Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Iraq IDPs lack identity documents for different reasons, among them confiscation by militia groups or government agents, leaving them behind or losing them during displacement. To replace missing documentation, IDPs are required to travel to the governorates they were registered in before displacement. This requirement is often prohibitive because of the restrictions in the freedom of movement that IDPs face and the high costs associated with travelling and administrative fees. 3.4 Children and a Lack of Civil Documentation At the end of 2018, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported, “[i]n 2019, an estimated 2.1 million children may be at serious risk of not being able to access essential services due to lack of civil documentation…” 40 Indeed, “[l]acking legal identity and civil documents puts children at increased risk of statelessness and has been known to lead to exclusion from political, social, and economic life.”41 In early 2019, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) estimated that some 45,000 children in displacement camps do not have birth certificates issued by the Iraqi authorities.42 Specific complications arise for children with missing or deceased fathers. According to the NRC, “[r]egardless of whether the child’s father is missing, imprisoned or dead, without government-issued proof of the event, mothers are very often unable to obtain civil documentation for her children, even if she has a government-issued marriage contract.”43 This is due to administrative hurdles in obtaining a death certificate or a certificate of absence. According to the UN Human Rights Council, certificates of absence “may be withheld from families of disappeared suspected ISIL members, including those that went missing after surrendering to ISF or affiliated forces.”44 Without a death certificate or certificate of absence, many families struggle to register vital civil status events and access essential services.45 “Iraqis lacking full civil documentation can readily be deprived of their basic rights. They cannot freely move around for fear of arrest, nor can they get a job or apply for welfare benefits. Children denied birth certificates may be considered stateless and may not be allowed to enrol in school. Women unable to obtain death certificates for their spouses are unable to inherit property or remarry.”46 40 OCHA, Iraq; Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019, 16 December 2018, at 9, available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/irq_2019_hno.pdf 41 Norwegian Refugee Council, Barriers from birth: Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, April 2019, at 7, available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/barriers-from-birth---report.pdf 42 Norwegian Refugee Council, Barriers from birth: Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, April 2019, at 3, available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/barriers-from-birth---report.pdf 43 Norwegian Refugee Council, Barriers from birth: Undocumented children in Iraq sentenced to a life on the margins, April 2019, at 18, available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/barriers-from-birth---report.pdf 44 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, 5 June 2018, at 75-76, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b7ad39d4.html. 45 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, 5 June 2018, at 75-76, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b7ad39d4.html. 46 Human Rights Watch, Iraq: Families of Alleged ISIS Members Denied IDs, 25 February 2018, available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/25/iraq-families-alleged-isis-members-denied-ids 10