By Mohammed Abboud

KUWAIT CITY

Kuwait's National Assembly (parliament) on Tuesday passed a bill to draft ‘stateless people’ into the country’s army.

The bill was approved by 44-5 votes with one abstention, according to the official KUNA news agency.

Last April, Kuwait’s Chief of the General Staff allowed stateless people, known as Bedoon, to join the Gulf country’s ground and air forces.

At the time, Defense Minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Khalid al-Sabah said only stateless people whose fathers had served in the army will be allowed to join the armed forces.

There are around 96,000 stateless people in Kuwait, according to official estimates.

The stateless people do not have citizenship and are considered illegal immigrants in the Gulf state.