Association & Expression
On 11th February 2025, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) reported that the Sultan of Oman had ratified a new citizenship law that allows the authorities to use citizenship as a weapon to silence opponents and restrict opinions, in addition to its harshness against foreign women who marry Omani men. The law follows in the footsteps of Kuwait, which has revoked the citizenship of thousands of citizens, most of them women. The new Omani citizenship law, ratified on 2nd February 2025, abolished the old citizenship law issued in 2014, and contains several arbitrary articles that will lead to depriving citizens, residents and women in general of enjoying their civil and human rights.
The text of Article 26 regarding the revocation of Omani citizenship contains vague and undefined terms that allow it to be used by the authorities, especially the notorious Internal Security Service, to silence citizens who oppose or criticise government practices and express opinions that do not conform to its official views.
The text of Article 26 in its first and second items includes the following:
Omani citizenship shall be revoked from an Omani in the following cases:
- Someone who verbally or physically offends the Sultanate of Oman or the Sultan himself.
- Someone who belongs to a group, party or organisation that embraces principles or beliefs that harm the interests of the Sultanate of Oman.
Omani lawyers confirmed to GCHR their legitimate concerns about the use of this article to restrict the public freedoms of citizens, and they also explained that the vague wording is deliberate to pave the way for the authorities to use this law as a weapon within the system of repression created by the government.
The law also disproportionately affects the rights of women to nationality, and their right to pass their nationality to their children.
Article 17 requires that a foreign resident, before applying for Omani citizenship, must have resided in the country for a period of 15 consecutive years, provided that the resident does not remain absent for more than 90 days each year. This is a very long period that will deprive residents from travelling for various purposes of life, including education.
Article 19 of the law stipulates that in order to grant Omani citizenship to a foreign woman resident married to an Omani citizen, they must have resided together for a period of eight consecutive years, while in the previous law it was only five years.
Article 22 sets harsh conditions for granting Omani citizenship to minor children born to an Omani mother, including that she be a widow or divorcee, and that she has been widowed or divorced for five years, or that her husband has been absent from her or abandoned her for ten years.
Notably, the law lacks any mechanism that grants those affected by this law, especially those whose nationalities are revoked, the right to resort to the judiciary to file their complaints against what is their right according to the text of article 15 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which clearly states that, “Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his [or her] nationality nor denied the right to change his [or her] nationality.”
A report by the Omani Center for Human Rights & Democracy concludes, “The Omani Nationality Law demonstrates a clear conflict with international standards, notably by granting absolute discretionary power to revoke nationality without judicial oversight, and imposing significant gender-based discrimination in the conferral of nationality to children and spouses. This violates principles of non-discrimination, equality before the law, and children’s rights.”