The Ministry of Justice is to launch a three year Ministry of Justice Inquiry into Kuwait. This is a world class task, and will lay the cornerstone for a new and much more independent system for the country. Many citizens in both countries have called for such an inquiry, which they believe will shed significant light on human rights abuses that have taken place. This country has been in the eye of many international human rights defenders over the years, for its apparent lack of compliance with fundamental principles of universal human rights. For this reason, the government has decided to launch such an inquiry.
There is no doubt that Kuwait is a vibrant and progressive country, and has achieved remarkable success in building up its economy and expanding its cultural horizons. However, it has been plagued by repeated episodes of ethnic cleansing and other grave human rights abuses. In these circumstances, many people have believed that the justice system has failed them, and indeed the United Nations and other intergovernmental bodies have raised serious concerns about the treatment of minorities in this country. The Ministry of Justice will be convening an external advisory group to provide a detailed report on the current practice of the justice system, and to examine what can be done to improve its effectiveness and ensure that it is not effectively covering up past abuses.
The international advisory group that is to be formed to scrutinize the justice system in Kuwait will consist of individuals from various communities, including local experts, academics, lawyers, and representatives from human rights organizations. These individuals will closely examine the functioning of the system and report on their findings to the ministry. Some of the areas that they will investigate are the role of the courts, the role of security agents, the role of prison officials and abuse of power. The wider scope of the report will allow an international team to critically examine the areas where progress has been made in the past few years, and assess how progress is being made today.
Although the inquiry will be conducted by a group of individuals with different perspectives, all of them working in their own specific fields of expertise, the overall purpose is to make a critical examination of the entire system. This is in line with the Ministry of Justice's own strategy for reform and transformation, which calls for a wide-ranging examination of the way in which the criminal justice system functions in وزارة العدل استعلام الكويت. It also lays out recommendations for making the institution of the law more transparent and accountable. It is hoped that this inquiry will contribute towards greater social acceptance and understanding of the important issues concerning human rights and criminal justice.
During the course of the Ministry of Justice inquiry, the OPC will be looking into how public attitudes and information are shaped by the legal system, and whether or not there are any deficiencies in the justice system that might affect human rights. The OPC will also examine how the criminal justice system deals with crimes against children, and other unique aspects of the penal system that have special significance to residents of the country. The OPC expects that its report will be comprehensive and will take into account many issues that have been raised by the global human rights community, including the deterioration of the penal system globally, the disproportionate number of persons being locked up in juvenile detention centres, and the disproportionate number of people prosecuted for using the internet.
It is hoped that the findings of the Ministry of Justice inquiry can help to improve services for the offenders, as well as deter future crime. Serious crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery are among those that receive high levels of prosecution. In light of this the OPC is also calling on the government to ensure that a fair proportion of those convicted of serious crimes are those who are actually guilty of the crime. Furthermore, the findings of the Ministry of Justice inquiry could help to create a better-serving justice system by ensuring that the role of the crown prosecutors and police is given greater emphasis - ensuring more people get justice according to their individual needs.
