Continued Consortium of Community Protection, Legal and HLP Assistance to Conflict Affected Iraqis in Salah al-Din and Kirkuk Building on successes and applying lessons learned from current programming (IRQ-19/3884/SA2/P/INGO/13882), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Justice Center (JC) will address critical protection needs in Kirkuk and in Salah al-Din, respectively, improving the quality of community-based protection program delivery. IRC will redouble technical and operational capacity building to local partner JC. Both partners will continue to provide strategic legal assistance and awareness raising in the areas of civil documentation, family law, detention, protection and housing, land, and property (HLP), as well as protection monitoring and referrals to specialized protection assistance and cash for rent assistance. 

The project will focus on supporting conflict-affected Iraqis claim their legal rights and negotiate the justice system with matters related to civil documentation, family law, detention, and HLP. IRC and JC will adapt information and services to the protection needs that arise as a result of COVID-19 curfews and containment measures, and will conduct an assessment of the risks and needs of beneficiaries to inform programming and ensure a flexible response. The most vulnerable households in Kirkuk, identified through project activities, will benefit from cash for protection assistance to eliminate their immediate protection risks. Protection monitoring will identify and address protection concerns in target communities, including COVID-19 needs. HLP services will provide beneficiaries with assistance on property rights and entitlements and will focus on COVID-19-related housing concerns. Detention legal assistance will draw on the existing experience of both IRC and JC legal teams, which have experience carrying out detention work in Kirkuk and Salah al-Din, and will draw on existing connections with justice actors and the Ministry of Interior to continue to access detention centers to provide specialized detention services. Lessons learned will inform and improve detention programming to effectively represent vulnerable clients and secure their release while also ensuring their protection from future arbitrary arrest and detention. 

Proposed interventions will flexibly respond to the needs of beneficiaries in the context of COVID-19 curfews and movement restrictions through adapting programming methodology. Remote service delivery will be used where possible, allowing beneficiaries to be reached in their own communities. In the event of movement restrictions, legal counseling and case management will be provided via phone and clients will be kept up to date with developments in their cases. Given existing strong relationships with key local stakeholders, IRC and JC will continue to advocate and follow-up with public authorities, courts, and civil directorates via phone to ensure protection risks are addressed and legal matters progress as quickly as possible. While public gatherings are subject to temporary restrictions as a containment measure, consistent communication is ever more critical, as COVID-19 has heightened information needs and protection risks for beneficiaries. Legal and protection teams will pursue alternative means of reaching beneficiaries for information dissemination, including via radio and social media. In off-camp locations, IRC and JC will leverage the support of strong pre-existing community networks to share information products with target populations. 

As consortium lead, IRC will continue to ensure collaborative approaches and joint planning, and will lead on technical and operational capacity building for JC. Given the success of current capacity building, IRC plans to successively transfer more substantive responsibilities to JC, while still providing comprehensive mentorship and support. IRC, in collaboration with JC, will continue to assess needs and identify gaps in order to inform training content and transition timing.