Title: Country Policy and Information Note Iraq: Religious minorities 2024
Place of publication: UK
Publisher: Home office
Release date: 2024
Islam is the official religion of Iraq and around 97% of the population is Muslim. The country is also home to various religious minority groups, including Christians, Zoroastrians and Yazidis. Some religious minority groups are also distinct ethnic groups.
Members of religious minority groups are subject to various forms of discrimination and mistreatment from state authorities, hybrid actors, society and – in the cases of converts and atheists – their own families and tribes. Examples of discrimination and mistreatment include lack of legal recognition, difficulties accessing documentation, dispossession, restrictions on movement, extortion, threats, harassment (including sexual harassment), violence, detention, and murder.
The scale and extent of the treatment varies, with discrimination more prevalent than severe abuses such as violent attacks. In general, the treatment of religious minorities by state actors, hybrid actors and non-state actors is not sufficiently serious by its nature and/or repetition that it amounts to persecution or serious harm. The onus is on the person to demonstrate otherwise or show how, in their particular circumstances, they would be at real risk.
The situation for religious minorities is generally better in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) than in federal Iraq. However, state and societal discrimination still occurs in the KRI.
To obtain civil documentation, a person must register under one of the recognised religions. Members of religions which the state does not officially recognise, as well as atheists and converts from Islam, may be unable to do so, without which they are likely to be at risk of encountering treatment or conditions which are contrary to paragraphs 339C and 339CA(iii) of the Immigration Rules.
Where the person has a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm from state or hybrid actors, they are unlikely to obtain protection. Where the person has a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm from non-state actors, they are unlikely to obtain protection in federal Iraq but may be able to obtain protection in the KRI.
Where the person has a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm from the state, they are unlikely to be able to relocate to escape that risk. Where the person has a well-founded fear or persecution or serious harm from hybrid or non-state actors, internal relocation may be possible but will depend on the individual circumstances of the person.
All cases must be considered on their individual facts, with the onus on the person to demonstrate they face persecution or serious harm.[1]