Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Iraq 1. RELEVANT POPULATION DATA Official Languages: Estimated Population: Estimated number of stateless persons: Estimated number of refugees hosted by Iraq (non-Palestinian): Estimated number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs): Estimated number of Palestinian Refugees: Estimated number of refugees from Iraq in MENA region: Arabic, Kurdish 40.4 million1 47,5152 298,3093 1,774,9804 8,3245 259,0006 “Stateless persons [in Iraq] faced discrimination in employment and access to education. Many stateless persons were not able to register for identity cards, which prevented them from enrolling in public school, registering marriages, and gaining access to some government services. Stateless individuals also faced difficulty obtaining public-sector employment and lacked job security”.7 1 United Nations Population Fund, World Population Dashboard – Iraq, 2019, available at: https://www.unfpa.org/data/worldpopulation/IQ 2 According to UNHCR data for the end of 2018. See UNHCR, Fact Sheet – Iraq, April 2019, available at: http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/UNHCR%20Iraq%20Factsheet%20-%20April%202019.pdf. Please note that UNHCR indicates this figure to be an estimate only, pending a more accurate study of statelessness in Iraq. It is unclear whether this estimate accounts for all of the different groups affected by statelessness in Iraq and separate data for the number of Bidoon, Faili Kurds and Dom affected by statelessness are not available. It is possible that the true figure for the number of stateless persons in Iraq is considerably higher. 3 This includes 253,672 registered refugees from Syria (as of 31 March 2019) and 44,637 from other countries. UNHCR, Fact Sheet – Iraq, April 2019, available at: http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/UNHCR%20Iraq%20Factsheet%20-%20April%202019.pdf. How many of the refugees from Syria in Iraq are stateless is unknown. 4 UNHCR, Fact Sheet – Iraq, April 2019, available at: http://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/UNHCR%20Iraq%20Factsheet%20-%20April%202019.pdf. However, IOM estimates the number of IDPs in Iraq as of April 2019 to be 1,665,108, see: IOM, Displacement Tracking Matrix – DTM Round 109, April 2019, available at: http://iraqdtm.iom.int/Downloads/DTM%202019/April%202019/DTM%20109%20Report%20English.pdf. 5 This includes 205 Palestinian Refugees from Syria and a further 8,119 Palestinian refugees. UNHCR, International Protection Considerations with Regard to People Fleeing the Republic of Iraq, May 2019, at 109, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5cc9b20c4.html; 3RP, Iraq Country Chapter – 2019/2020, 29 April 2019, at 5, available at: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/69209 6 UNHCR, International Protection Considerations with Regard to People Fleeing the Republic of Iraq, May 2019, at 25, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5cc9b20c4.html 7 US Department of State, Human Rights Report – Iraq 2018, 13 March 2019, at 41, available at: https://www.state.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2019/03/IRAQ-2018.pdf 4