Children of mixed marriages protest official discrimination

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. “Most of the time, though, this is much more than the family earns in a whole year,” he admitted. Most of those deprived of free education are the children of Lebanese, Syrian, Iranian, Jordanian, Palestinian, Moroccan and Tunisian fathers, Salomon pointed out. Families suffer Families of mixed parentage, meanwhile, complain bitterly of the financial difficulties imposed by the regulations. “I married a Lebanese man and we lived in Iraq for years, but now my sons don’t have the same opportunities as other children,” said Hadeel Samarayee, a mother of two. “We can’t afford private schools for them, so maybe they’ll have to stay home, without an education.” Ali Jomaa, a Lebanese father of three living in Iraq for ten years, similarly complained of the “thousands of dollars” he had to pay to send his children to government schools. While conceding that the rules contained an element of discrimination, Salah Abbas, a senior official at the interior ministry, added that there was no obvious solution. “We can’t afford to give Iraqi nationality to anyone who wants it, even if their mothers are Iraqi,” he said. “You may find it discriminatory, but even European countries don’t easily offer nationalities just because the mother is from the country in question.” Like state education, the national food rationing programme is also denied to children of non-Iraqi parentage. “We can’t offer food to everyone, because this would require huge investment,” said Faik Ibraheem, a senior official at the Ministry of Trade. Still, critics point out that, under Sadam Hussein, food rations were available to all official residents of Iraq, including the children of mixed marriages. Currently, however, only Iraqi nationals and a few hundred Palestinian families receive the monthly dole, which includes beans, rice, sugar, soap, oil, powdered milk and cooking butter. Fighting for rights Many local organizations devoted to women’s rights issues have been lobbying to end the policy, which they see as unfair. While the issue was scheduled to be discussed in parliament last month, debate was postponed until next year due to upcoming national assembly elections. “When we open the subject for discussion, it’s always postponed because it’s considered a problem that can be delayed,” said Yasmin Hassan, a spokeswoman for both the Women’s Democratic Group and Women’s Democracy and Rights, two non governmental organisations with activities in Iraq. “We will not stop our fight,” she added. “The prohibition is just more proof of discrimination against us in this country.”