Lawmakers in Kuwait have lashed out at Amnesty International for criticising a proposal to introduce ‘clinical tests’ to bar homosexual or transgender foreigners from entering and working in any of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member counties.

The proposal was reported last week by a local daily newspaper that quoted a Kuwaiti health ministry director who said that it would be discussed by the GCC Central Committee for Expatriate Labour Forces Programme of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Oman on November 11.

Amnesty International said that the proposal “to introduce compulsory ‘medical tests’ and bar any migrant workers deemed to be ‘homosexual’ or transgender from entering Kuwait and other Gulf countries was outrageous and should be rejected out of hand.”

“Instead of continuing to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals, authorities in Kuwait should work to ensure that people are not harassed and abused because of who they are and repeal laws that criminalize sexual acts between consenting adults,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

However, in remarks published by local daily Al Rai on Monday, MP Abdul Rahman Al Jiran said: “The decision to bar homosexuals from entering Kuwait is a sovereign decision. Amnesty International should take care of lofty and noble goals for which it was established, leave aside homosexuality and deviations and stop defending delinquents. The organisation should heed the annual rates of births outside the institution of marriage in Europe and abortions as well as the high rates of underage mothers and other moral crimes forbidden by all divine religions.”