The Omani ministry of interior has issued a decree to change the official documents of two Omani clans, “Al Tuwaih” and “Al Khulaifain” and to attribute them to a different clan.

In its comment today, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said that the decree issued by the Omani interior ministry is a set back to the era of the ugly social discrimination and, in the same time, is reviving the principle of ethnic and social discrimination that was eradicated by the modern world.

According to the clandestine and faulty decree issued, in May 2006 by the Omani ministry of interior, the names of the tow clans “Al Tuwaih” and “Al Khulaifain” were to be changed to “Awlad Khulaifain” and “Awlad Tuwaih” or to be changed to become “Al Harthi”.

The Omani clans expressed their deep concerns about the decree issued by the Omani ministry of interior, since changing any citizen's clan name in the official documents or attributing them to a different clan is a kind of social degradation. Such a decree widely paves the way to social discrimination against those citizens and undermines the principle of equality. Despite the high walls separating the ruling power from the citizens, these walls could not hide the social discrimination adopted by the ruling power. The manifestations of such discrimination are obvious in the titles given to the Omani persons. The highly-positioned persons are given titles like “Master, Sheikh, Highborn, or Arabian” while the socially-humbled citizens are given titles like “servant, slave, serf, or thrall… etc”.

“This decree unjustified by the interior ministry to take away the identities of 450 Omani citizens whose identities were officially documented before establishing the modern state of Oman, is illegal”, said the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. “No one or authority has the right to deprive any citizen from their name. The decree might have clandestine motives”, added the Arabic Network.

The decree issued, as a recommendation, by “the committee of correcting clans names, surnames and names” affiliated to the ministry of interior, was put in action months ago. The decree, with no explanation, was activated against the two clans of “Al Tuwaih” and “Al Khulaifain” whose members have official documents, such as passports, IDs, birth certificates, and many other documents dated 1960s i.e. before establishing the modern state of Oman in early 1970s.

To immune the decree against judicial contest, the ministry of interior stated that the recommendation “the decree” was issued by the Royal Palace affiliated to Sultan Qabus. Many of the two clans members assured that His Majesty Sultan Qabus never accepts such a recommendation which roots the social discrimination among Omani people and in the same time undermines the article 17 of the Omani constitution which states: “ All citizens are equal before the Law and share the same public

rights and duties. There is no discrimination between them on the ground of gender, origin, color, language, religion, sect, domicile, or social status. ”

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information addressed the Omani ministry of interior demanding an immediate abandoning of that unjust decree. The Network also requested the ministry to work on rooting the principle of equality among citizens, and activate the modern civilized communities' constituents based on international laws and covenants signed on by the Sultanate of Oman.

Basic information :

• Oman is a member in the Gulf Cooperation Council which includes ( Qatar , Saudi Arabia , Bahrain , Emirates, Kuwait , and Oman ).
• Sultan Qabus came to power on July, 23, 1970 .
• In Oman , belonging to a clan is the primary form of belonging. The sultanate has 230 clans including “Al Tuwaih” and “Al Khulaifain” clans.
• The population is about 3.2 million people.
• Sultan Qabus himself belongs to one of the Omani clans which is “Al Saied”
• “The committee of correcting clans names, surnames and names” affiliated to the ministry of interior did not give any explanation for taking away the two clans names and socially degrading them in spite of the official documents which approve that the two clans belong to Oman, for dozens of years. Also, keeping the clans names has no legal or social harms.
• The Arabic word “Al”, that the ministry of interior insist on taking away, means “the off springs of”
• Abandoning the names of these two clans will make their members second-class citizens. Such discrimination is exclusive to Hinduism religion which saves a social low rank for the religiously-renounced persons.
• Although some members of the two clans accepted to get their surnames changed to be able to travel or get birth certificates & IDs, many other members insist on keeping their surnames for which they have official documents.