Introduction

Article 2.2 of the Iraqi constitution “guarantees full rights to freedom of religious belief and practice to all individuals, including Christians, Yazidis and Mandean Sabeans.” Article 14 adds that all citizens are equal before the law without discrimination on the basis of religion or other status.[1]

Furthermore, the constitution guarantees ‘freedom of thought, conscience, and belief’ in article 42, and states that the followers of all religions are free to practice religious rites (43.1), and to worship (43.2). Article 37.2 asserts that the state will protect individuals from religious coercion. Article 10 establishes the state’s commitment to assuring and maintaining the sanctity of holy shrines and religious sites, and guaranteeing the free practice of rituals therein.

However, the constitution also focuses heavily on Iraq’s Islamic identity. Article 2 recognises Islam as the country’s official religion and mandates it as a source of legislation, stating that no law can be enacted that contradicts it. Thus, the Iraqi constitution contains two competing principles: equal rights for everyone, including the right to FoRB, and a system of Islamic law in which rights vary based on whether one is male or female, Muslim or non-Muslim.

Discrimination against non-Muslims is also evident in the prohibition of the Baha’i faith under a law dating back to 1970, and a 2006 law that prohibits Jews who have emigrated from regaining Iraqi citizenship. These laws remained in place during the reporting period.

There are other vulnerable minorities such as Iraq’s Mandaeans, of whom only a few thousand remain. Iraqi Kurdistan has also historically been home to Zoroastrianism and the Kakai faith, (Yarsanism) with synchronistic mystical beliefs. The deliberate destruction of these ancient religious communities by terrorist groups is a tragedy for their adherents, as well as for Iraq’s majority Muslim community.

Terrorism and insecurity

Terrorism and insecurity continue to be of serious concern in Iraq. In 2014 the Islamic State (IS) captured Mosul and Nineveh Plains. Thousands of non-Sunni men, women and children were either killed or enslaved, and tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians emigrated to neighbouring countries over the following years. One study estimates that 3,100 Yazidis were killed in a matter of days following the 2014 attack.[2]

In July 2017 Mosul and Nineveh Plains were liberated; however terrorist attacks have continued and many members of religious minority communities remain unwilling to return to liberated regions due to continued security concerns. For example, less than 20 Christians returned to Mosul after its liberation. The city was once home to nearly 100,000 Christians.[3]

Sectarianism

Attempts to combat terrorism and provide adequate security for religious minorities have been hampered by sectarian narratives and policies that continue to prevail in the country, prompting widespread divisions and distrust between different ethnic and religious communities. The situation is further exacerbated by corruption.

Yazidi and Christian community leaders have expressed grave concerns regarding tension between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil (KRG). Local community leaders and activists have reported intensified efforts by the KRG to ‘Kurdify’ their territories by making it difficult for individuals displaced by IS violence to return.

Tactics employed by the KRG have included forcibly appropriating land and property, and using intimidation, while also attempting to ‘divide and rule’ by offering financial and status privileges to selected political and religious figures within these communities. Many Yazidi activists report increased pressure from the KRG on the Yazidi community to identify as Kurds, even when they did not wish to do so.