EASO
Iraq
Treatment of Iraqis
with perceived
affiliation to ISILCountry of Origin Information Report
October 2020

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu)
ISBN 978-92-9485-644-9

doi: 10.2847/726036

BZ-02-20-559-EN-N© European Asylum Support Office, 2020
Cover photo: © Ennolenze, Destroyed houses and shops in Mosul, January 2020 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. For any use or reproduction ofphotos or other material that is not under the EASO copyright, permission must be sought directlyfrom the copyright holders.

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Acknowledgements
EASO acknowledges as the drafter of this report, France’s Office for the Protection of Refugees andStateless Persons (OFPRA), Information, Documentation and Research Division (DIDR).
Furthermore, the following national asylum and migration department contributed by reviewing thisreport together with EASO:
Denmark, Danish Immigration Service

Additionally, the following external organisation reviewed the report:
ACCORD, Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

It must be noted that the review carried out by the mentioned departments, experts or organisations
contributes to the overall quality of the report, but does not necessarily imply their formal
endorsement of the final report, which is the full responsibility of EASO.

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Contents
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................. 3Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Disclaimer................................................................................................................................................ 6
Glossary and abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... 7
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Defining the terms of reference ..................................................................................................... 8
Collecting information.................................................................................................................... 8
Quality control................................................................................................................................ 8
Sources ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Structure and use of the report .......................................................................................................... 9
Map ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
1. Treatment of Iraqis perceived to be affiliated with ISIL by state actors ........................................... 11
1.1 Arrest, forced disappearances, prosecution, treatment in detention ....................................... 12
1.1.1 Arrest and forced disappearances ...................................................................................... 12
1.1.2 Prosecution and fair trial ..................................................................................................... 13
1.1.3 Treatment in detention ....................................................................................................... 16
1.1.4 After detention .................................................................................................................... 17
2. Treatment of family members of perceived ISIL members or affiliates ........................................... 18
2.1 Sexual abuse and violence .......................................................................................................... 20
2.2 Forced and blocked returns ........................................................................................................ 21
2.2.1 Transfer of perceived ISIL suspects and their families from north-east Syrian Al-Hol camp
to Iraq ........................................................................................................................................... 25
2.3 Access to civil documentation and security clearance ............................................................... 25
2.3.1 Undocumented children born under ISIL and/or of ISIL fathers ......................................... 27
2.3.2 Access to birth certificates and health care for undocumented women............................ 28
3. Redress and state protection ............................................................................................................ 30
3.1 Access to effective redress measures......................................................................................... 30
3.1.1 For enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings ...................................................... 30
3.1.2 For torture allegations in detention and pre-detention facilities ....................................... 30
3.1.3 Access to judicial and security assistance ........................................................................... 31
3.1.4 Access to redress measures against sexual violence and abuses ....................................... 31

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

3.1.5 Civilians’ access to effective channels to report incidents .................................................. 31
3.2 Access to amnesty ...................................................................................................................... 32
3.3 Relocation possibilities ............................................................................................................... 32
Annex 1: Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 34
Annex 2: Terms of Reference ................................................................................................................ 41

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Disclaimer
This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019).1 The report is basedon carefully selected sources of information. All sources used are referenced.
The information contained in this report has been researched, evaluated and analysed with utmost
care. However, this document does not claim to be exhaustive. If a particular event, person ororganisation is not mentioned in the report, this does not mean that the event has not taken place orthat the person or organisation does not exist.
Furthermore, this report is not conclusive as to the determination or merit of any particularapplication for international protection. Terminology used should not be regarded as indicative of aparticular legal position.
‘Refugee’, ‘risk’ and similar terminology are used as generic terminology and not in the legal sense as
applied in the EU Asylum Acquis, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the
Status of Refugees.
Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may bemade of the information contained in this report.
The drafting of this report was finalised in October 2020 with the reference period ending 31 July
2020. Any event taking place after this date is not included in this report. More information on thereference period for this report can be found in the methodology section of the Introduction.

1 EASO, EASO Country of Origin Information (COI) Report Methodology, June 2019, url

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Glossary and abbreviations
Asayish
IDPIntelligence services of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Internally Displaced Person

ISF
ISIL
PMU

Iraqi Security Forces

KRG
KRI

Kurdistan Regional Government
Kurdistan Region of Iraq - refers to Dohuk, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah
governorates

mukhtarLocal community leader

peshmergatabriya

Military forces of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Criminal complaint against a family member accused of ISIL affiliation

7

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Islamic State (IS) or ISIS
Popular Mobilisation Units or Popular Mobilisation Forces or Al-hashd alShaabiCountry of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Introduction
The purpose of this report is to provide relevant information regarding the treatment of individuals in
Iraq in relation to ISIL affiliation, for international protection status determination, including refugee
status and subsidiary protection, and in particular for use in developing EASO’s updated country
guidance on Iraq, following from the 2019 Iraq Country Guidance that was previously published.
This report is produced in line with the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019)2 and the EASO COI
Writing and Referencing Style Guide (2019)3. This report should be read in conjunction with other
EASO COI reports published on Iraq in 2019 and in 2020. These reports provide relevant information
regarding topics such as the main armed actors, targeted violence, and armed conflict developments
in Iraq.4

Methodology
Defining the terms of referenceThis report covers the treatment of Iraqis perceived to have ISIL ties and their families, from 1 January
2019 to 31 July 2020.
The terms of reference (ToR) of this report were defined by EASO based on discussions held and input
received from COI experts in the EASO COI specialist network on Iraq and from policy experts in EU+
countries within the framework of a Country Guidance update on Iraq. This COI report was drafted forthe purpose of developing an analysis of particular profiles relating to ISIL affiliation.
The ToR are attached in Annex 2.

Collecting information
The information gathered is a result of desk research using public, specialised paper-based andelectronic sources from June until 31 July 2020, in line with the reference period. Some additional
information was added in October 2020 during the finalisation of this report in response to feedback
received during the quality control process.

Quality control
This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019) which requires aquality review process. The report was peer reviewed by EASO and the departments mentioned in theacknowledgements section.

SourcesThis report uses publicly available published sources, including human rights bodies, governmental
and non-governmental bodies, international agencies and organisations such as the United Nations,media sources, and think tanks.

2 EASO, EASO Country of Origin Information (COI) Report Methodology, June 2019, url
3 EASO, EASO Writing and Referencing Guide, June 2019, url
4 EASO COI reports can be found on the EASO COI Portal: url

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Structure and use of the report
The report is divided into three chapters. The first chapter focuses on the treatment of Iraqis, includingchildren, who are perceived to be affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) by State
actors, such as the security forces and the judicial system. The second chapter analyses the treatmentof families of perceived ISIL members. The last chapter covers access for Iraqis perceived as having
ISIL ties to effective redress measures and state protection.

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Map

Map 1: UN, July 2014, Iraq5

5UN, Map No. 3835 Rev. 6, July 2014, url

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

1. Treatment of Iraqis perceived to beaffiliated with ISIL by state actors
Between 2014-2018, during the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), numerous
reports highlighted serious human rights abuses conducted by military forces or associated forces,
including war crimes, unlawful killings, abductions and revenge attacks targeting mostly Sunni
civilians, perceived to be ISIL affiliates, in particular men or boys of fighting age. Thousands ofperceived ISIL fighters or affiliates, including children, have been arrested and prosecuted in Iraqi
counterterrorism courts, and hundreds have been sentenced to death.6 Reports denounced lack offair trials, based on forced confessions, obtained through torture and other forms of ill treatment. 7
Families with perceived ISIL ties, ‘usually because of family name, tribal affiliation or area of origin’8,
or due to lack of civic documentation,9 have also been targeted by measures of collective punishment
and stigmatisation by government forces, other armed groups and the community.10
Thousands of people, have been profiled as ISIL supporters, and have been arrested,11 prosecuted,
detained and tortured by Iraqi and KRG forces, including children.12 Human Rights Watch has listed ‘arange of actors screening and detaining ISIS suspects,’ including:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

army and military intelligence services;
Counterterrorism Service;
National Security Service;
Emergency Response Division;Federal Police;
the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Interior;
Popular Mobilisation Forces;
Asayish (KRG security forces) and the Peshmerga (KRG military forces).13

Iraqi and KRG forces have screened thousands of individuals fleeing ISIL-held areas for ISIL affiliation
based on broad criteria, such as being men and boys of fighting age14, family connections with alleged
ISIL members,15 and similarity of name to an alleged ISIL suspect name on ‘wanted lists’.16 Other
factors include alleged affiliation with a tribe perceived to have provided support to ISIL,17 andwhether a person resided in and/or fled from an area formerly held by ISIL.18 There have been reports

6 EASO, Iraq: Targeting of Individuals, March 2019, url, see sections: 1.2 Sunni perceived to be ISIL collaborators or

sympathisers (1.2.1 Prosecution of ISIL suspects; 1.2.2 Retaliatory violence; 1.2.3 Targeting by KRG Forces); 1.5 Members oftribes with (perceived) affiliation with ISIL
7 EASO, Iraq: Targeting of Individuals, March 2019, url, see sections: 1.2.1 Prosecution of ISIL suspects; HRW, World Reportfor 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url
8 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url
9 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 14
10 EASO, Iraq: Targeting of Individuals, March 2019, url, sections: 1.4 family members of actual or perceived ISIL
members;1.5 Members of tribes with (perceived) affiliation with ISIL; 3.5.6 Sexual violence
11 AP, Iraq holding more than 19,000 because of IS, militant ties, 22 March 2018, url
12 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, pp. 4, 14
13 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 13, fn 24
14 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019 url, p.7
15 HRW, Iraq: Military Enter Camp, Occupy School for ‘Screening’, July 18, 2019, url
16 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, , November 2019 url, p. 7
17 Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, p. 17; IOM, WEST MOSUL PERCEPTIONS ON
RETURN AND REINTEGRATION AMONG STAYEES, IDPS AND RETURNEES, June 2019, url, p. 34
18 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE –A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, p. 8

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISILof ‘widespread stigmatization against entire tribes or communities for having survived ISIS rule’.19
Similarly, a 2018 study by the United Nations University and Institute for Integrated Transitions, about
the experiences of Iraqis who were under ISIL rule, published in 2018, remarked that the Iraqi
government’s approach to individuals associated with ISIL is ‘widely perceived among Sunnis ascollectively punishing Sunni civilians’ for living in former ISIL territory.20
This chapter examines the treatment by state actors, such as security and judicial institutions, of Iraqis
perceived to be affiliated with ISIL.
For an extended analysis on these topics covering 2014 – 2018, see EASO’s COI report Iraq: Targetingof Individuals, published in March 2019.21

1.1 Arrest, forced disappearances, prosecution, treatment indetention
1.1.1 Arrest and forced disappearances
In its annual report on Iraq for 2019, Human Rights Watch stated that Iraqi forces were reported tohave continued to ‘arbitrarily’ and ‘regularly’ detain ISIS suspects, ‘many for months, without any
court order or arrest warrant, and often without providing any reasons for the arrest’.22 Human Rights
Watch also observed systematic violations of due process rights of ISIL suspects, adults and children23,
including seeing a judge within 24 hours, access to a lawyer during interrogations24, having theirfamilies notified25 and being able to communicate with them.26 Human Rights Watch wrote that it‘does not know of a single instance since 2016 where KRG authorities notified a family member of an
ISIS suspect directly that the suspect was in custody’.27 USDOS 2019 Trafficking in Persons Reportstated that authorities in both Iraq and KRI ‘continued to inappropriately detain and prosecute
without legal representation children allegedly affiliated to ISIS—some of whom were victims offorcible recruitment and use—and used abusive interrogation techniques and torture to gain
children’s confessions’.28
Human Rights Watch, citing an article by the New Yorker, reported that in relation to ISIL suspects‘according to senior Iraqi intelligence officials, the lists of suspects reportedly grew to include
approximately 100,000 names.’29 Human Rights Watch further noted that this number included
people who were suspected of involvement with ISIL in any capacity, including in support functions
such as drivers or cooks, 30 or who had no direct ties to ISIL except their family members’ involvement,
19 InterAction, Moving Forward Together, Leaving No One Behind: From Stigmatization to Social Cohesion in Post-ConflictIraq, October 2018, url, p. 3
20 Revkin, M. R., The Limits of Punishment: Transitional Justice and Violent Extremism – Iraq Case Study, May 2018, url, p.
27
21 EASO, Iraq: Targeting of Individuals, March 2019, url, sections: 1.2 Sunni perceived to be ISIL collaborators or
sympathisers (1.2.1 Prosecution of ISIL suspects; 1.2.2 Retaliatory violence; 1.2.3 Targeting by KRG Forces) 1.4 family
members of actual or perceived ISIL members; 1.5 Members of tribes with (perceived) affiliation with ISIL; 3.5.6 Sexual
violence
22 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url
23 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 17
24 UN OHCHR, Iraq: UN expert says prosecution of ISIL leadership must be fair and thorough, 4 April 2019, url
25 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 33
26 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq, 14 January 2020, url
27 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 33
28 USDOS, 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report - Iraq, June 2019, url
29 HRW quoted as a reference an article from the New Yorker, however, the exact source of the figure 100 000 within thearticle is not clear. HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url,
p. 13; see also: New Yorker (The), Iraq’s Post-ISIS Campaign of Revenge, 23 December 2018, url
30 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 3

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISILor because community members informed on persons, often based solely on ‘personal or local
grievances’ or ‘following forced confessions involving torture.’31 A senior Iraqi intelligence official told
Human Rights Watch that ‘thousands of ISIS suspects in custody have been arrested based onincorrect information or because their names were falsely reported.’32 Human Rights Watch also
recorded cases where people were arrested based on similarities or matching names with ISIL
suspects.33 The same source reported that ‘authorities […] have detained adults and children who had
only minimal association with ISIS, or no affiliation at all.’34 In a report published on 5 March 2020,
OXFAM found that in Diyala governorate, in 5 out of 10 locations researched,35 ‘[i]n-camp and out-ofcamp IDP respondents reported that state armed groups carry out arrests based on their wanted lists,
resulting in unlawful identification and detention of boys and men who are not affiliated with ISIS’.
There were also reports that armed groups asked the detainees’ families for ransom.36
Moreover, Amnesty International noted that the whereabouts of thousands of men and boys who
were reportedly forcibly disappeared between 2014 and 2018 by ISF, supported by the Popular
Mobilisation Units (PMU), or by KRG forces37 while fleeing ISIL-held areas, remained unknown as ofFebruary 2020.38 Others ‘may have been extrajudicially executed [or] entered a vast network of official
and unofficial detention centers where they are routinely subjected to torture and other illtreatment’39 in order to force them to confess their ISIL affiliation.40
Amnesty International’s 2019 annual report on Iraq stated that displaced Iraqis perceived to be
associated with ISIL were ‘subjected to enforced disappearance following arrest’ by Iraqi authorities
at checkpoints, in camps and in areas of origin that they returned to, many of which were in former
ISIL strongholds.41 Human Rights Watch also reported in its 2019 World Report on Iraq that ISIL
suspects were arbitrarily detained and prosecuted.42

1.1.2 Prosecution and fair trial
According to analysis by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the Iraqi judiciary
processed over 20 000 terrorism-related cases between January 2018 and October 2019, withthousands still pending as of January 2020. The UNAMI report stated that ‘[g]iven the heavy caseloadof ISIL-related prosecutions, the consistent pattern of well-organized trial proceedings was notable’.43
However, observers also describe legal proceedings of ISIL suspects, including children44, in Iraq, as
31 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, pp. 3, 14.
32 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 14; see also Al

Jazeera, Iraq government employees face prosecution for working under ISIL, 9 July 2019, url
33 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 14
34 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 14
35 OXFAM’s study was conducted in 23 locations in Diyala and Kirkuk, targeting IDPs/returnees/host communities tounderstand ‘protection threats’ in these areas. OXFAM, Protection Landscapes in Diyala and Kirkuk, Iraq, 5 March 2020, url,
p. 11
36 OXFAM, Protection Landscapes in Diyala and Kirkuk, Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, pp. 11, 17
37 HRW, Kurdistan Region of Iraq: 350 Prisoners ‘Disappeared’, 21 December 2017, url; UN Human Rights Council, Report of
the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on her mission to Iraq [A/HRC/38/44/Add.1], 20
June 2018, url, p. 9
38 AI, Iraq 2019, 18 February 2020, url
39 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, p. 7
40 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, p. 7
41 AI, Iraq 2019, 18 February 2020, url
42 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url
43 UNAMI’s findings are based on the monitoring of 794 criminal court hearings in Anbar, Baghdad, Basra, Dhi Qar, Dohuk,
Erbil, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Wassit governorates, involving men, women and children facing charges under Iraq’s antiterrorism laws; UNAMI/OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws
and implications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, p. iv
44 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 4

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

falling short of fair trial standards.45 Human Rights Watch described proceedings of Iraqi ISIL suspects
as ‘inherently unfair and replete with due process violations’, ‘unjust’, and failing to meet ‘even themost basic markers of due process’.46 The NGO, PAX, similarly stated in an October 2019 policy brief
on ISIL trials that under anti-terrorism legislation, thousands of alleged ISIL members have beensentenced to either execution of long prison sentences, noting that these ‘frequently fail to meet basic
standards of fairness’.47
Summary trials of ISIL suspects were reported by Human Rights Watch to last as short as fiveminutes.48 UNAMI expressed ‘serious concerns that basic fair trial standards have not been respected
in terrorism-related trials’.49 Some of the main issues of concern reported by human rights observers
regarding the prosecution of ISIL suspects in Iraq relate to overreliance on anonymous informants andintelligence or security reports.50 Overreliance on confessions was also reported, including withfrequent allegations of torture or ill treatment that appeared to be inadequately addressed bycourts.51 Concerns reportedly also relate to ISIL suspects being prosecuted for association with, or
membership of, a terrorist organisation52 under the Federal Anti-Terrorism Law53 in an overtly broadmanner.54 For example, ‘in one case before the Nineveh counterterrorism court in early January, amale nurse was prosecuted under the law because he provided ISIS members with medical care after
ISIS took over the area.’55 UNAMI described two hearings in which ‘one defendant was sentenced toeight years of imprisonment for providing physiotherapy to wounded ISIL members in Erbil andanother received a life sentence in Mosul for providing medical services to wounded ISIL members as
pharmacist.’56 Another issue highlighted by UNAMI/OHCHR was the ineffective legal representation,
including inadequate time and facilities for court-appointed lawyers to prepare defence.57 In the KRG,
children suspected of ISIL ties interviewed by HRW also said their hearings were conducted in Kurdish,a language they did not speak.58 Nevertheless, a Human Rights Watch report published on 13 March
2019 noted improvements in how proceedings at the Ninewa governorate’s Tal Keyf counterterrorism court was operating; noting a ‘significant shift in the way that prosecutions are proceeding’.

45 UNAMI/OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, p. 13; AI, Iraq 2019,18 February 2020, url; HRW, ISIS Suspect Transfers to Iraq Replete with Risks, 1 November 2019, url
46 HRW, ISIS Suspect Transfers to Iraq Replete with Risks, 1 November 2019, url
47 PAX, ISIS-only tribunal: selective, politicised justice will do more harm than good, 31 October 2019, url, p. 2
48 HRW, Transfer of ISIS Suspects, Including Foreigners, to Iraq Raises Torture Concerns, 4 March 2019, url
49 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, p. 13
50 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. 6-8. See also, AI,
Iraq 2019, 18 February 2020, url; HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6
March 2019, url, pp. 19, 27
51 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. 8-9. See also, AI,
Iraq 2019, 18 February 2020, url; HRW, World Report for 2019: Iraq , 14 January 2020, url
52 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, p. 11
53 Iraqi Parliament, Iraq Anti-Terrorism Law (Law No. 13 of 2005), 7 November 2005, url; On KRG’s legislation, see
Kurdistan Parliament, Law No. 3 (2006) An act for anti-terrorism in the Kurdistan Region – Iraq, url
54 HRW, World Report for 2019: Iraq, 14 January 2020, url; UNAMI/OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justicein Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws and implications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermathof ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. 9-11; HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6
March 2019, url, pp. 46, 47.
55 HRW, Iraq: Key Courts Improve ISIS Trial Procedures, But Changes Needed in Laws, Response to Torture, Other Courts,
13 March 2019, url
56 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, p. 11
57 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. iv, 6-7
58 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 5

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

This included ‘requiring a higher evidentiary standard to detain and prosecute suspects, minimizing
the court’s reliance on confessions alone, erroneous wanted lists, and unsubstantiated allegations.’
According to the head of the investigation court, cited in the report, the court processed 9 000 casesin 2018, ‘[o]f those, 2,036 cases were dropped; 3,162 remain under investigation; 2,827 were referred
to trial, including 561 children; and 975 were transferred to other courts because the cases were notlinked to terror charges’. Moreover, the report stated that on 4 February 2019, Human Rights Watch
sat on a trial before the court and ‘observed judges applying the new rules’ and added that ‘[t]here issome indication that these heightened evidentiary standards are being applied elsewhere’.59 In one
example, on 31 March 2020, Shafaq News reported that the Ninewa counter-terrorism court released
50 detainees due to insufficient evidence.60
According to UNAMI/OHCHR, ‘the KRI Anti-Terror Law provides consecutive sentences for different
acts of terrorism, ranging from the death penalty to life imprisonment to imprisonment for less than
15 years. By contrast, the Federal Anti-Terrorism Law requires the mandatory application of the death
penalty for any person who commits any of the terrorist acts detailed in the law. Those who incite,plan, finance, or assist terrorists face the same penalty as the main perpetrator of the terrorist acts
detailed in the law.’61 According to reports, the death penalty62 has been handed down following
unfair trials in terrorism-related hearings in federal courts.63 According to UNAMI, courts in Kurdistansentenced ISIL defendants to death less frequently compared to federal courts in central Iraq. Out of
186 trial hearings observed by UNAMI in the KRI, only one death penalty was handed down. Out of
317 terrorism-related trial hearings in federal courts observed by UNAMI, judges applied the death
penalty in 100 instances for 105 defendants, which represents a rate of 31.5 %.64 In June 2020, an
unnamed Iraqi security source, cited by RT Arabic, stated that more than 3 000 alleged ISIL members
who were sentenced to death months ago remain in prison, as the sentences have not been carriedout. The source added that some of those 3 000 ISIL members were handed over to the Iraqi
authorities by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria.65 Moreover, Iraqi courts have sentenced children
suspected of ISIL association to longer sentences – estimated between 5 to 15 years - than KRG
courts.66 Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch who were convicted in KRI facilities had beensentenced to six to nine months in prison.67 According to the same source, the KRG states that
sentences have ranged from one month to five years.68 UNAMI also reported little consistency or
clarity as to the basis on which sentencing decisions were reached, where trials with similar facts

59 HRW, Iraq: Key Courts Improve ISIS Trial Procedures, 13 March 2019, url
60 Shafaq News, ‫ ارهاب لـ"عدم كفاية االدلة‬4/1‫ موقوفا وفق المادة م‬50 ‫[ "العراق يخل سبيل‬Iraq Releases 50 Persons Detained on the‫ي‬Basis of Art. 1/4 Terrorism “for Insufficient Evidence”], 31 March 2020, url
61 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. v, 4, 10.; Iraqi
Parliament, Iraq Anti-Terrorism Law (Law No. 13 of 2005), 7 November 2005, url
62 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. v, 4, 10.; Iraqi
Parliament, Iraq Anti-Terrorism Law (Law No. 13 of 2005), 7 November 2005, url
63 AI, Iraq 2019, 18 February 2020, url; UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials
under the anti-terrorism laws and implications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL,
January 2020, url, p. 12; HRW, World Report for 2019: Iraq, 14 January 2020, url
64 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, p. 12‫[ ر‬Iraqi Source to RT: More than 3 000
65 RT, ‫مصدر عراق لـ‬RT: ‫ آالف عنرص من "داعش" حكموا باإلعدام ولم تنفذ بهم العقوبة‬3 ‫أكث من‬‫ي‬‘Da’esh’ Members Were Sentenced to Death but the Sentence Was not Carried out], 1 June 2020, url
66 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 19
67 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 29
68 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 29

15

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

presented during hearings resulted in differing convictions, ranging from death sentences and life
sentence to lesser terms of imprisonment or, on some occasions, acquittal.69
The head of the investigation court in Nineveh, Raed al-Maslah, noted that there were improvementsin the fair trial standards in the governorate’s counter-terrorism court and there were indications ofheightened evidentiary standards to detain and prosecute suspects. Another source gave the opinion
that there were indications that progress was also applied elsewhere in Iraq, including in Karkh courtin Baghdad and Diyala. Human Rights Watch wrote that ‘under the new procedures, anyone arrested
typically appears before an investigative judge within 48 hours. If they maintain innocence,
intelligence officers consult the accused’s local community leader and two neighbors to assess thecredibility of the allegations. If the person is cleared, including based on witness testimony, the court
issues a notice to remove the defendant’s name from wanted lists countrywide, reducing thepossibility of rearrests.’ However, Human Rights Watch reported that these practices were not appliedconsistently in proceedings across Iraq, with continuous reports of torture, forced confessions, anddeaths in custody.70

1.1.3 Treatment in detention
Throughout 2019, human rights observers continued to report the use of torture and ill treatment by
Iraqi and KRG authorities, particularly of detainees held on suspicion of ISIL affiliation.71 Human Rights
Watch and Amnesty International described the use of torture of ISIL suspects, including children,
across Iraq throughout 2019 as ‘widespread’.72 Children suspected to have ties with ISIL were reported
to be ‘exposed to a heightened risk of violence, including sexual violence, abuse, exploitation andneglect’ in detention, according to the UN.73 For instance, in KRI, in Erbil, at the Reformatory for
Women and Children, despite reported better detention conditions than in other facilities, Human
Rights Watch expressed ‘grave concerns’, in particular due to ‘beatings and verbal abuse’ and ‘death
threats’ by some guards towards children detained.74 Torture continued to be reported amongsources in 2020: The Arabic-language news outlet, Elaph, reported that the Iraqi Salvation
Development Front party accused the government of subjecting around 15 000 prisoners, including
ISIL members, to torture in Al-Hout prison in Al-Nasiriyya, Thi Qar governorate, and claiming that tens
have died since the beginning of 2020; they called on the government to investigate human rights
violations.75 In a 2020 interview with the organisation Prison Insider, which raises awareness on prison
conditions, Agnès Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary
Executions, stated that ‘inmates are almost, without fail, victims of torture or ill treatment by theauthorities’ committed during detention in order to extract confessions.76

69 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. 10-11
70 HRW, Iraq: Key Courts Improve ISIS Trial Procedures, But Changes Needed in Laws, Response to Torture, Other Courts,
13 March 2019, url
71 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. 8-9; HRW, World
Report for 2019: Iraq, 14 January 2020, url; AI, Iraq 2019, 18 February 2020, url
72 HRW, World Report for 2019: Iraq, 14 January 2020, url; AI, Iraq 2019, 18 February 2020, url
73 UN Security Council, Children and armed conflict in Iraq, 23 December 2019, url, para. 42
74 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, pp. 5,29‫معتقلي حت القتل دعت المنظمات الحقوقية إىل التحقيق بوفاة ر‬
75 Elaph, ‫العشات‬‫ن‬‫[ اتهام السلطات العراقية بتعذيب‬Human Rights Organisations
Called to Investigate Dozens of Deaths: Iraqi Authorities Accused of Killing Detainees under Torture], 17 April 2020, url
76 Prison Insider, “Parodies of justice” in Iraq, 21 January 2020, url

16

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISILAt the end of 2018, approximately 1 500 children were detained for alleged ties with ISIL by Iraqi and
KRG forces, including at least 150 foreign children.77 According to the UN Secretary General, as of June
2019, ‘at least 778 children (743 boys and 35 girls), most of them between the ages of 15 and 18 but
some as young as 10 years old, remained in pretrial or post-trial detention on national security-related
charges.’78
Human Rights Watch reported that in Ninewa governorate, detainees, including women and children,
have been held in ‘extreme[ly]’ overcrowded facilities, ‘for extended periods in conditions so
degrading that they amount to ill treatment’.79 In 2019, Belkis Wille of Human Rights Watch observedthe ‘horrible conditions of prisons’ holding ISIL suspects in Ninewa governorate, including Tal Kayf,
Faisaliya and Tasfirat pre-trial detention facilities.80 Out of the 4 500 detainees, 1 300 have been tried
but not transferred to prisons, with cases of people remaining ‘in the crowded facility for up to six
months after they were convicted’. Members of parliament and Mosul deputy governor quoted by
Human Rights Watch described prisons located close to Mosul as a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’.81
Moreover, Human Rights Watch reported that in federal Iraq, children suspected of ISIL affiliation are
sometimes detained with adults, lack access to education and are denied contact with their families.82
Find more information about access to education in Section 2.3.

1.1.4 After detention
UNOCHA remarked that many IDPs did not intend to return to their areas of origin for a broad rangeof reasons in the short term, including destroyed livelihoods, lack of basic services, security, and fearof re-arrest; specifically those with perceived ISIL affiliation appeared to have barriers obtaining
security clearances.83 Human Rights Watch noted that children who served sentences in KRI feared
re-arrest if they returned to Baghdad-controlled areas due to lack of coordination between the judicial
systems.84 Due in particular to fears of re-arrest, long-term stigmatisation, and fears of retaliatory
attacks, children interviewed by Human Rights Watch believed that ‘after their release, their only
options were to live in a camp or to leave Iraq’.85 The same source noted that Iraqi and KRG policies
of detention and prosecution for association with ISIL have ‘profound negative consequences’ forchildren, including ‘family separation, displacement, and nearly insurmountable challenges to societal
reintegration’.86 For more information on families with perceived ISIL ties, see Chapter 2.

77 Moreover, ‘In 2017, according to HRW ’80 percent [of them] were held by Iraqi federal authorities, and the rest were

held by the KRG.’ HRW, Iraq: ISIS Child Suspects Arbitrarily Arrested, Tortured Children Should Be Rehabilitated,
Reintegrated, 6 March 2019, url
78 UN Security Council, Children and armed conflict in Iraq, 23 December 2019, url, pp. 8,979 HRW, Iraq: Thousands Detained, Including Children, in Degrading Conditions, Three Nineveh Jails Way Over Capacity, 4
July 2019, url
80 HRW, Iraq: Thousands Detained, Including Children, in Degrading Conditions, 4 July 2019, url
81 HRW, Iraq Authorities Acknowledge Horrific Prison Overcrowding, 5 August 2019, url
82 HRW, Iraq: ISIS Child Suspects Arbitrarily Arrested, Tortured Children Should Be Rehabilitated, Reintegrated, 6 March
2019, url
83 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Response Plan - Iraq, January 2020, url, p. 99
84 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, pp. 2, 38
85 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 40
86 HRW, Everyone Must Confess - Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIL Affiliation, 6 March 2019, url, p. 38

17

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

2. Treatment of family members of perceived
ISIL members or affiliates
As of June 2020, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) displacement tracking matrix
estimated that 1 381 332 people remained internally displaced in Iraq, while over 4.7 million Iraqis
have returned to their area of origin.87 Of those still displaced, 70 % have been displaced for morethan 3 years, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR).88 IDP families have been described by Human Rights Watch as ‘uniquely vulnerable to abuse’
due to threats from unsafe return conditions, land mines, or revenge attacks.89 In particular, thosewith ‘perceived affiliation to extremist groups,’ who are ‘among the most vulnerable’, ‘face stigma
and discrimination and have significant protection needs’90 and ‘were at increased risk of being
deprived of their basic rights’.91 Families with perceived ISIL affiliation have been ‘subjected to formsof collective punishment’ including looting, destruction of property and displacement, raisingconcerns among NGOs and UNAMI about the ‘marginalization and punishment’ of such families,
particularly relating to female-headed households who have few support resources and who havewidely reported being harassed by security personnel due to their ‘perceived vulnerability’.92
IDPs and returnees suspected of ISIL ties have also been at risk of retaliatory acts and false accusations
by tribes following ‘tribal law principles of collective responsibility that allow relatives of ISIL members
to be held vicariously liable for crimes that they did not personally commit’.93 USDOS also reported
that ‘tribal pacts called for punishing false accusations of ISIS affiliation.’94 A 2019 paper on Tribal
Justice by Iraq analyst Haley Bobseine described the role of tribes in relation to the post-ISIL
environment stating that tribes play an active role in meditating disputes post-ISIL, noting that ‘tribes
are taking on a significant role in the administering of tribal justice for Islamic State family members
and supporters—often resolving matters that the state is ill-equipped or unwilling to deal with.’ Tribal
informal justice can broker agreements that prevent revenge attacks and contain communal tensions;however, she also notes that ‘tribes are pivotal in facilitating—and sometimes blocking—the returnof more than 1.5 million IDPs.’95 In March 2020, IOM observed that communities adopted mechanisms
from tribal justice to handle the issue of returnees with perceived affiliation to ISIL, which included
disavowal (the most common practice whereby IDPs denounce and deny allegiance to ISIL);
denouncement (whereby individuals formally accuse a family member of ISIL membership); andreturn to a neighbouring area in the vicinity of the community of origin ‘as a temporary measure until
tribal mediation between families of victims and families of alleged perpetrators is completed’. The
source added that in some cases, relatives of victims from the local community might file a complaint
to reject the return of IDPs to the security forces who would inform the community leaders that theywould not be able to guarantee the safety of the returnees in question. If the returnee family becomes

87 IOM, Iraq Displacement Tracking Matrix, n.d., url
88 UN OHCHR, End of Mission Statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internallydisplaced persons, Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, upon conclusion of her official visit to Iraq – 15 to 23 February 2020, 27
February 2020, url
89 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
90 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview - Iraq 2020, 17 December, url, p. 5; See also: Oxfam, Protection Landscape inDiyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, p. 16
91 USDOS, 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Iraq, url, p. 33
92 CIVIC, ‘WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US’ Civilian Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, pp. 23,
24
93 IOM, WEST MOSUL PERCEPTIONS ON RETURN AND REINTEGRATION AMONG STAYEES, IDPS AND RETURNEES, June
2019, url, p. 41
94 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2019 – Iraq, March 2020, url, p. 33
95 Bobseine, H., Tribal Justice in a Fragile Iraq, url, 7 November 2019, p. 2

18

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

secondarily displaced, tribal mediation might start and ‘[o]nce the case is settled (usually involving thepayment of blood money) and the required payments made, the accused IDPs are able to return andthe victims are unable to incite or perpetrate violence against them’.96 IOM also observed that ‘when
the return of IDPs with perceived affiliation has been facilitated by the community through the
involvement of community leaders … returns have been more sustainable over time and returnees
less exposed to secondary displacement than in larger communities with less tightknit community
relations.’97
In February 2020, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons
described similar issues as ‘very concerning’, highlighting ‘widespread discrimination’ faced by thesefamilies. She stated that ‘not welcome in hosting Governorates, nor wanted back in their areas oforigin, these families have been trapped in camps for years without a solution in sight’.98
Family members of actual or perceived ISIL members, remained ‘displaced in camps across Iraq –isolated trapped and exploited,’99 according to Amnesty International. It is further reported that thesefamilies ‘have been stigmatized and punished for factors outside their control, including being related,
however distantly, to men who were somehow involved with IS, or for fleeing from areas believed to
be IS strongholds’. They have been subjected to ‘serious human rights violations and collective
punishments’, including arbitrary arrests, harassment, sexual violence, and forced displacement byarmed forces and militias.100 Once labelled as ‘ISIL families’ (‘Awa’il Dawaish’ in Arabic), they ‘lose thesupport of their extended families, village or tribe’.101 A number of families have limited access oraccording to one source have been denied basic assistance, including access to food and non-fooditems,102 access to medical103 or psychological care,104 civil documentation105 and security clearance,
severely restricting their freedom of movement.106 Cases have been reported of PMUs looting
properties belonging to perceived ‘ISIL families’.107 Children in those families have been subjected to‘extreme acts of violence’.108 A number of them are ‘at risk of statelessness’109 due to lack of civil
documentation and are denied access to education and other rights.110

96 IOM Iraq, Managing Return in Anbar: Community Responses to the Return of IDPs with Perceived Affiliation, 26 March

2020, url, p. 5, 14, 15
97 IOM Iraq, Managing Return in Anbar: Community Responses to the Return of IDPs with Perceived Affiliation, 26 March
2020, url, p. 9
98 UN OHCHR, End of Mission Statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internallydisplaced persons, Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, upon conclusion of her official visit to Iraq – 15 to 23 February 2020, 27
February 2020, url
99 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, pp. 7,8
100 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, pp. 4,7,8,10
101 CIVIC, “WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US” - Civilian Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, p. 26
102 CIVIC, “WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US” - Civilian Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, p. 26;
UN Security Council, Children and armed conflict in Iraq, 23 December 2019, url, p. 15
103 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE –A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, pp. 7,8; UN Security Council, Children andarmed conflict in Iraq, 23 December 2019, url, p. 15
104 UN Security Council, Children and armed conflict in Iraq, 23 December 2019, url, p. 15
105 AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TO JUSTICE –A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url , pp. 7,8
106 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, pp. 17-20. For more information, see part 2.3 of this report‘Restricted access to civil documentation and security clearance.’
107 CIVIC, “WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US” - Civilian Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, p. 14
108 UN Security Council, Children and armed conflict in Iraq, 23 December 2019, url, p. 15
109 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
110 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, pp. 11-13; HRW, Human Rights Watch
Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of Iraq’s periodic
report for the 74th CEDAW Session, September 2019, url, p. 4; HRW, Iraq: School Doors Barred to Many Children Affects
Thousands Who Lived Under ISIS Rule, 28 August 2019, url; HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url; NRC,
Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 5; For more information, see part 2.3.1 Undocumented children bornunder ISIL and/or of ISIL fathers

19Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Some perceived ‘ISIL families’ have been forced to return home ‘where they risk landmines, revenge
attacks from neighbours, or forced recruitment into local armed groups’111, whereas others are being
prevented from returning to their places of origins and ‘effectively detained in camps’.112 So called‘ISIL families’ are seen as ‘pariahs’ in Iraq, according to Human Rights Watch Senior Iraq Researcher
Belkis Wille.113

2.1 Sexual abuse and violence
UNOCHA noted in its Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2020 that gender-based violence is‘widespread in Iraq, both in camps and in out-of-camps settings’ and that those perceived links to ISIL
were subjected to discriminatory practices, restrictions, harassment and sexual violence andexploitation.114 In February 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of InternallyDisplaced Persons noted that displaced women of perceived ISIL families, including widows, arereportedly the target of revenge sexual violence and harassment.115 This was corroborated byAmnesty International116 and Oxfam.117 Oxfam, which focused on Diyala governorate, speaking about
general protection risks to displaced women, stated that female-headed households and divorced
women are ‘perceived as being at severe risk of exploitation, abuses and survival sex’ especially if they
are IDPs.118 Moreover, Human Rights Watch and VOA pointed to the IDP camps in Mosul as places
where sexual abuses took place.119
Several organisations confirmed that among the perpetrators of sexual harassment, rape and sexual
exploitation of women with perceived ISIL ties, were armed actors, including ISF and the PMUs in IDP
camps, camp authorities, as well as others in positions of authority.120 In July 2019, Human Rights
Watch referred to testimonies of camp residents near Mosul describing sexual exploitation andcoerced sex by security forces. The NGO also described fears of sexual violence expressed by women
IDPs during screenings.121 The Washington Post reported on displaced people with alleged ISIL links in
Khazir camp near Erbil in 2019, reporting that women who had lost their husbands are ‘targeted forsexual violence by militia men, camp guards, or forced marriage’.122

111 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
112 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
113 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
114 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview - Iraq 2020, November 2019 url, p. 21; Examples of sexual violence in Ninewa,

Kirkuk and Erbil governorates can be found in IOM, WEST MOSUL PERCEPTIONS ON RETURN AND REINTEGRATION AMONGSTAYEES, IDPS AND RETURNEES, June 2019, url, pp. 40, 33; and CIVIC, WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US’ Civilian
Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, pp. 26,27.; see also a report published in March 2020 by Oxfam’Respondents indicated that sexual exploitation in the camp takes place systematically, at night, with IDP women and girls
forced to have sex with men who come from outside the camp.’ Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5March 2020, url, pp. 25, 26
115 UN OHCHR, End of Mission Statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internallydisplaced persons, Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, upon conclusion of her official visit to Iraq – 15 to 23 February 2020, 27
February 2020, url
116 AI, Iraq: The Condemned: Woman and Children Isolated, Trapped and Exploited in Iraq, 17 April 2018, url
117 Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, p. 23
118 Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, p. 23
119 VoA, Report: Iraqi Forces Sexually Abuse IS Female Relatives in Mosul, 17 February 2019, url; HRW, Iraq: Military Enter
Camp, Occupy School for ‘Screening’, July 18, 2019,url
120 VoA, Report: Iraqi Forces Sexually Abuse IS Female Relatives in Mosul, 17 February 2019, url; AI, IRAQ: THE ROAD TOJUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, p. 8; HRW, Iraq: Military Enter Camp, Occupy School for ‘Screening’,
July 18, 2019, url; Washington Post (The), Iraq pressing to build isolation camp for Islamic State refugees, 2 May 2019, url
121 HRW, Iraq: Military Enter Camp, Occupy School for ‘Screening’, July 18, 2019, url
122 Washington Post (The), Iraq pressing to build isolation camp for Islamic State refugees, 2 May 2019, url

20

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISILIn an article published in April 2019 by FP, Mosul Eye founder and activist Omar Mohammed said that‘men have formed prostitution rings in some camps, forcing women to engage in sex work. The victims
routinely undergo abortions to deal with the unwanted pregnancies.’ He also indicated that there isan organised trade in women from the camps and between camps.123 Early in 2019, a journalistic
report,124 highly criticised by the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights,125 conducted by Mosul
Investigation Team and the Network of Iraqi Reporters for Investigative Journalism, observed that‘dozens of female relatives of IS fighters’, including several minors, living in IDPs camps and outside
near Mosul have been harassed and sexually abused by security forces. According to a journalist from
Mosul quoted by the Voice of America website, these are only ‘a few cases among hundreds of casesthat happen in Mosul and inside the camps’. Cases of suicide ‘due to the trauma of the abuse’ arecited in the report. Journalist and writer of the report Dlovan Barwari explained that ‘some houses
and tents at refugee camps are turned into brothels where those women are forced to accept sexual
exploitation in exchange for $3 or a little food’, having ‘no other options left’.126 In response, the Iraqi
High Commission for Human Rights has called the report's findings ‘untrue and contrary to reality on
the ground’ Commission member Fadel al-Gharawi said in a media statement the refugee camps
hosting IS families are supervised by the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration and areprotected by Iraqi security forces. The organisation was quoted as saying that ‘the office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights has investigative, oversight and follow-up committees that conduct
occasional field visits to these camps. These committees have not recorded any cases of violation orcomplaint by women against the forces in charge of the security of the camps.’127
Women with perceived ISIL links have been reported to adopt negative coping strategies, including
survival sex and early marriage.128 In addition, out of fear of sexual abuse and harassment, women in
IDP camps in Kirkuk were reported to withdraw girls from schools and limiting their movements andavoiding contact with the host community.129

2.2 Forced and blocked returns
Since early 2018 and throughout 2019, the Iraqi government has pushed IDPs to return to their placesof origin and started closing IDP camps.130 Around 2 000 IDPs were reportedly expelled from camps
by local authorities in Ninewa governorate alone between end of August and September 2019.131
Families, in particular those with alleged ISIL ties, have been forced to return to their areas of origin
despite their security concerns, while others have been unable to return to their home areas forvarious reasons,132 in particular due to concerns over arbitrary arrests, but also fears of revenge
attacks.133 For instance, Human Rights Watch recorded grenade attacks targeting IDPs families withperceived links to ISIL in several areas, as well as protests organised by camp residents against the
123 FP, Among Displaced Iraqis, One Group Is Worse Off Than the Rest, 29 April 2019, url‫النساء نق ‘عوائل داعش’ يدفعن ن‬‫ وجيل يهدد‬..‫ اغتصاب ودعارة‬:‫الرصيبة‬‫ي‬[Women in ISIL Families pay the price: rape and prostitution… And a generation is again threatened by radicalization],
March 2019, url
125 VoA, Report: Iraqi Forces Sexually Abuse IS Female Relatives in Mosul, 17 February 2019, url
126 VoA, Report: Iraqi Forces Sexually Abuse IS Female Relatives in Mosul, 17 February 2019, url
127 VoA, Report: Iraqi Forces Sexually Abuse IS Female Relatives in Mosul, 17 February 2019, url
128 Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, p. 26; UN OHCHR, End of Mission Statementby the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary,
upon conclusion of her official visit to Iraq – 15 to 23 February 2020, 27 February 2020, url
129 Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, pp. 23- 25
130 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url; HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
131 HRW, Iraq: Camps Expel Over 2,000 People Seen As ISIS-Linked, September 4, 2019, url
132 See for instance: HRW, Iraq: Camps Expel Over 2,000 People Seen As ISIS-Linked, September 4, 2019, url
133 FP, Among Displaced Iraqis, One Group Is Worse Off Than the Rest, 29 April 2019, url
124 Iraqi Network for Investigative Journalism, ‫بتطرف جديد‬21

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

arrival in their camp of families with perceived ISIL affiliation.134 Families with perceived ISIL ties also
fear the presence of unexploded ordnances and improvised explosive devices in their areas oforigin.135 Other reasons preventing their return home include difficulties obtaining security
clearance,136 damage and destruction of their homes, lack of job opportunities, basic infrastructure
and public services,137 lack of financial resources to pay tribal or blood compensation,138 andconfiscation of properties by local forces or militias, causing fear of abuses, arrests, attacks, and lackof intention to return.139 As a result, an unspecified number have been displaced to other camps.140
According to the an article by Alexandra Saieh, an Advocacy Advisor for the NRC in Iraq focusing on
post-ISIL displacement, ‘the highest barriers to return are the lack of support to rebuild homes andcreate jobs’ for the majority of IDPs in Iraq. However, the source noted that IDPs accused of ISIL
affiliation ‘are punished for crimes allegedly committed by their relatives, barred from returning homeby their former neighbors, community leaders, state-aligned militias, or state authorities
themselves.’141 However, In June 2020, REACH observed that the main reasons that barred the returnof IDPs to their area of origin in Markaz Al-Baaj sub-district of Ninewa governorate weredestroyed/damaged housing, lack of jobs and services, resistance from community and/or local
actors, presence of jobs in areas of displacement and unstable security. Moreover, 94 % of
respondents ‘reported that community members trust each other’ and all respondents ‘reported that
there are no specific population groups which are not welcome by the majority of the community inthe area’. No retaliation incidents were reported in the area of return.142 Finally, with regard to AlRummaneh subdistrict of Anbar, whose sub-district was taken over by ISIL in 2014 forcing over 2 500
families to flee, REACH’s June 2020 assessment indicated most families had returned. Of the roughly
700 families that did not return, the main reasons for failed returns were destroyed/damaged housing,lack of jobs, resistance from community and/or local actors, lack of services and unstable security.
According to the report, all respondents ‘reported that there are no specific population groups which
are not welcome by the majority of the community in the area’.143
In a report published on 26 March 2020, IOM stated that 1.4 million IDPs returned to Anbar as ofDecember 2019, ‘where tension exists between those who displaced during the initial advance of ISIL
and those who initially remained and displaced at a later period’. IOM observed that ‘[a]lthough somecommunities have advanced towards a more nuanced understanding that having cohabited with ISIL
does not necessarily imply affiliation, community members with family or tribal ties with thoseaccused of having an affiliation continue to be perceived as sympathizers of the group’ and in someinstances experienced secondary displacement due to being rejected by the communities of origin.144
UNHCR observed a number of cases of forced returnees being detained, attacked, threatened, ordenied access to their areas of origin due to their perceived ISIL affiliation by tribes, local forces or the134 HRW, Iraq: Camps Expel Over 2,000 People Seen As ISIS-Linked, September 4, 2019, url
135 AI, IRAQ ; THE ROAD TO JUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, p. 7
136 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
137 AI, IRAQ : THE ROAD TO JUSTICE – A LONG WAY TO GO, November 2019, url, p. 7
138 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url; IOM, WEST MOSUL PERCEPTIONS ON RETURN AND REINTEGRATIONAMONG STAYEES, IDPS AND RETURNEES, June 2019, url, p. 30
139 NRC, Broken Home, Women’s housing, land and property rights in post-conflict Iraq, May 2020, url, p. 11; See also:
Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, p. 13
140 Al, Iraq: Stop forced returns of hundreds of internally displaced people, 28 August 2019, url; HRW, Iraq: Not a
Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
141 Saieh, A, Ignoring Iraq’s Most Vulnerable Displaced Families Undermines US Stabilization Agenda in Iraq, 18 August
2020, url
142 REACH, RAPID ASSESSMENT ON RETURNS AND DURABLE SOLUTIONS Markaz Al Baaj Sub-district - Al Baaj District Ninewa Governorate, Iraq, 1 August 2020, url, pp. 2, 5
143 REACH, RAPID ASSESSMENT ON RETURNS AND DURABLE SOLUTIONS Al Rummaneh Sub-district - Al Kaim District - Al
Anbar Governorate, Iraq, 31 July 2020, url, pp. 2, 5
144 IOM Iraq, Managing Return in Anbar: Community Responses to the Return of IDPs with Perceived Affiliation, 26 March
2020, url, p. 4

22

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

community at their arrivals in several districts in Anbar, Ninewa, Kirkuk and Salah Al-Din. In addition
to these protection issues faced by forced returnees145 from IDP camps across Iraq, there are reportsof blocked returns of IDPs who are unable to return to their home areas.146 Quoting an official, Human
Rights Watch reported in June 2019 that around 250 000 families perceived as having ISIL ties ‘could
not return home because of objections by federal or local authorities or communities’.147 Moreover,in spring 2019, 242 distinct areas were identified in Iraq as areas to which no returns took place eventhough fighting has ended.148 The same source stated that in 94 of the areas, ‘the de facto ban on
returns is a form of punishment against those the security forces perceive as having been sympathetic
to ISIS, or as having a relative who was sympathetic to the group’.149 The Turkish media outlet, TRT,
stated that more than 1 million Iraqis remain in displacement, including around 14 000 in IDP camps.
According to the source, those IDPs have been struggling to return to their areas of origin which weredestroyed by war, while the residents of some areas reject the return of those IDPs whom they
consider to be ISIL affiliates.150 In September 2019, KRG authorities were ‘preventing about 4 200
Sunni Arabs [displaced in camps] from returning home to 12 villages east of Mosul’, allowing only
‘Kurdish residents and Arabs with KRG ties to return’.151 Human Rights Watch described this as a‘punishment’ targeting these families, despite claims by KRG officials that it was meant to protect
civilians from returning to insecure areas.152
On 20 July 2020, UN News stated that the Iraqi government and IOM launched the first round of a
joint project aimed at supporting the return of IDPs to their areas of origin. According to the source,
more than 50 IDP families, ‘in situations of protracted displacement’153, returned from the Amriyat AlFalluja camp to their areas of origin in Anbar governorate after receiving support.154 According to astatement of the General Director in the Iraqi Ministry of Migration, cited by the New Arab, more than
240 000 IDP families returned to their areas of origin in 2019, with the Anbar governorate accounting
for the highest number of returnees (89 000 IDP families), followed by Salah Al-Din (61 000), Ninewa(44 000), Kirkuk (19 000), and Diyala (14 000).155 As regards ‘the current challenges around returns forpeople with perceived or actual affiliation with ISIL’, UNOCHA cited the governor of Anbar who statedthat ‘[t]he Anbar Government has engaged in a lengthy process of negotiations with tribal andcommunity leaders that have allowed many such families to return to their areas of origin’. He addedthat ‘community reconciliation programmes had been instrumental, and that collective punishment
and discrimination of relatives of ISIL members was not acceptable’ and that ‘community trauma’might block the return of some people and force them to settle in new areas.156

145 UNHCR, UNHCR Iraq Protection Update - August 2019, 14 October 2019, url, p. 3
146 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url; HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
147 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
148 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
149 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url‫ن‬
150 TRT Arabic, ‫النازحي إىل مناطقهم‬‫ فصائل مسلحة تمنع عودة‬:‫[ إقليم شمال العراق‬Northern Iraq Region: Armed Groups Prevent the
Return of IDPs to Their Areas], 12 July 2020, url
151 HRW, Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Arabs Not Allowed Home Lift Unlawful Restrictions Blocking Thousands, 6 September
2019, url
152 HRW, Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Arabs Not Allowed Home Lift Unlawful Restrictions Blocking Thousands, 6 September
2019, url
153 IOM, FAMILIES DISPLACED BY ISIL CONFLICT SAFELY RETURN HOME THROUGH GOVERNMENT OF IRAQ, IOM PROJECT,
19 July 2020, url‫ إطالق ر‬:‫[ العراق‬Iraq: Launching of a Project to154 UN News, ‫النازحي داخليا عل العودة الطوعية من المخيمات إىل ديارهم األصلية‬‫ن‬‫مشوع يشجع‬Encourage the Voluntary Return of IDPs from Camps to Areas of Origin], 20 July 2020, url‫[ عودة ر‬The Return of More than 1 Million Iraqi IDPs in 2019], 5 January
155 New Arab (The), 2019 ‫أكث من مليون نازح عراق خالل‬‫ي‬2020, url
156 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Bulletin, 23 July 2020, url, p. 3

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

In a July 2020 article on ISIL families, the late Iraqi political analyst, Husham Al-Hashimi identified three
categories of ‘ISIS families’ who returned to their areas of origin in southern Ninewa and the Ninewa
plain:
1. ‘Families that fled their cities and whose houses were looted, even if one of the family
members was with ISIS, who are welcome to return to their communities. Occurrences ofthis were found in Muhallabiyah west of Mosul, and Shora and Hammam Al Alil south of
Mosul;
2. Families of ISIS members or supporters who informed the security forces about relatives
who joined ISIS after the liberation of the city, who are outside suspicion. Such cases were
found in Shora and Hammam Al Alil; or
3. Families with members who had pledged allegiance to ISIS and remain alive, who arecontinuously harassed and displaced.’
Al-Hashimi stated that according to the Iraqi authorities, more than 300 000 individuals with familial
links to ISIL resided in camps across 10 governorates, and added that ‘[e]ven though many of thedisplaced families returned to their areas of origin, many could not return to their actual homes andstill live in nearby shelters’. Moreover, the return of Sunni populations in more than 400 villages near
the Syrian-Iraqi border to their areas of origin in northern and western Iraq was blocked due todifferent factors which included sectarian, ethnic, and security tensions.157
Finally, with regard the return of family members labelled as having connections to ISIL, Al-Hashimi
conducted interviews with several governors and officials who each gave a range of views about theposition of these families. The governor of Ninewa supported the return of ISIL members’ relatives
and indicated that the return ‘depends on providing proper accommodation and services to speed up
integration with the local community’. He added that the return to the governorate ‘except for villages
outside of Mosul in southern and western Ninewa – mainly for economic, social, and tribal reasonsrather than legal or security concerns’ and that security clearances are required for return. Regarding
Tal Afar, Al-Hashimi stated that ‘the PMF has made the return of these ISIS families contingent on thegovernment’s provision of services to victims’ families’. The governor of Kirkuk supported theimmediate return of such families and said that ‘Arab Sunni tribes, Sunni Turkmen, and the Kurds also
endorse that policy’ and that the ‘opposition from Shiite Turkmen and PMF’ was the main obstacle.
According to the governor, legal, tribal, or economic obstacles did not exist. The governor of Anbar
supported the return of these families and the closure of IDP camps by autumn 2020. He stated that
only social and tribal reasons hindered the return, which could be ‘overcome by enforcing law andgetting pledges from the tribal leaders to stop harassing the returning families’. Furthermore, thegovernor of Salah Al-Din also supported the return and stated that this was achieved ‘in cooperation
with the Iraqi security forces and tribal leaders in all of the province except Shirqat, north of Baiji, andSenniyah, and a small part of Yathrib and Auoja’. He also asserted that the obstacles that prevented
return were economic, security, tribal and social rather than legal, and that no security clearanceswere requested for returns to Kirkuk ‘as the tribal council, intelligence and the National Security
Advisory have distributed a form to all of the families inside the IDP camps, and all were reviewed andcleared’. However, the head of Salah Al-Din Provincial Council’s Security Committee highlighted the
opposition of local communities to the return and integration of ISIL families and warned that even if
such families obtained security and judiciary clearances, they would be ‘in great danger’ if they
returned. Finally, the governor of Diyala stated that the return operations for ISIL families were halted
for two years, ‘citing legal, economic, tribal, social and security obstacles’. He added that families

157 Al-Hashimi, H., ISIS in Iraq: The Challenge of Reintegrating ‘ISIS Families’, 7 July 2020, url

24

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

needed security clearances, and highlighted that ‘it is not safe for the families to return to Diyala …
especially with the recent spike in ISIS attacks’.158

2.2.1 Transfer of perceived ISIL suspects and their families from north-east
Syrian Al-Hol camp to Iraq
Rudaw reports that in early 2019, there were more than 30 000 Iraqis, mostly women and children,and many of them perceived as ‘ISIL families’, detained by the Syria Democratic Forces in Al-Hol camp,located in north-east Syria.159 In 2019, Human Rights Watch reported that ‘at least 900 Iraqi detainees
with alleged links to ISIS’ were transferred to Iraq’.160
In February 2019, Iraqi authorities were reportedly building a new displacement camp in Ninewa
governorate, allegedly in Al-Amla area, located in Al-Zummar sub-district161, to host a number offamilies of perceived ISIL members returning from Al-Hol camp, in a de facto detention camp,according to Human Rights Watch.162 The establishment of the new camp was opposed by Iraqi tribes
who threatened to use force to prevent the transfer of ISIL families from Syria to Iraq.163

2.3 Access to civil documentation and security clearance
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, in 2019, access to security clearances, which are needed
to issue civil documentation and to exercise freedom of movement, including passing throughcheckpoints, remained severely restricted to undocumented families.164 Many families, who lived in
ISIL-held areas between 2014 and 2017, are missing one or more civil documents, as these werereportedly confiscated by ISIL or lost, destroyed or confiscated by Iraqi authorities during flight or indisplacement.165 In turn, undocumented women, children or men ‘are commonly suspected by
security forces and fellow community members to be affiliated with IS’.166 In early 2019, aidorganisations told Human Rights Watch that they estimated that ‘at least 156,000 displaced people
are missing at least some of their essential civil documentation’.167
Human Rights Watch described the denial of security clearance requests required to obtain all othercivil documentation by Iraqi authorities, as a form of collective punishment of families with perceived
ISIL links.168 The Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) stated that ‘Iraqi families withperceived ISIS affiliation because of their family name, tribal affiliation, or area of origin, have beendenied security clearances required to obtain identity documentation or other civil documentation.’
The source added that this had an impact on ‘freedom of movement, right to education, right to work,and right to apply for welfare benefits and obtain birth and death certificates.169

158 Al-Hashimi, H., ISIS in Iraq: The Challenge of Reintegrating ‘ISIS Families’, 7 July 2020, url
159 Rudaw, ‘Families of Iraqi ISIS fighters to be moved to Nineveh from Syria’s Al-Hol: official’, 15 February 2020, url
160 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url
161 Kurdistan 24, Iraq quietly building camp to hold families of ISIS fighters held in Syria: MP, 9 February 2020, url; Iraqi24,‫[ نائب يتحدث عن إنشاء مخيم جديد ن يق الموصل لنقل عوائل "داعش" من سوريا‬Parliamentarian Reveals the Establishment of a New Campin Mosul to Transfer ISIL Families from Syria], 9 February 2020, url
162 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, urlُ
163 RT Arabic, ‫المتحدث باسم العشائر العربية لـ‬RT: ‫[ سنقمع عوائل "داعش" إذا نقلت من سوريا إىل العراق‬The Spokesperson of the Arab Tribes
to RT: We Will Suppress ISIL Families If They Are Transferred from Syria to Iraq], 8 March 2020, url
164 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, pp. 17-20
165 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, p. 11; HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June
2019, url; NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 5
166 NRC, BARRIERS FROM BIRTH Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, 30 April 2019, url, p. 14
167 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
168 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
169 DCAF, Critical Security Issues in Iraq, 6 March 2020, url, p. 7

25

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

IDPs and returnees with perceived ISIL association fear being arrested and detained by security forces
while seeking security clearance.170 In February 2020, UNAMI reported that officers were wilfully‘denying clearance, tearing up applications, destroying expired documents, and in some cases,
arresting individuals seeking new documentation’ when an applicant was found to have a relative on
the authorities’ list of individuals with links to ISIL suspects.171 Human Rights Watch also observedcases where PMUs confiscated security clearances.172 Moreover, according to reports, local mukhtars,
lawyers and aid workers were also reported to be at risk of being labelled as ISIL supporters by security
forces and beaten, threatened and arrested if they tried to assist perceived displaced ‘ISIL families’.173
Some undocumented families have made a tabriya, a criminal complaint against family members
accused of ISIL affiliation, since 2016, in order to get access to security clearance.174 One mukhtar
interviewed by Human Rights Watch in August 2019 said he, along with other mukhtars, were‘ordered’ not to ‘stamp women’s documents if their husbands had joined’ ISIL unless these womenmade a tabriya.175 In 2019, Human Rights Watch observed that ‘most families with relatives suspectedof ISIS affiliation that Human Rights Watch interviewed in 2019 had been able to obtain security
clearance through tabriya’.176 However, according to the NGO, ‘some communities and local armed
groups reject tabriya and put a blanket ban on any family with ISIS links returning’.177 A 2020
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) report highlighted the potential negative consequences for Iraqi
women who made a ‘tabriya,’ stating that ‘this procedure leaves a woman exposed to social rejection,
expulsion from both the spouse’s and her own family and even violent repercussions from theaccused’s relatives and others.’178
An alternative to security clearances mentioned in 2019 by Human Rights Watch is the issuance by
Karma town, in Anbar governorate, of ‘special pink identity cards’ intended for 200 families ofperceived IS members, allowing them to come home and travel, but also ‘marking them
permanently’.179
Families with missing identity documents have reportedly been marginalised and denied basic
services, including access to education180, healthcare181, the ‘state justice system and social welfare aswell as to formal employment,’ as well as ‘government schemes for compensation for damaged
housing, and opportunities to own or rent proprieties’.182 According to NRC, who interviewed
residents and officials in Ninewa, Anbar, and Salah Al-Din, civil IDs were not required for routine
medical visits, but a civil ID is required for surgeries or major procedures.183 NRC’s report on
undocumented Iraqis stated that a combination of the civil ID and security clearance was required topass through checkpoints, giving rise to fear of arrest or detention at check points among those
without documentation.184

170 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 21; HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url
171 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, p. 12
172 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
173 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url; NRC, BARRIERS FROM BIRTH Undocumented children in Iraq

sentenced to a life on the margins, 30 April 2019, url, p. 23
174 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
175 HRW, Iraq: School Doors Barred to Many Children Affects Thousands Who Lived Under ISIS Rule, 28 August 2019, url
176 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq , 14 January 2020, url
177 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
178 NRC, Broken Home, Women’s housing, land and property rights in post-conflict Iraq, May 2020, url, p. 11
179 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
180 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url; UNHCR/UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February
2020, url; NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url
181 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 13.
182 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url. pp.5, 6; See also, UN OHCHR, End of Mission Statement by theUnited Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, uponconclusion of her official visit to Iraq – 15 to 23 February 2020, 27 February 2020, url
183 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 13
184 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 17

26

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Moreover, NRC noted that a high number of people who lived in areas formerly held by ISIL were still
missing death certificates or missing person certificates, which are required in order to issue otheressential civil documents such as birth certificates or new civil IDs for children whose father is missing
or dead, or required by women, for instance, when they wish to claim unpaid salaries of theirspouses185, remarry or inherit property.186 In its April 2019 area-based assessment (ABA)187 of AlSalam municipality of Mosul, REACH stated that less than 1 % of participants surveyed had lost civil
documents, and found that when replacing civil documentation, some residents faced barriers,‘primarily a long waiting time, being asked for informal payments, and their name being similar to thenames of individuals perceived to have been affiliated with ISIL’. For those households unable toregister, the consequences were reported to be inability to register children for school, movement
restrictions, inability to register for aid, and difficulties in accessing employment. All documentation
could be replaced in Mosul except for the national ID, which required travel to Baghdad.188

2.3.1 Undocumented children born under ISIL and/or of ISIL fathers
Thousands of children born in areas, which were under ISIL control between 2014 and 2017, and/or
having parents suspected of ISIL affiliation, have been missing birth certificates and civil
documentation.189 In 2019, NRC estimated that 870 000190 were still displaced, among which at least
45 000, or one in every five children191 living in camps, were missing birth certificates.192
Undocumented families have also been denied birth certificates for their newborn children.193
Undocumented children are reported to be at risk of statelessness, as well as difficulties to accessessential services, including education and healthcare.194As a result, NRC stated that undocumented
children ‘are at high risk of being sentenced to a life on the margins of Iraqi society – creating aneglected generation’.195
Access to education for undocumented children
In 2019, according to NRC, ‘almost one in every five Iraqi households who reported having children
who lacked papers said their children were denied access to education.’ This is said to be especiallythe case in Anbar, ‘where nearly a third of respondents whose children were missing documentation

185 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 21
186 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
187 REACH’s ABA survey included qualitative data collection through interviews with community leaders, subject-matter

experts, and community discussion groups. The quantitative component was a household-level needs assessment in allneighbourhoods of Mosul al-Salam municipality conducted with 400 households consisting of 1,805 individuals. REACH,
MOSUL AL AREA BASED ASSESSMENT MOSUL AL-SALAM AREA-BASED ASSESSMENT: March-April 2019, 9 April 2019, url, p.
8
188 REACH, MOSUL AL AREA BASED ASSESSMENT MOSUL AL-SALAM AREA-BASED ASSESSMENT: March-April 2019, 9 April
2019, url, p. 22
189 NRC, BARRIERS FROM BIRTH Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, 30 April 2019, url, p. 4;
HRW, Iraq: School Doors Barred to Many Children Affects Thousands Who Lived Under ISIS Rule, 28 August 2019, url
190 NRC, BARRIERS FROM BIRTH Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, 30 April 2019, url, p. 3
191 NRC, BARRIERS FROM BIRTH Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, 30 April 2019, url, pp. 3,
4
192 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 5
193 HRW, Human Rights Watch Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) of Iraq’s periodic report for the 74th CEDAW Session, September 2019, url, p. 4; NRC, Paperless Peopleof Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 13
194 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, pp. 11-13; HRW, Human Rights Watch
Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of Iraq’s periodic
report for the 74th CEDAW Session, September 2019, url, p. 4; HRW, Iraq: School Doors Barred to Many Children Affects
Thousands Who Lived Under ISIS Rule, 28 August 2019, url; HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url; NRC,
Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 5
195 NRC, BARRIERS FROM BIRTH Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, 30 April 2019, url, p. 3

27

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

were unable to register their children in school, compared to 20 % in Salah Al-Din and 14 % in
Ninewa’.196 Human Rights Watch recorded for instance that in a primary school located near an IDP
camp close to Mosul, at least ‘1,080 children of school age [were] living next door to the school […]but only 50 of these children, all with valid documentation, were enrolled at the school.’197 NRC notedthat undocumented children who attend school are ‘at higher risk of being forced to drop out or not
being able to graduate later on’.198
Human Rights Watch noted that despite a 2018 directive issued by the Ministry of Education allowing‘children missing civil documentation to enrol in school […], officials are instructing school principals
and aid groups providing support services for education that undocumented children are still barredfrom enrolling in government schools’.199 In February 2020, UNAMI observed that the directive ‘does
not appear to have been widely disseminated or explained’ to families200 and teachers.201 Its directives
were described as ‘unclear’202, ‘at times contradictory’203 and complicated204, particularly due tolengthy administrative procedures205 and not helpful to families unable to get civil documents ‘due todenial of security clearance or an absent parent’.206 Teachers interviewed in Mosul also told UNAMI
that they feared allowing undocumented children access to school due to the stigmatisation of people
missing civil documents, perceived as associated with ISIL. Families also expressed ‘reluctance’ andfears that ‘their child being labelled as associated with ISIL’ might be ‘vulnerable to revenge attacks’.207
Furthermore, in February 2020, UNAMI explained that undocumented ‘children and young adults’
who lived under ISIL control are struggling from an ‘accumulated knowledge gap’. A number of themare ‘entering adulthood without any post-primary schooling’ and express ‘a growing feeling ofabandonment and hopelessness’.208

2.3.2 Access to birth certificates and health care for undocumented women
In 2019, NRC showed that a number of women lacking civil documentation have struggled to obtainbirth certificates209 or to deliver in a hospital, as ‘the civil IDs of both the new-born’s father and mother[are required]’, as well as in certain cases the ‘state-issued marriage certificate’. One respondent in
the NRC study said that in Mosul specifically, medical professionals may suspect undocumented
people who go to hospital of being affiliated with ISIL.210 For instance, NRC reported the case of apregnant IDP from west Mosul who did not have ‘a valid civil ID or a marriage certificate’ and wasdenied access to hospital as a result. NRC explained that she was subjected to threats by medical
personal ‘to keep her new-born in the hospital until the father presented himself’ as they suspected
her husband to be part of ISIL. As a result, she ‘had to give birth at home without a doctor or midwife
support’. Later, NRC noted that she could not obtain civic documentation for her child and failed to
196 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 12
197 HRW, Iraq: School Doors Barred to Many Children Affects Thousands Who Lived Under ISIS Rule, 28 August 2019, url
198 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 13
199 HRW, Iraq: School Doors Barred to Many Children Affects Thousands Who Lived Under ISIS Rule, 28 August 2019, url
200 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, p. 12; According to NRC ‘Strikingly, only 1% of all

respondents [parents interviewed by the NGO] believed that children could attend school without documentation’ NRC,
Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 12
201 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, p. 12
202 NRC, BARRIERS FROM BIRTH Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, 30 April 2019, url, p. 22
203 NRC, BARRIERS FROM BIRTH Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, 30 April 2019, url, p. 22
204 According to NRC, ‘types of civil documents education officials reported being required to formally attend school also
varied.’ NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, pp. 11,12
205 Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, pp. 12, 13
206 UNHCR/UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, p. 12
207 UNHCR/UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, p. 12
208 UNHCR/UNAMI/UN OHCHR, The Right to Education in Iraq, February 2020, url, p. 13
209 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 14
210 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 13

28

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

obtain medical assistance for her sick child.211 In April 2019, NRC observed that in Hawija city, in Kirkuk
governorate, ‘children without birth certificates [were] not receiving vaccinations’ causing families torely on ‘individual efforts from some local clinics and NGOs’. NRC quoting an Iraqi medical professional
said that ‘lack of vaccinations has led to ‘the emergence of new types of diseases such as Measles’
which had not been present before ISIL.212

211 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, p. 13
212 NRC, No documents, no future, 30 April 2019, url

29

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

3. Redress and state protection
3.1 Access to effective redress measures
3.1.1 For enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings
According to Human Rights Watch’s reports, since 2016, ‘authorities in Baghdad and in the Kurdistan
Region have done little to punish officers implicated in enforced disappearances.’213 Moreover,‘despite requests, the government failed to disclose which security and military structures have a legal
mandate to detain people, and in which facilities.’ 214
Regarding extrajudicial killings and torture, the same source noted that despite commitments by the
Iraqi government in 2017, ‘authorities apparently took no steps in 2019 to investigate these abuses.’215

3.1.2 For torture allegations in detention and pre-detention facilities
Regarding Iraq’s legal framework, UNAMI and OHCHR stated that ‘while the Federal Anti-Terrorism
Law is silent on fair trial rights and procedural guarantees, Article 13 of the KRI Anti-Terror Law
stipulates that accused persons should be treated fairly in accordance with the law during
interrogation, including through the provision of a lawyer.’ The same source further noted that
‘torture and inhuman treatment are also explicitly prohibited. However, contrary to international law,
Article 13 of the KRI Anti-Terror Law allows for confessions extracted under duress to be used in court
if they are supported by other evidence.’216
In May 2020, Geneva-based human rights NGO Alkarama217 noted in their submission to the UN
Human Rights Committee, that ‘allegations of torture are rarely considered in court and investigated,
medical expertise is almost inexistent, and perpetrators are usually left unpunished’. The same source
observed that Iraq’s legal framework ‘contributes to impunity’ as ‘the Anti-Torture bill does notestablish a minimum prison sentence, except if the torture leads to death. The Criminal Code, in its
Article 332, determines that a public official who cruelly treats a person may be punished by a period
of detention not exceeding 1 year plus a fine not exceeding 100 dinars, or by only one of thosepenalties.’218
Human Rights Watch reported in April 2019 that Iraq’s High Judicial Council investigated 275
complaints regarding the use of torture against investigative officers by the end of 2018 in bothterrorism and non-terrorism cases and resolved 176 of the cases, however, it remained unclear what
the outcomes of these investigations were.219

213 HRW, Iraq: Human Rights Watch Submission to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, 17 May

2020,url
214 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq, 14 January 2020, url
215 HRW, World Report for 2019 : Iraq, 14 January 2020, url
216 UNAMI/UN OHCHR, Human Rights in the Administration of Justice in Iraq: Trials under the anti-terrorism laws andimplications for justice, accountability and social cohesion in the aftermath of ISIL, January 2020, url, pp. 5-6
217 Alkarama is a Geneva-based NGO that was established to assist those in the Arab world who are subjected to
extrajudicial disappearance, torture, and arbitrary detention. Alkarama, Our Work, n.d., url
218 Alkarama, UN Human Rights Committee: Iraq; Submission to the List of Issues to be taken up in connection with theconsideration of Iraq’s sixth periodic report by the Human Rights Committee, 26 May 2020,url, p. 7219 HRW, Iraq: Appeals Courts Ignoring Torture Claims Overturning Acquittals in Terrorism Cases, 25 September 2019, url

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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

3.1.3 Access to judicial and security assistanceIn a May 2020 report, NRC noted that women who are perceived to be affiliated to ISIL fear the
reprisals by the Iraqi authorities rather than see them as a recourse to claim their housing, land andproperty rights and resolve disputes.220 Moreover, women interviewed by NRC consistently expressed
their fear ‘ to approach the relevant authorities to obtain the civil documents necessary to make aclaim on an asset’, and described the process as ‘predatory’.221 According to Human Rights Watch,without a security clearance, which is often denied by the Iraqi authorities themselves, Iraqis cannot‘enter a government building, including a courthouse’ and cannot ‘seek judicial remedy’ to theirissues.222 Human Rights Watch further reported that ‘many lawyers who sought to help these[suspected ‘ISIL families’] get security clearance have been threatened, beaten and arrested,’ and assuch, have been unwilling to provide assistance to a family once they learn that a relative is suspectedof ISIL affiliation.223 Oxfam also noted in February 2020, that ‘people with perceived ISIL affiliation
have little or no access to […] legal remedies.’224

3.1.4 Access to redress measures against sexual violence and abuses
Referring to the general situation of gender-based violence in Iraq, according to the UN Humanitarian
Needs Overview 2020, women and girls ‘continue to experience domestic violence, sexual violence,
forced marriage and denial of resource, with many deprived of basic rights’. The same source further
reported that ‘livelihoods opportunities and shelter services for Gender-Based Violence [GBV]
survivors is limited’. Many GBV survivors refuse referral to specialised services due to fear of
stigmatisation, mistrust in available services and avenues for legal redress, as well as the potential forfurther violence. Limited capacity and resources of national protection systems and a decline in thenumber of women’s centres, have also had negative effects on survivors’ access to services.’225
In December 2019, the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) described various ‘reporting mechanisms
for IDPs to complain and report abuses’ in camps. However, many victims do not report sexual abuses,
and therefore allegations ‘are not investigated’.226 In a report published in March 2020, Oxfam
mentioned the role of Iraq’s Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Taskforce, as well as various
mechanisms in order to collect allegations and investigate claims of sexual violence in Iraq, without
specifying their efficiency for victims to access effective redress measures.227 According to Iraqi
journalist Dlovan Barwari NGOs are prevented from ‘helping the victims due to the fear of being
accused of helping IS members’.228

3.1.5 Civilians’ access to effective channels to report incidents
In December 2019, in its report on Kirkuk governorate, CIVIC wrote that, regarding complaint
mechanisms for civilians, there was a ‘lack of adequate channels for civilians to report incidents ofcivilian harm.’ Civilians who were interviewed by the NGO affirmed that ‘their work has not led to

220 NRC, Broken Home, Women’s housing, land and property rights in post-conflict Iraq, May 2020, url, p. 11
221 NRC, Broken Home, Women’s housing, land and property rights in post-conflict Iraq, May 2020, url, p. 11
222 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url
223 HRW, Iraq: Not a Homecoming, 14 June 2019, url; for more information, see 2.3 – Restricted access to civil

documentation and security clearance
224 Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, , url, p. 36
225 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview - Iraq 2020, November 2019, url, p. 52
226 CIVIC, “WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US” - Civilian Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, p. 27
227 Oxfam, Protection Landscape in Diyala and Kirkuk Iraq, 5 March 2020, url, p. 26
228 VoA, Report: Iraqi Forces Sexually Abuse IS Female Relatives in Mosul, 17 February 2019, url; Iraqi Network for‫[ النساء نق ‘عوائل داعش’ يدفعن ن‬Women in ISIL Families pay
Investigative Journalism, ‫ وجيل يهدد بتطرف جديد‬..‫ اغتصاب ودعارة‬:‫الرصيبة‬‫ي‬the price: rape and prostitution… And a generation is again threatened by radicalization], March 2019, url

31

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISILchanges in policy or any disciplinary action against officials in violations.’ 229 In Kirkuk, due to numerous
security actors, civilians were reportedly ‘confused’ and did not know ‘to whom they should reportconcerns’.230 According to CIVIC, ‘civilians rarely use these mechanisms because they are not familiar
with them, because they believe they are ineffective, or because they fear retaliation if they denouncea member of the security forces’.231

3.2 Access to amnesty
According to Amnesty International, ‘the General Amnesty Law [n°27/2016] for individuals sentenced
to prison terms and to death excludes 13 types of crimes, including terrorist crimes […], thereby
excluding the majority of individuals convicted under the 2005 Anti-Terrorism Law.’ The same source
writes :‘The General Amnesty Law further stipulates that amnesties are contingent upon plaintiffs or
the relatives of the victims withdrawing their complaints. For the 13 excluded crimes, theGeneral Amnesty Law explicitly grants the right to judicial review in cases whereindividuals were convicted on the basis of “confessions” extracted under duress and incases where judicial proceedings were initiated on the basis of evidence provided by a secret
informant or “confessions” by other suspects. In practice, this places the burden of proof on
defendants and presumes that procedures were respected during the trial, for example thatcourt documents and verdicts registered complaints of torture by the detainees. However,according to information available to Amnesty International, fair trial procedures are often
not respected. ‘ 232
Al-Jazeera reported in July 2019 that some ISIL suspects convicted in Iraqi courts ‘may be entitled torelease under the General Amnesty Law’. In order to be eligible, ‘the person convicted would have toprovide evidence showing that they joined ISIL against their will and did not commit a serious offence.’
However, Senior Iraq Researcher Belkis Wille, quoted by Al-Jazeera, explained that in practice, it isvery complicated for ‘people to prove they were forced to work [for ISIL] because the bar has been
set so high’ and that this law is rarely applied by judges.233 Human Rights Watch referred to a seniorcounter-terrorism judge in Nineveh who expressed his refusal to apply the law ‘because he thought
no one who provided any support to ISIL deserved an amnesty’.234

3.3 Relocation possibilities
NRC writes that ‘key human rights are also denied to people without papers, such as freedom of
movement, and the risk of arbitrary detention and arrest is significantly increased’, such as when
passing through checkpoints in former ISIL-held areas, a fear mentioned by respondents in NRC’s
study. 235 Similarly, Bobseine’s 2019 report stated that IDP return processes are opaque, and based on
obtaining security clearances which require approaching security forces in their area; without such asecurity clearance and documentation, ‘Iraqis are not allowed to move freely within their own
country, and usually cannot get a job or qualify for any government service benefits such as healthcare’; clearance is also required to obtain birth/death certificates. She also writes that Sheikhs of local
tribes may also block or facilitate returns, while ‘relocating to other towns and cities is made difficult

229 CIVIC, “WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US” - Civilian Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, p. 21
230 CIVIC, “WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US” - Civilian Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, p. 21
231 CIVIC, “WE JUST WANT SOMEONE TO PROTECT US” - Civilian Protection Challenges in Kirkuk, December 2019, url, p. 21
232 AI, Iraq: The Road to Justice –A Long Way to Go, March 2019, url, p. 5; Original Arabic Text of the General Amnesty

Law available at: Iraq, Official Journal of the Iraqi Republic, n°4417, 2016, url
233 Al Jazeera, Iraq government employees face prosecution for working under ISIL, 9 July 2019, url
234 Al Jazeera, Iraq government employees face prosecution for working under ISIL, 9 July 2019, url
235 NRC, Paperless People of Post-Conflict Iraq, 2019, url, pp. 6, 17

32

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

by additional security and screening processes, sometimes required by local authorities or tribal
actors.’236
According to USDOS, authorities restricted the movement of displaced persons and did not permit
some residents of IDP camps to leave, causing barriers to livelihoods, education, and services.
Additionally, ‘many parts of the country liberated from ISIS control suffered from movement
restrictions’ particularly from checkpoints by government forces, while returnees’ permits to returnto areas of origin were not always complied with by local forces. Those who did return faced
destruction of property, lack of services, livelihoods, and security concerns, often leading to secondary
displacement or return to camps. IDPs, particularly those with a perceived ISIL affiliation, ‘faced
hostility from local government officials and populations, as well as expulsion,’ and in other cases
prevented returns.237

236 Bobseine, H., Tribal Justice in a Fragile Iraq, url, 7 November 2019, p. 16
237 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2019 – Iraq, March 2020, url, pp. 32-33

33

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Annex 1: Bibliography
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Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

Annex 2: Terms of Reference❑ Treatment-

Treatment of individuals perceived to be affiliated with ISIL – structure by different actors(Government of Iraq, pro-government militias, KRG, by tribal leaders and the community)-

Legal prosecution: legislation applied, ‘wanted lists’ and extent of arrests, adherence to therequirements to due process and fair trial, representation by lawyers (treatment of lawyers
and lack of qualified representation); pre-trial detention (length, physicalstandards), mistreatment, torture, implementation of punishments, specificallydeath penalty, implementation of amnesties if any.

-

Reports of treatment, including: disappearances, killings, arrests, abuses, denial of return tothe areas of origin, destruction of property/infrastructure, confiscation of documents,
limitations of social services, discrimination, secondary displacement due toevictions, others.

-

Treatment of family members of those with a perceived ISIL connection: including reports oftreatment as above and freedom of movement, etc.

-

Treatment of undocumented children (born under ISIL and/or of ISIL fathers): possibility toacquire documentation, statelessness or risk thereof, enrolment in school, access to otherservices, etc.

❑ Redress--

41

Access to effective redress measures, including whether persons with a perceived
connection to ISIL, focusing on Sunnis Arabs in particular, lodge police or judicial
complaints; effectiveness of lodging a complaint
Whether a person with perceived connection to ISIL, focusing on Sunni Arabs in particular,
can relocate to another area to avoid/escape targeting

Country of Origin Information Report | Iraq: Treatment of Iraqis with perceived affiliation to ISIL

doi: 10.2847/726036

42