Kuwait is not safe. People living in Kuwait are suffering from abuse and violence and are not able to receive help. 

Women particularly are at risk of being killed by their abusers, especially considering Article 153 (which states that a male family member may kill a woman in the name of 'honour' and receive a lenient punishment such as paying a maximum fine of 14KD). 

Additionally, statistics by the Ministry of justice in Kuwait between the years of 2000 and 2009 show that the average number of REPORTED acts of violence against women is 368 annually, which means there is at least one reported act of violence against women in Kuwait every single day! Considering that the majority of acts of violence and abuse are unreported and kept a secret, that means that violence in Kuwait is commonplace and occurs much more than we can imagine.

A survey conducted by the Abolish 153 campaign on attitudes towards violence against women shows that 67% of the public in Kuwait perceives violence as something related to culture and traditional values. The survey also shows that more than half of Kuwaitis (51.2%) have been affected by violence. (http://abolish153.org/community/RAMA/uploads/2018/11/Abolish-153-Attitudinal-Survey-on-VAW_English.pdf , or you can read the results in Arabic at http://abolish153.org/community/RAMA/uploads/2018/11/Abolish-153-Attitudinal-Survey-on-VAW_Arabic.pdf )

Recently, within a span of 9 days, 3 women were violently killed by their abusive family members. If we had services to support these women and keep them safe then their lives may have been spared. 

Currently, Kuwait is the only country in the GCC that does not have a safe shelter for abuse survivors to seek refuge in. Having a shelter for survivors of abuse is the bare minimum to ensure people's safety. 

We are demanding that Kuwait establishes shelters and safe houses for ALL survivors of abuse that provide:

-Safe accommodation away from their abusers

-Transport to the accommodation to remove survivors from their abusers

-Security at the shelter 

-Mental health support for survivors

-Legal support for survivors

-And a safeguarding plan to keep survivors safe from further abuse.

Shelters must accommodate all survivors of abuse, including men, who are less likely to be believed and/or taken seriously. The shelters can have segregated accommodation to separate men and women. 

Being a survivor of abuse myself, I can tell you from personal experience that although I contacted lawyers and a domestic abuse helpline in Kuwait I did not receive any help or protection from my abusive family members. I am now an asylum seeker because I could not risk my safety in Kuwait, where we don't even have a safe shelter for abuse survivors. I had nowhere to go to keep myself safe in Kuwait, because of the lack of safe accommodation.

Having a safe shelter will allow us to make Kuwait safer for everyone, and everyone has a right to feel safe. Help us make Kuwait safe!

You can anonymously share your experiences of abuse in Kuwait here: https://forms.gle/mUMALyDkJhxCohd28