Children of mixed marriages protest official discrimination (In Iraq)

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Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

Date: 12 Dec 2005

Children of mixed marriages protest official discrimination



BAGHDAD, 12 December (IRIN) - Sarah Hussein, 12-years-old, prepares her bags with her mother before travelling to Syria. She is leaving Iraq because she no longer has a right to a free education, and her family cannot afford the US $1,000 asked of them by the Iraqi government for Sarah to continue her studies.

"I love Iraq and was born here, but now I'm different from the other children just because I'm half Syrian," Hussein said.

Ever since the enactment of new regulations after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the children of Iraqi women married to foreign nationals are no longer entitled to the same rights and services offered by the government to those of full Iraqi parentage.

"During the Saddam era, all children were offered free education," lamented Hussein. "But now, we're considered strangers, even though we're half-Iraqi."

According to the Ministry of Education, only full Iraqi citizens can qualify for free education. Those of other nationality, meanwhile, which is determined by the father, have to pay annual, dollar-denominated school fees.

"If the son of an Iraqi woman and a foreign man wants to study in one of our schools, he will have to pay around US $1,000 per year," said Khalid Salomon, a senior official at the ministry of education.


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http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6JZACN?OpenDocument

[Selteri]

1. This is one of the most important stories that needs to be spread. NT