International organization: 50% of displaced Iraqis lack official documents

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[size=52]International organization: 50% of displaced Iraqis lack official documents[/size]

[size=45]Translated by: Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]The International Organization for Migration, IOM, revealed that 50% of displaced families returning to their areas of origin said that a family member had lost one or more important civil status documents, with many of the children of those families not having birth data or a civil status identity, which prevents them from obtaining one. Basic rights, including education and health care services, and the organization recommends that the authorities provide legal facilities for these families, especially those headed by female members, in order to overcome this ordeal.[/size]
[size=45]The organization indicates in its report that obtaining civil identity documents is necessary and essential to obtain basic services and rights, such as social protection, education, and health care, and that the importance of proving identity and civil documents in Iraq has been highlighted in the post-displacement period resulting from the war on ISIS and the difficulty of displaced families in obtaining these documents, which hinders efforts to find sustainable solutions for displaced and returning families.[/size]
[size=45]The organization confirms that children from families headed by women are more vulnerable to the difficulties and complications of obtaining a civil status identity, which requires obtaining a DNA test to confirm the child’s identity.[/size]
[size=45]The organization calls for support in finding solutions to such difficult cases in which the identity of the child’s father is unknown, especially in cases of childbirth resulting from kidnapping and sexual slavery of women, and cases of rape or forced marriage at the hands of ISIS.[/size]
[size=45]The report indicates that after the end of the battles and the beginning of the return of the displaced to their areas and the process of obtaining civil documents for them, the courts began to promote requests to obtain a DNA test, as evidence of proving the child’s identity to give him an identity, and among the complex cases is a woman’s request to issue an identity for her child. During his father's absence and death. One of the difficulties that families face in this regard is that there is an examination center in Baghdad only, and traveling to Baghdad to undergo the examination is considered difficult and expensive for poor families located in distant governorates and cities such as Al-Qaim or Nineveh Governorate.[/size]
[size=45]Interviews conducted by the organization revealed difficulties that widows face regarding travel costs and fees related to proving the identity of a child, which may reach 600,000 dinars. One of the women said, “The fees and consequences of issuing an ID may cost 150,000 dinars, but if the court requests a DNA test, the costs may reach 600,000 dinars, which includes travel costs.” The report indicates that the situation is particularly complex and sensitive for Yazidi women who have children as a result of sexual slavery by ISIS. The first reason is that the Yazidi community may refuse to receive these children because their parents are not Yazidi, and their social custom is that the child must have a Yazidi mother and father.[/size]
[size=45]The second point is that a Yazidi mother who wants to register her son without a known father must be registered as a Muslim, and this may expose him to rejection by the Yazidi community considering his connection to ISIS.[/size]
[size=45]One of the Yazidi women, expressing this dilemma, said: “I wanted to obtain identity documents for my son, but all members of my sect refused to cooperate with me, even the mukhtar refused to cooperate because the child’s father is an ISIS member.”[/size]
[size=45]The organization states that a woman needs the approval of the mukhtar to give her proof of her marriage for the purpose of obtaining a request for a DNA test, and without this support, she is left without any solution to obtain an identity document and a civil status document for her child.[/size]
[size=45]The organization indicates in its report that the right to obtain nationality and civil status identity is guaranteed in the Iraqi constitution, which stipulates that any child born to an Iraqi woman or Iraqi father will be considered to have Iraqi nationality.[/size]
[size=45]The Nationality Law considers the birth of any child to an Iraqi mother or father to be of Iraqi nationality, and any child born in Iraq to unknown parents will be considered Iraqi, and any child born outside Iraq to an Iraqi mother may be considered Iraqi and is subject to several considerations, including official approvals. The international organization recommends that in order to facilitate the procedures for granting civil status identity documents to these families, legal amendments are made to create a mechanism that facilitates the process of proving the dependency of these children, and that legal legislation be made for these families in order to directly address the problem and provide a solution to it, which is what the recommendations stipulate. The Convention on the Rights of the Child reached in 2015.[/size]
[size=45]About: International Organization for Migration[/size]
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