Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/MOSUL: Alia Abdel-Razak, who has been married for over a decade, is one of a million Iraqis without vital civil status documents, often caught in legal limbo in a country crippled by bureaucracy and the ravages of war.
Red Tape and Obstacles
The 37-year-old has to overcome numerous obstacles to sign up her children for school, and she cannot register her family to receive the food subsidies that she and her husband desperately require.
Abdel-Razak, a mother of four, relies on a pro bono lawyer from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to guide her through the complex processes needed to get her papers in order.
She, like many others, struggles to obtain documents such as marriage and birth certificates because of the country’s arduous battle to defeat the Islamic State group. “I don’t have the funds; lawyers charge between $300 and $500. Where can I arrange this money when I can barely afford to eat?” she told AFP.
Her dilapidated Mosul apartment, with bare concrete floors and broken windows patched with cardboard, bears witness to her daily struggle. She married in 2012 and had her first daughter a year later.
However, in 2014, IS seized Mosul and declared it the capital of its “caliphate,” driving out local officials in favor of their rule. The lack of civil status documents prevents access to essential services such as “healthcare, social security benefits, and education,” The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
It can also “restrict freedom of movement and increase the risk of arrest and detention,” according to the agency. Abdel-lawyer Razak has begun legal proceedings to have her marriage and children recognized officially, with a decision expected in January.
Meanwhile, they have achieved one minor victory: her firstborn Nazek has just joined a school for the first time at nearly ten years old. But obtaining some of the documents requested by the judge took three visits to get the intelligence services’ seal on some papers. One major hurdle is that her jailed brother is accused of having ties with IS.
UN assessment
According to the UN, one million Iraqis live with at least one missing civil status document in a country still struggling to recover five years from IS’ defeat in 2017. Marriage contracts attained under the rule of the militant group have yet to be recognized, as are the children born from these unions.
Furthermore, according to the Ministry of Migration and Displaced person spokesman, many of the city bureaus with such documentation on record were destroyed when IS rose to power or during the years-long battle to drive the militants out.
According to Ali Jahangir, his ministry coordinates mobile missions in camps with the interior ministry to help displaced people obtain missing documents.
Jordan Lesser-Roy, the IRC communications coordinator, emphasized the work of non-governmental organizations in raising awareness among state bodies and reducing the time required for such paperwork.
Aid organizations, including the IRC, highlighted the additional challenges faced by families “with apparent ISIS connection” in a study released in September.
Mothers must submit DNA samples from up to three male relatives to acquire a birth certificate, which can only be issued in Baghdad. In addition, they have to offer “proof of the location of the child’s father, in the form of a death certificate or evidence of detention.”
According to the report, this is “impossible for many households where the head of household disappeared or died during the fighting.”
While escaping the fight against IS in 2017, Hussein Adnan, 23, misplaced his ID card. After being arresting, he was jailed for five months.
While the militant group was in power, he was married and had a son. After getting his marriage and his six-year-old kid acknowledged, Adnan was able to acquire a divorce with the aid of an IRC attorney; however, he has not yet received a birth certificate for his son.
The process grew more challenging due to his ex-wife’s marriage and subsequent pregnancy. He was tortured and beaten after being held, and despite pressure from his family to go to work, he refused due to fear of being arrested again. “Until my ID card is granted, I can’t work or travel anyplace, so I’m remaining at home,” he said.
