They do not have a single official document and are threatened with imprisonment and denial of services
The daily hell besieges a million people without official papers in Iraq
The life of Alia Abdul Razzaq and her family has turned into hell.
A.F.B
Hussein Adnan cannot leave his house because he does not have an identity card.
A.F.B
picture
The life of Alia Abdul Razzaq, who has been married for 10 years and lives in Mosul, has turned into hell. A woman does not have a marriage contract or birth certificates for her four children, just like about a million Iraqis who suffer as a result of losing their identities and official papers.
The absence of these official documents impedes “access to basic services such as education, health, and social security benefits,” and would “impede freedom of movement, and increase the risk of arrest and detention,” according to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
And those who lack these papers find themselves stuck in endless judicial battles, due to complex bureaucracy and severe lack of funds, but also the traumas of war, and the challenge of reconciliation after suffering with the violations of ISIS.
Free help
In order to settle her situation, Alia Abdel Razzaq receives free assistance from a lawyer in the International Rescue Committee.
The woman in her thirties says, “What should I do?
The (private) lawyer asks for 700 or 800 thousand dinars (about 500 dollars), and I do not have the possibility to eat or drink.
Where shall I give it?'
Her apartment in Mosul is evidence of its poor conditions, as the floor is made of cement and is not covered by anything, and its mattresses and carpets are thin, and its windows are broken and covered with cardboard.
Alia got married in 2012 in a town near Mosul, a city in northern Iraq.
In 2013, she gave birth to her first daughter, and a year later, the extremists occupied the region and turned Mosul into their “capital”, where they placed their own administrations and expelled government institutions.
Sending children to school is a real challenge today for Alia, and she cannot register her family for government food aid through a ration card, which she and her carpenter husband desperately need.
A change in policy
Her lawyer has initiated judicial procedures that allow her marriage and children to be officially recognized, and the court is scheduled to give a decision in her case this month.
Meanwhile, the woman has achieved a small victory. Her eldest daughter (Nazik), who will soon be 10 years old, has entered the school.
In order to get the secret service stamp on her and her family's registration records, she had to try three times.
On Alia Abdul Razzaq's record, it was written that her brother, who is currently in prison, is accused of belonging to the "ISIS" organization.
In a country still healing the wounds of war after five years, about one million people live without at least one official document, according to statistics published by the United Nations.
There are many marriage contracts that were concluded under the control of ISIS, which must be settled.
Ali Abbas Jahangir, a spokesman for the Ministry of Immigration, explains that there are children born from these marriages who are still not officially recognized, and the offices of official institutions have been destroyed due to “military actions” and the control of the “ISIS” organization.
Jahangir adds that mobile teams of the Ministry of Interior, in coordination with his ministry, roam the camps in order to help the displaced to initiate the procedures for issuing identity papers.
Jordan Lesser-Roy, spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee in Iraq, stresses the importance of NGOs working with all levels of government institutions to facilitate and expedite these procedures.
And she says, "We must obtain approvals from the mukhtar, but there must also be a change in public policy," calling for an increase in the budget of the General Administration of Civil Affairs, and the intensification of the missions of the mobile teams.
Thanks to the support of UNHCR and its partners, 150,000 official papers were settled between 2019 and mid-2022.
complications
A report published in October by several non-governmental organizations points to the complexities facing families "suspected of belonging to ISIS."
In order to obtain a birth certificate, the mother sometimes has to submit a DNA test to a number of relatives of the missing or deceased father, which analyzes can only be done in Baghdad.
Hussein Adnan lost his identity card when he fled the battles in Mosul with ISIS in 2017. After that, the security forces arrested him, and he spent five months in prison, before he was acquitted and released.
Hussein got married during the period of control of the organization, and he had a son.
With the help of a lawyer in the International Rescue Committee, he was able to legalize his divorce, after registering his marriage and his six-year-old son, who is still without a birth certificate.
The procedures were further complicated by his ex-wife's marriage and pregnancy.
He also started procedures for obtaining a new identity card.
"I will stay at home until I get my identity card," he says.
Despite family and financial pressures, Hussein sits without a job.
The 23-year-old, who used to work as a waiter in the past, recounts that he was “beaten and tortured” in prison, and he is still afraid of being arrested again.
He says, "I cannot go out. I am afraid that I will stand at a checkpoint and they will ask for my identity... and what happened to me will happen again."
• Those who lack these papers find themselves stuck in endless judicial battles, due to complex bureaucracy, severe lack of funds, but also war traumas, and the challenge of reconciliation after suffering with ISIS violations.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news