A/HRC/43/41/Add.1 Annex Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities on her visit to Kuwait I. Introduction A. Programme of the visit 1. The Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities visited Kuwait, at the invitation of the Government, from 26 November to 5 December 2018, to assess the measures taken by the authorities to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She also sought to determine the impact of those measures on the level of enjoyment of persons with disabilities of the rights enshrined in the Convention, and to identify challenges and gaps in protection in order to formulate concrete recommendations. 2. The Special Rapporteur met with the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, the Minister of Higher Education, the Director General of the Public Authority for Disabled Affairs, and senior representatives of the Ministries of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Education, Foreign Affairs, Health, Information, the Interior, and Justice, and representatives of the Central Agency for Remedying Illegal Residents’ Status. She also met with the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation, the Director General of the Municipality of Kuwait, the Disabled Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, the newly established National Council for Human Rights, the United Nations country team, a wide range of organizations of persons with disabilities and other civil society groups, including organizations of parents of children with disabilities. 3. The Special Rapporteur visited the Al-Raja public special education school for children with intellectual disabilities, the South al-Sabahiya vocational training and rehabilitation centre for persons with intellectual disabilities, and the Kuwait Centre for Mental Health. On 3 December 2018, she participated in the celebrations of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, jointly organized by the Public Authority for Disabled Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 4. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Kuwait for the cooperation extended to her prior to and during the visit. She is grateful to the United Nations Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative and his office and the entire United Nations country team for the crucial support they provided to make her visit a success. She particularly thanks all the persons with disabilities who shared their situations, concerns and desire for change, including persons with intellectual disabilities and stateless Bidoon with disabilities. B. Context 5. Kuwait is a constitutional emirate with a parliamentary system of government. It is a member of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council, the League of Arab States and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Kuwait is one of the world’s major producers and exporters of petroleum and is a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. 6. Kuwait was ranked 56 out of 189 countries and territories in the 2017 human development index, classifying it in the very high human development category. According to the World Bank, the gross domestic product per capita in Kuwait stood at US$ 34,244 in 2018.1 According to the Central Statistical Bureau, there are no persons in Kuwait living below the national poverty line. In 2016, public expenditure in Kuwait represented 53.76 1 2 See https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD (accessed on 9 December 2019).