1 2 | PA PE R L E S S PE O PL E O F P O S T- C O N F L I C T I R A Q attending if the parents pledge to bring the documents at a later date. Unsurprisingly, perceptions and experience reported by Iraqi citizens also varied significantly when asked what official documents were required to register children in school. For example, in a focus group discussion conducted in Mosul city, parents believed that a combination of all four civil documents (civil ID, nationality card, housing card, and PDS card) were required. In fact, more than half the respondents surveyed in Anbar, Ninewa, and Salah Al-Din reported that a woman was unable to register her child in school using only her papers. Nearly half reported that the father’s civil ID was also required to do so, and that the father’s death certificate would be required, if he is deceased. Strikingly, only 1% of all respondents believed that children could attend school without documentation. Almost one in every five Iraqi households who reported having children who lacked papers said their children were denied access to education.xv This was more prevalent in Anbar, where nearly a third of respondents whose children were missing documentation were unable to register their children in schoolxvi, compared to 20% in Salah Al-Din and 14% in Ninewa. In short, the combined impact of the Ministry of Education’s policy, lack of enforcement of the 2018 directive and parents’ and headmasters’ understanding of the government’s requirements to register has meant that many children in areas formerly controlled by IS continue to miss out on an education. A generation of children born under IS continuing to grow up without education will have a significant impact in the future. UNABLE TO ATTEND SCHOOL IN CAMPS NEAR MOSUL Nada, a mother of seven, originally from Qayyara district in Ninewa, now lives in a camp near Mosul. She lost her documents, including her marriage certificate, her civil ID, and the IDs of five of her children when she was fleeing from the fighting. Nada’s husband abandoned her and her children and got remarried shortly after they arrived in the camp. Nada has not heard from him since. She is unable to get her children’s civil IDs reissued as she first requires proof of lineage (akin to a birth certificate). Without the civil ID of the father, she is not able to get that for her children. Also, the high transportation costs to reach the civil directorate office make its very difficult. It is difficult for her and her children to move outside the camp. The only government services available in the camp, such as schooling and social assistance to female headed households, are barred to Nada and her children because they are paperless. The government-run school in the camp requires children to provide documentation to enroll and government assistance is only distributed to those with up-to-date IDs. The way Nada and her family survive is solely through in-kind aid she receives from NGOs; which she says she’s often forced to sell to simply feed her family. She says, ‘My children lost their future and their dreams.’ Even when children were found to be able to attend school without documentation, many families said that their children were at risk of being expelled if the correct documentation was not submitted to the school directorate before the end of the year. They may also be unable to