COMMON ANALYSIS
Last update: November 2024
The analysis below is based on the following EUAA COI report: Country Focus 2024, 1.4.4; COI Update 2024, 3.6. Country Guidance should not be referred to as source of COI.
Iraq has made minimal advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
Step 1: Do the reported acts amount to persecution?
Trafficking in children, to which children in Iraq could be exposed, is of such severe nature that it would amount to persecution.
Child labour is reported as widespread and on the rise due to difficult economic conditions and ongoing conflicts, among other reasons. Some children are trafficked for forced labour, including forced begging, and commercial sexual exploitation. Not all forms of child labour would amount to persecution. An assessment should be made in light of the nature of the work and the age of the child. However, worst forms of child labour, such as work that is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children would be considered to reach the severity of persecution (10)
The impact of child labour on access to education should also be taken into account (see 3.12.4. Education of children and girls in particular). Other risks, such as involvement in criminal activities and trafficking, should also be considered
Step 2: What is the level of risk of persecution?
The individual assessment of whether there is a reasonable degree of likelihood for a child to face persecution, in relation to child labour and trafficking in children, should take into account risk-impacting circumstances, such as:
- Socio-economic status: IDP and returnee children, undocumented children, children with disabilities, as well as children of women without male support are reported to be particularly prone to different forms of exploitation, including child labour and trafficking.
- Gender: The risk of sexual exploitation would be higher for girls compared to boys.
Step 3: Is there a ground for persecution?
Where well-founded fear of persecution is substantiated for a child in relation to child labour and trafficking in children, the individual circumstances of the child need to be taken into account to determine whether a nexus to a reason for persecution can be substantiated.
- 10International Labour Organization (ILO), Minimum Age Convention, C138, 26 June 1973, available at http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138; Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, C182, 17 June 1999, available at http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182.