COMMON ANALYSIS
Last updated: June 2022

COI summary

[Internal mobility, 4.2, 4.3; COI query on minorities and stateless, 2.5; Targeting 2022, 1.3.3, 4.3.3; KSEI 2021, 3.1.1, 3.1.3, 3.2, 3.2.2]

Hundreds to thousands of children born under ISIL rule or to foreign fathers were not registered at birth and lack civil documentation. Children who lack at least one piece of identity and nationality documentation such as the birth certificate, Civil Status ID Card, Iraqi nationality certificate or Unified ID Card, number more than 450 000 in Iraq. Children born to foreign fighters and children whose paternity cannot be confirmed, such as those who were born under ISIL and lack documentation or who have ISIL-issued documentation, children born to women whose husbands are dead or missing, face the risk of growing up without civil identification or being stateless, because conferring nationality requires a birth certificate. Children born to Iraqi women of foreign men, whose marriage certificates were issued by ISIL and are not recognized may be blocked from obtaining birth certificates. Without access to documentation, children are deprived of healthcare (vaccination included), social welfare programs and education. These children also face stigmatisation. If the issue of the access to documentation is not resolved before they reach adulthood, they are at risk of not having their marriages state-recognized, not being able to own or rent property, and lacking a fair chance at formal employment.

Concerning the children that were born of sexual violence, UNICEF states that although there is a legal framework in place to allow these children to obtain identity documents, ‘in practice obtaining such documents is exceptionally difficult and requires women to publicly expose what they have survived – experiences that their families, culture, tribe and religion consider to be deeply shameful’.

See also 2.1 Persons (perceived to be) affiliated with ISIL.

Risk analysis

The individual assessment of whether the treatment of individuals under this profile could amount to persecution should take into account the severity and/or repetitiveness of the acts. Often, they occur as an accumulation of various measures and may reach the level of persecution.

Not all children under this profile would face the level of risk required to establish a well-founded fear of persecution. The individual assessment of whether there is a reasonable degree of likelihood for the applicant to face persecution should take into account risk-enhancing circumstances, such as: single or widow mother and/or a foreign, dead or missing father, etc.

Nexus to a reason for persecution

Available information indicates that persecution of this profile may be for reasons of membership of a particular social group, based on their common background which cannot be changed; and due to their distinct identity in the context of Iraq in relation to their stigmatisation by the surrounding society.