Rights%20and%20Obligations/2.1%20Penal%20Law_AR.pdf","legal_code_title_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body":"Article 193 - “Consensual intercourse between men of full age (from the age of 21) shall be punishable with a term of imprisonment of up to seven years.”\n\nArticle 198 - “Whoever makes a lewd signal or act in a public place or such that one may see it or hear it from public place, or appears like the opposite sex in any way, shall be punished for a period not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding 1000 Dinar or one either of these punishments.”\n\nArticle 21(3) - “It shall be prohibited to publish anything that would: [...] insult the public morals or instigate to violate the public order or to violate the laws or to commit crimes, even if the crime did not occur.”\n\nArticle 27(3) - “Without prejudice to any severer penalty which is stipulated in another law, the chief editor and article writer or the author shall be penalized if he published in the newspaper what was prohibited under article 21, he shall be penalized by fine which shall not be less than 3,000 Dinar and not more than 10,000 Dinar.”\n\nArticle 18 - “The sites and electronic media sites governed by the rules of this law, cannot publish, broadcast, rebroadcast, send or quote any content that contains any of the forbidden material mentioned in articles (19, 20, 21) of law no. 3 of 2006, and article 11 of law no. 61 of 2007, and punishments are mentioned in those two laws in case of violations.”","legal_code_body_citation_1":null,"legal_code_body_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body_citation_3":null,"legal_code_body_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments":"Kuwait ‘noted’ (rejected) a recommendation from Brazil to decriminalise same-sex relations between consenting adults at its 1st cycle UPR in 2010. At its 2nd UPR in January 2015, Uruguay and Iceland recommended Kuwait decriminalise same-sex sexual relations, and the Netherlands also iterated this and a call for non-discrimination in the country’s law. This call for non-discrimination was echoed by Argentina and Chile. Without alluding to SOGI, at para. 29 of the State’s formal acceptance of the report of the Working Group, the delegation justified that looking after public morals does not contravene Article 21 of the ICCPR (peaceful assembly). \nIn May 2014, it was reported that vice police raided a “sex party” and arrested 32 people, both men and women (“tomboys”). \nIn August 2016 in its Concluding Observations to Kuwait the Human Rights Committee that oversees the ICCPR stated that: “13. The State party should take the measures necessary to decriminalize sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex and repeal the offence of imitating members of the opposite sex, in order to bring its legislation into line with the Covenant. It should also take measures to put an end to the social stigmatization of homosexuality and the harassment, discrimination and violence perpetrated against persons based on their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity”.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_1":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_2":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_3":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_5":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_6":null,"legal_code_scruff_comments":null,"prison_term_min_length":null,"prison_term_max_length":7,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":null,"prison_term_years":true,"prison_term_life":null,"prison_term_mandatory":null,"fine_min_amount":null,"fine_max_amount":null,"fine_currency":null,"fine_notes":null,"fine_not_specified":null,"fine_amount":null,"fine_mandatory":null,"penalty_death":false,"penalty_death_notes":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment_notes":null,"penalty_hard_labor":null,"penalty_hard_labor_notes":null,"penalty_banishment":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_same_sex_acts":true,"legal_code_explicitly_references_acts_against_nature":null,"legal_code_differentiates_anal_sex_from_other_acts":null,"legal_code_indicates_hiv_as_aggravating_factor":null,"legal_code_indicates_age_of_consent_homosexual_acts_over_18":true,"existing_laws_used_to_target_gays_but_not_anti_gay":null,"islamic_sharia_law":null,"islamic_sharia_law_notes":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction_notes":null,"laws_not_specifically_homophobic":null,"laws_status_unclear":null,"laws_status_unclear_notes":null,"persecution_non_state_agents":null,"criminalization_under_consideration":null,"recently_decriminalized":null,"propaganda_law_under_consideration":null,"propaganda_law_title":null,"propaganda_law_title_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_body":null,"propaganda_law_body_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_ilga_comments":null,"legal_developments_2023_2024_summary":null,"legal_developments_2023_2024_citations":"ILGA World, Laws On Us: A Global Overview of Legal Progress and Backtracking on SOGIESC, 1st Ed. (Geneva, May 2024) (country not referenced in Ch.1/2 narrative).","status_change_type":"Unchanged (not mentioned in 2024 report)"}