COMMON ANALYSIS
Last updated: June 2022

This profile refers to individuals who are involved in and affected by blood feuds in the context of tribal conflicts.

COI summary

[Targeting 2019, 3.6.1; Targeting 2022, 8.5, 8.6; Actors of protection, 6.6]

In the Iraqi context, tribes represent a cultural and social reality. Traditional tribal customs continue to influence day-to-day life.

Blood feuds are conflicts between tribes involving cycles of retaliatory killings. Intertribal killings may be triggered by a number of reasons, including honour-related questions, land disputes and historic intertribal animosities. It has been reported that the current instability has increased the onset of tribal conflicts, particularly in southern Iraq. For example, in the context of mass demonstrations that erupted in October 2019 in Baghdad and southern Iraq, confrontations between protesters and security forces in the south drew in the involvement of tribes. Tribes are said to be power actors who can rely on rockets, heavy machine guns and armoured vehicles. [Targeting 2022, 8.6]

Killing members of another tribe will put a target on the perpetrator, as well as his tribe. In order to avoid continuous cycles of revenge killings among tribes, tribal conflict is often settled by paying compensation in the form of ‘blood money’ (diya). Tribal elders meet to settle clan disputes and their verdicts reportedly override state law, especially in areas where there is limited state security and/or the state’s ability to apply the law is weak. The ultimate goal of tribal mediation is to restore peace through restoring honour, thus avoiding feuds. Conflict resolution between different ethnic or religious tribes, such as a Shia tribe and a Sunni tribe, is usually considered more difficult. In areas formerly captured by ISIL, local tribal agreements were used in order to avoid the payment of ‘blood money’ to the family of victims of ISIL’s crimes and to prevent violent retribution permitted under tribal law and to provide guidance on which IDPs should be allowed to return, especially for Sunni communities. [Targeting 2022, 8.5]

Particularly in the southern governorates, women and children may also be traded to settle tribal disputes through the tribal practice of forcing women to marry members of another tribe (fasliya). Women who enter fasliya marriages are stripped from all of their rights, even the right to divorce or separate from their husband. See the profiles 2.16 Women and 2.17 Children.

Due to the societal importance of tribal custom, powerful tribal affiliation can interfere with the police in upholding respect for the law. Judicial authorities do not follow up on tribal incidents and judges must seek tribal protection themselves in case of threats against them.

Risk analysis

The acts to which individuals under this profile could be exposed are of such severe nature that they would amount to persecution (e.g. killing).

Not all individuals 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-impacting circumstances, such as: intensity of the blood feud, possibility of conflict resolution, ethnicity and religion of the tribes, social status of the tribes, area of origin (area where the rule of law is weak, urban or rural area), gender, etc.

Nexus to a reason for persecution

Available information indicates that persecution of this profile may be for reasons of race (descent, referring to members of a tribe).

 
Exclusion considerations could be relevant to this profile (see the chapter 6. Exclusion).