Kuwait: Compulsory military service reintroduced

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 Kuwaiti soldiers stand in formation as a dignitary visits their outpost during Operation Desert Shield.

Conscription has officially been re-introduced in Kuwait following the enforcement of the the new mandatory military service law approved by the cabinet in May 2015.

According to new law, which came into effect in April this year, all Kuwaiti men who turned 18 on 10th May 2017 and afterwards must register for conscription within 60 days of their new age.

When conscripted, they will serve 12 months divided in two phases – four months for training and eight months for military service.

The new law specifies punitive measures for these who fail to register within the aforementioned period. These include adding an extra month to the one-year basic service period, or adding two extra months in case of a failure to respond to calls to complete procedures to join conscription, facing a travel ban as well as an arrest warrant to serve up to three years in jail and pay a KD 5,000 fine for those who are over the legal age of conscription.

The compulsory military service was suspended in Kuwait in 2001, although reintroducing it had been debated periodically during the last years.

Source: Arab Times, Obligatory army service ‘comes back’ to Kuwait – Evaders face jail, fine: official, 27 May 2017; Kuwait Times, Failure to register for conscription subjects citizens to punitive measures: Kuwaiti Army, 9 July 2017.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

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