- Introduction
- Guidance note
- Common analysis
- General remarks
- 1. Actors of persecution or serious harm
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2. Refugee status
- Preliminary remarks
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Analysis of particular profiles
- 2.1. Persons perceived to be associated with ISIL
- 2.2. Sunni Arabs
- 2.3. Political opposition activists and protesters
- 2.4. Journalists, media workers and human rights activists
- 2.5. Deserters from armed forces
- 2.6. Individuals approached for recruitment by armed groups
- 2.7. Former Baath party members
- 2.8. Members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), Peshmerga and local police
- 2.9. Individuals perceived to oppose ISIL
- 2.10. (Perceived) collaborators of Western armed forces, organisations, or companies
- 2.11. Humanitarian workers
- 2.12. LGBTIQ persons
- 2.13. Individuals perceived to transgress moral codes
- 2.14. Individuals considered to have committed blasphemy and/or apostasy
- 2.15. Religious and ethnic minorities, and stateless persons
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2.16. Women
- 2.16.1. Violence against women and girls: overview
- 2.16.2. Forced and child marriage
- 2.16.3. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)
- 2.16.4. Women working in the public sphere
- 2.16.5. Women perceived to have transgressed moral codes
- 2.16.6. Women perceived to be associated with ISIL
- 2.16.7. Single women and female heads of households
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2.17. Children
- 2.17.1. Violence against children: overview
- 2.17.2. Child marriage
- 2.17.3. FGM/C
- 2.17.4. Child labour and child trafficking
- 2.17.5. Child recruitment
- 2.17.6. Education of children and girls in particular
- 2.17.7. Children born under ISIL who lack civil documentation
- 2.17.8. Children without a care-taker
- 2.18. Persons living with disabilities and persons with severe medical issues
- 2.19. Persons involved in and affected by blood feuds in the context of tribal conflict
- 2.20. Individuals accused of ordinary crimes
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3. Subsidiary protection
- 3.1. Article 15(a) QD
- 3.2. Article 15(b) QD
- 3.3. Article 15(c) QD
- 4. Actors of protection
- 5. Internal protection alternative
- 6. Exclusion
- Abbreviations and glossary
- Country of origin information references
- Relevant case law
ISIL relied extensively on criminality to fund its terrorist activities (e.g. extortion, looting, robbery, trafficking, kidnapping and smuggling). The violent conflict aggravated the vulnerability of Iraqis (especially women and children) to trafficking, forced labour, etc. ISIL is military defeated, but the ISIL crisis had severe impacts on the economy of Iraq; substantial parts of the country have suffered severe destruction. The organised and street-level crime appears to have increased in 2017 and criminally motivated kidnapping by ISIL, but also by Shia militias, continued to be a serious threat. Especially refugees and those IDPs who remain displaced continue to be highly vulnerable to exploitation (e.g. sex and drug trafficking) by criminal networks and gangs [Targeting, 3.1.2].
Although southern Iraq has largely escaped the ISIL violence, problems of criminality, drug abuse, and violence between Shia armed groups involved in militia and tribal groups, also occur there, including organised crime by militias, as well as kidnapping, extortion, and sex trafficking. Criminal gangs in Basrah have exploited the security gap and there has been a rise in robberies, kidnapping, murder, and drug trafficking [Targeting, 3.1.2; Key socio-economic indicators 2019, 1.3.1; Security situation 2020, 1.3.1].
Violence against women and children is commonly reported in Iraq, for example FGM, domestic violence, honour-based violence, forced and child marriage [Targeting, 3.5; see also the profile Women].