The government of Kuwait has agreed to help Canadians who wish to leave the Gulf state but cannot because their employers will not issue them exit permits, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Thursday.
Global News learned earlier this week that some Canadians wanted to leave the Gulf state after Kuwait came under attack from Iranian missiles and drones.
But Canadians employed there — like all foreigners who work for Kuwaiti firms — must get an exit permit from their employer.
And some employers were either ignoring or denying requests Canadians made to their employers.
“The situation has turned into a hostage-like one,” said one of those Canadians trapped in Kuwait earlier this week. Global News agreed not to identify the individual who was worried about reprisals by their employer. “Our e-mails are being ignored and issues are not being addressed.”
Kuwait has come under fire more than half-a-dozen times since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
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More than 100 missiles and more than 300 drones have been aimed at Kuwait and some have struck the airport, the port and some office towers. Four have died and nearly 70 have been injured, according to news reports from AFP, CBS, the Wall Street Journal and others.
Global Affairs Canada could not say how may Canadians were unable to get the required exit permits but a department officials said in an e-mailed statement “it was aware that there are Canadians in Kuwait who want to leave and are currently unable to obtain permission for exit permits from their employers.”
In response to a question from Global News on Thursday, Anand said she had telephoned her Kuwaiti counterpart.
“During times of crisis, diplomacy is a powerful tool,” Anand said Thursday in response to the question.
“I called [Foreign] Minister [Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al Mohammad] Al Sabah on this very issue and asked to expedite the ability of Canadians to leave. He agreed wholeheartedly. And Global Affairs Canada is urgently providing the list of Canadians wishing to leave so that that list can be quickly approved and the Canadians at issue are able to leave.“
Kuwait’s law requiring foreign expatriates to obtain exit permits from employers is a controversial one.
“Kuwait’s exit visa requirement violates international human rights law,” Human Rights Watch researcher Michael Page wrote last July as Kuwait was updating its exit permit law.
“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country,” Page wrote. “”Restrictions can only be applied on a case-by-case basis for a legitimate and proportionate purpose, such as during a criminal investigation. “
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