Sajjad, Muammal, Zahra, and Ruqayya have had no formal schooling. Nor have they been issued with appropriate identification papers. They are the victims of circumstances of bad luck which placed their mothers into prison.

At 16, Sajjad is still illiterate. He was sent to prison when he was just a few months old and left in a foster home that did not provide him with any education due to an issue with his identification papers.   

His mother, Rana, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of human trafficking and was incarcerated in 2008. Her infant son entered prison with her. 

Prior to that, Sajjad’s father, also wanted by the authorities, had divorced Rana through a cleric, taking her identification papers and disappearing without trace. Her many attempts to find him, to retrieve the documents and register her child with the government records office, were unsuccessful. 

When she was arrested, tried and imprisoned, Rana did not have a marriage contract, a divorce contract, a civil status ID, or anything to prove Sajjad’s lineage. He remained without an identity. 

She kept him with her in prison for two years, before deciding to hand him over through the prison administration into government managed foster care because she did not want her son to grow up in an unsuitable environment. 

Sajjad spent three years in foster care in Nasiriyah where his mother was imprisoned. When she was transferred to a Basra prison, he was also transferred to the foster care in Basra. When she was returned to Nasiriyah prison, Sajjad was returned to foster care in Nasiriyah. 

The foster home where Sajjad was housed was unable to register him in school because he did not have any documents. When the foster home in Nasiriyah tried obtaining his documents, they ran into legal issues that were further complicated by the disappearance of his father. 

Judge Shawan Saber Mustafa, head of the Prisoners’ Justice Network, described a legal way to obtain documents for the child that seemed feasible. Mustafa told Jummar that the mother could report the husband’s disappearance in order that the court issued a notice requesting his presence. If he did not appear within four years, he would be considered officially missing. Then the mother could submit a request to confirm the loss of identity to an investigating judge, and the court could approach the Civil Status Affairs (CSA) office to review the civil status record. The department would then issue a national identification card for her and the child even if the husband is not present, using the data registered with the CSA, according to Mustafa. 

A copy of a lost marriage contract, which is important in proving who a woman was married to, can be obtained from the court archives. A divorce contract can be authenticated by witnesses or by the cleric who organised the divorce. 

If a woman is still imprisoned and cannot process these transactions, she can submit a request through the prison administration to obtain the required papers. This can be done through a lawyer appointed by her at her own expense, or one appointed by the Bar Association or the Human Rights Commission at no cost if she is unable to afford the payment. 

But none of these avenues were made available to Rana and Sajjad. Whenever Rana broached the subject of her son’s identity with the prison administration, she was told that they could not do anything for her. 

These procedures did not help Muammal to obtain identification papers after he was born inside Nasiriyah prison to a mother sentenced to life on charges of killing her husband. 

Muammal still has no birth certificate or any ID papers. He is now six years old and was placed in foster care with nothing but the name his mother chose for him. 

Human rights activist, Mohamed Rady Bahr, explained that a pregnant prisoner is usually sent to hospital when the time comes for her to give birth, and it is standard legal practice that a birth certificate is issued for that child. This did not happen in the case of Muammal’s mother. 

The child was considered of “unknown lineage”, and his registration was neglected. He is currently at the age to register for school but has not been accepted because he did not have any documents. 

Laziness and negligence 

Sajjad and Muammal are just two examples of the many children who were born – or accompanied their mothers who were serving time – in prisons and whose circumstances left them without documents. Legal experts claim that existing laws have addressed these cases of children without documents and provide clear paths for them. 

Judge Mustafa confirmed that hospitals must grant birth certificates to children born in prisons, even if the father is not present. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs must issue directives stipulating the issuance of identification documents for them if the mother’s documents are lost or incomplete. The prison administration can contact the Prisoner’s Civil Status Affairs (CSA) office to provide it with data and a copy of the prisoner’s registration within a short period of time to complete the procedures for issuing the documents. 

However, Judge Mustafa also acknowledged that there was a shortcoming in administrative performance within prisons, specifically in the legal departments that issue official documents for children accompanying their mothers. 

Human rights activist Mohamed Rady Bahr pointed out that women inmates or detainees have several specific rights according to the Law on the Reform of Inmates and Detainees No. 14 of 2018. These include the right of a child born in prison to have a birth certificate without it stating that they were born in prison. 

The fifth paragraph of Article 3 of the law clarifies its most important objectives. These are to monitor the conditions of the families of inmates and detainees and provide assistance to them. This is a general priority that includes all family members, whether they are children accompanying their mothers or children living outside the prison walls. This cannot be achieved without the prison administration’s commitment to providing the necessary documents for the children. However, prison administrations seem lethargic in performing these tasks. 

An official in Nasiriyah prison told Jummar, on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to make a statement, that “the prison administration is not concerned with obtaining identification papers for the child accompanying a woman prisoner. This is whether the father is known or unknown, because it is not possible to search for the father, authenticate the marriage contract, and search for the woman’s civil records, which may be registered in other provinces.” 

She added, “We do not engage in such a difficult effort, and it is not the responsibility of the prison administration to obtain papers for a woman prisoner. However, in the case that the female prisoner has a civil status ID and a marriage contract, it is possible to obtain a birth certificate for her child.” 

When a woman prisoner gives birth inside the prison, she does not receive a birth certificate for her child. According to the same official, the administration will grant permission for the mother to go to the maternity hospital. 

Only women prisoners who communicate with their families or husbands receive the documents; they are responsible for following up on the procedures. Meanwhile those who have severed ties with their families and husbands do not receive help from anyone “because the correspondence is long and the procedures are complicated,” in the words of the official from Nasiriyah prison. 

For children that are fortunate, a civil society organisation might reach out to them to help them move into foster care or shelter and then obtain identification papers for them. 

The Popular Aid Organization (PAO) said that it has worked with partner organisations and the local government in Basra Province to transfer 23 children accompanying women in Basra prison to orphanages and obtain identification papers for them. This has given the children the opportunity to enroll in schools. 

However, Huger Jato, the organisation’s president, sees transferring children to orphanages as an ineffective solution, stressing importance of government building group homes or shelters specifically for them. 

In addition, Judge Mustafa pointed out that there are legislative gaps that the Iraqi legislator has not yet addressed. One such gap is where a child accompanying a prisoner has an unknown father. There is an absence of legislation in this regard. In addition, political parties have failed to submit any legal reforms to address these details. 

Mysterious cases 

There are children not born in prisons and do not accompany their mothers in prisons, who also face the problem of not having documents. Their lives become very difficult when their mothers are incarcerated.  

The two half-sisters Zahra (16 years old) and Ruqayya (ten years old) were admitted to Al-Zahour  foster home in Dhi Qar Province in 2020, based on a decision by the juvenile judge, after their mother was convicted of drug use and sentenced to two years in prison. 

The home’s administration was unable to register them in school because schools refuse to register students with no identification papers. 

Nour Alwan, the director of the foster home, told Jummar that Zahra was often isolated and upset because she didn’t know what her future might hold. She was not living her life like other girls, experiencing a psychological crisis that worsened by the day. 

It is not known exactly why the two girls were not issued a civil status identity card, despite the oldest being 16 years old. The mother did not want to file a legal case to prove Zahra’s lineage and refrained from providing any information about her father because she feared that he might take her away from her. 

As for Ruqayyah, she was born from a second marriage that was not certified in court. According to the home, the mother’s life was shrouded in mystery. 

Representatives of the Dar Al-Zahour foster home visited the mother in the prison to find out why the two girls had not yet received their civil status identity card. It transpired that her first marriage was in Karbala province, and despite the existence of a marriage contract, an identity card was not issued for the girl. This was due to a separation before birth and the mother’s claim that her identification documents and marriage contract were burned. Fearing that the husband would take her daughter away from her, she moved to the province of Dhi Qar. 

A social worker from the foster home who was in regular communication with the prisoner believes that the mother was claiming that her papers were burned so that the father would not know the whereabouts of the girls and try and take them away.  

After the mother was released from prison, the home refused to hand over the two girls to her because she did not have the means to live, such as shelter, a monthly income, or identification documents. The issue of documents remains unresolved. 

“One of the problems with the lack of documents for children is that they cannot travel to another province or outside Iraq for treatment if they experience a health issue,” said the director of the home. 

It is believed that some of the children whose mothers’ background stories lacked clarity might have been born out of wedlock. This increases the legal and administrative complications in registering them. 

Judge Mustafa suggested that a child whose father is unknown be treated as an “illegitimate” child although this then deprives the mother of her right to register the child in her name. 

“This is the only solution for the child to obtain identification papers,” said the judge. 

Article 2 of the Iraqi constitution states that “no law shall be enacted that contradicts the principles of Islamic law,” As such, a child cannot be attributed to its mother because assignation of a child’s lineage to a Muslim father is one of the principles established by Islamic law, according to Mustafa. 

Huger Jato also stressed the role of the Public Prosecution and the Human Rights Commission in investigating women prisoners who have “illegitimate” children. They could support in filing a lawsuit through her lawyer if the prisoner did not have a marriage contract. This could force the father to acknowledge the child. 

Prison Life 

A child who accompanies his mother lives inside the prison as a prisoner, said a social worker working in Nasiriyah prison who refused to reveal his name. 

However, prison administrations “try to care for children by providing for their basic needs, including milk, clothes and food, even if it is through donations from employees, and places to play and sunbathe,” the researcher added. 

The Ministry of Justice does not allocate funds to provide for the needs of accompanying children. Instead, it relies on money and materials provided by relief organisations, according to the official in Nasiriyah prison. 

Two years ago, the number of accompanying children over 3 years of age in the Nasiriyah prison reached 20. Currently, there are less than five children under two. 

Nor does the Ministry of Justice keep statistics on the number of women accompanying their children in prisons. The Prisoners’ Justice Network said that nearly 80 percent of female prisoners are accompanied by children, according to its members’ follow-ups. 

These children live in harsh conditions, as most of them do not receive any education and grow up in an unhealthy environment. This puts their future at fundamental risk. 

To save them, social workers in Nasiriyah prison suggested creating a supportive environment for children. Al-Tawasul Wa Al-Ekha Human Organisation, a civil society organisation, acted on this suggestion. Two years ago, with support from UNICEF, it created a supportive environment that included a playroom, specialists who provide psychological support, and monitors who correct some of the behaviours resulting from the restriction of freedom that generates aggressive behaviors in children. 

This seemed necessary because some children exceed the age of staying with their mothers inside the prison, which is three years old according to the law for reforming inmates and detainees. 

The Popular Aid Organization (PAO) indicated that some children up to the age of 12-years are still accompanying their mothers in prisons, usually because there is no place to house them. 

The social worker in Nasiriyah prison said that the reason some children stay over the age of three is due to the mother’s attachment to her child or their experiencing health problems that require them to remain under her care. Alternatively, the mother’s family might have disowned the mother and her child and refused to take the child in. 

Typically, social workers communicate with the families of women prisoners to convince them to take the children in. In the event of non-response, they submit a request through the legal department in the prison. After this request, a judicial decision is issued to hand the child over to one of the state-affiliated orphanages, according to the researcher. 

Jato told Jummar that the PAO organisation held a meeting with members of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee and representatives of the Ministry of Justice last May, in which it proposed several solutions. This included establishing shelters for children to stay in places close to their mothers’ prison so that they could visit them periodically. 

The organisation presented a proposal to learn from and build on successful experiences in other countries such as France, Germany, Spain, Italy, India and Sweden. This included suspending the execution of the sentence if the convict is pregnant, provided that she remains under the supervision of the security services. A year or two after giving birth, she can then be arrested. 

“This would solve the problem of overcrowding in Iraqi prisons and the lack of shelters,” Jato said. 

Going Home 

As for Nasiriyah, there are three orphanages in Dhi Qar Governorate, where children go according to a judicial decision: Al-Khulafa al-Mutahida, the mixed foster home, Zohour foster home for girls, and Baraem foster home for boys. 

According to Hind Sadiq Al-Dulaimi, a social worker, the mixed foster home receives children up to the age of six years, while Zohour and Baraem receive children from the age of six to 18 years. 

These foster homes provide family, health, and social care for orphans, and their services include sending children to schools, entertainment, and other life necessities.  

The Childhood foster home currently accommodates six children under the age of five, who are the children of female prisoners,” Al-Dulaimi told Jummar. 

She pointed out that the difficulty of obtaining identification documents for children had increased after orphanages no longer fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and supervision had been transferred to local government. This reduced available facilities and led to a shortage of the necessary expertise. 

“Our official correspondence used to be sent directly to the Ministry of Labour who responded quickly and efficiently. Now the requests sent to the provincial office are lost among several parties and the procedures are disrupted,” she added. 

The orphanage also provided social workers who were accredited by the ministry who carefully evaluated each case, “and no child remained without papers, even children of unknown parentage, thanks to the organised procedures. This was in addition to our carrying out the adoption procedures with high efficiency,” said Al-Dulaimi. 

Regarding the efficiency of performance in these orphanages, Ali Al-Nashi, Director of the Al-Tawasul Wa Al-Ekha Human Organisation in Nasiriyah, said that the services provided by the orphanages are good, as they provide beds for children, toys, medical care, and educational activities. Some children, though, faced difficulty in registering for school because they did not have identification papers for various reasons. 

He pointed out that the lawyers representing these orphanages did not want to become embroiled in the long procedures to obtain documents for the children, in addition to being bound by administrative restriction and “institutional inertia.”  

His organisation has obtained identification papers for several children through its lawyers. 

As for Sajjad, Muammal, Zahra, Ruqayya, and many other children, the weakness of the law and its implementation have helped them obtain identification papers. They have sadly not been fortunate enough to have civil organisations to help them.