ABSTRACT
This chapter will look at the conspiracy of silence around domestic violence which is prevalent in Kuwait. The concept of male guardianship over a woman’s body underpins those legislations that are unconstitutional, in violation of the human rights and UN agreements ratified by Kuwait and in some cases are not even Sharia compliant. Lack of government assistance and resources for abuse survivors has meant that self-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were left to take on the mantle of dealing with domestic violence and aiding survivors as an independent civil society movement. Leading the grassroots movement of tackling domestic violence, Abolish 153 along with its registered sister organization Eithar has been at the forefront of this issue for the past six years, joined on occasion by other female NGOs such as the Women’s Cultural and Social Society and Soroptimist International. Abolish 153 proposed a domestic violence law to the National Assembly in 2017, and this chapter will track the progression of that legislation proposal as well as previous efforts to pass domestic violence legislation that have been made by members of parliament since 2015.
