Proposals to clinically screen, “detect” and consequently bar gay expatriates from trying to enter Gulf countries could be on the cards, media outlets claim.
The suggestions of Yousuf Mindkar, the director of public health at the Kuwaiti health ministry, were reported in local daily Al Rai on Monday.
In a translation obtained by Gulf News, Mindkar said: “Health centres conduct the routine medical check to assess the health of expatriates when they come into the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC).
“However we will take stricter measures that will help us detected gays who will then be barred from entering Kuwait or any of the GCC member states.”
A spokesman for leading gay rights charity Stonewall told HuffPost UK: "Such proposals are not only futile but contrary to international human rights law.
"Many Gulf states have gone to great lengths to market themselves as open for international business.
"Their leaders should think long and hard about putting forward measures to restrict freedom of movement and further prohibit the best talent from doing business in the region simply because of their sexual orientation."
Mindkar, who did not specify the nature of the detection, says a central committee tasked with the status of expats will examine the proposal when it reconvenes on 11 November.
Gay rights activists tell Gay Star News there are fears the tests could see individuals subjected to anal probe examinations as reported in Lebanon, nicknamed "tests of shame".
According to the Kuwaiti Times, people who are transgender and those with gender identity disorder could also be targeted.
Individuals identified as such will have “unfit” stamped on their medical reports, a term often used for people who fail medical tests, which will automatically disqualify their visa applications, the paper adds.
Homosexual acts are banned in Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all of which are GCC member countries.
In Kuwait, prison terms for homosexual acts can reach 10 years if the people involved are under the age of 21, Al Bawaba reports.
