Children in Iraq engage in the worst forms of child labor, including in forced begging and commercial sexual exploitation, each sometimes as a result of human trafficking. (1-5) Household surveys, such as the 2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in Iraq, are not designed to capture the labor performed by IDPs living in camps and, therefore, the 2018 MICS survey does not capture children in this population involved in child labor. Table 1 provides key indicators on children's work and education in Iraq. Data on some of these indicators are not available from the sources used in this report.

Primary completion rate was unavailable from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2020. (6)
Source for all other data: International Labor Organization's analysis of statistics from Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 6 (MICS 6), 2018. (7)

Based on a review of available information, Table 2 provides an overview of children's work by sector and activity.

† Determined by national law or regulation as hazardous and, as such, relevant to Article 3(d) of ILO C. 182.
‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182.

Despite ISIS losing control over the last remaining territory in Iraq in 2017, ISIS carried out deadly attacks in Iraq throughout 2019. (33) ISIS continued to abduct and forcibly recruit and use children in combat and support roles, including as human shields, informants, bomb makers, executioners, and suicide bombers; some of these children were as young as eight years old and some were mentally disabled. (3,34)

In 2019, NGOs reported that some Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)-affiliated militias—including Iranian-backed Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HHN), Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), and Kataib Hizballah (KH)—recruited boys younger than the age of 18 to fight in Syria and Yemen, most commonly out of schools. (3,4) Some of the forces in HHN, AAH, and KH militias operate under the umbrella of the PMF, which was legally incorporated into the Iraqi defense forces in 2016, but generally operates outside of the command and control of the Iraqi government. (3,4,8,35) During the reporting period, sources reported the Kurdistan Worker's Party and People's Protection Units, operating in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and Sinjar, continued to recruit and use children. (5) Local NGOs reported that Yezidi militias in Sinjar, including the Yezidkhan Protection Force and Sinjar Command Force, recruited Yezidi boys. (4)

Throughout the country, some girls were subjected to commercial sexual exploitation through temporary marriages. (27) Sources reported that AAH and HHN profited from offices facilitating temporary marriage and provided protection to them. (5) Syrian girls from refugee camps in the Kurdistan region were sometimes forced into early or temporary marriages with Iraqi or other refugee men; some Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities allegedly ignored, or accepted bribes to ignore such cases, including those in which girls were sold multiple times. (27) NGOs report that women and girls in IDP camps, whose family members have alleged ties to ISIS, continued to endure a complex system of sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, and abuse by armed actors residing in the camps, security and military officials, and camp personnel controlling access to humanitarian assistance and services. Iranian girls were subjected to commercial sexual exploitation in the Kurdistan Region and Iraqi girls were trafficked to other Arab states in the region and to Europe for commercial sexual exploitation. (3) Child laborers were also exposed to sexual violence and abuse. (13)

In previous years, ISIS sold boys who they considered too young or too weak to engage in armed conflict into forced domestic work. (29,30) ISIS kidnapped and trafficked Yezidi children to Turkey for exploitation. (3) Some children in IDP camps who were suspected of having ties to ISIS were blocked from obtaining civil documentation and returning home or were subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. (3,36)

Children in border regions with Iran are sometimes used as porters, known as "kolbar" in Kurdish, to smuggle goods across the border, and are subjected to life-threatening weather conditions, dangerous terrain, unexploded ordinance, and targeting by Iranian border guards. (25,26) In 2019, as many as 21 adolescents were killed by Iranian border guards or died while making the trip. (26)

Children faced numerous barriers to accessing education, including displacement, the lack of local schools, the use of schools as shelters by IDPs, costs of transportation and school supplies, lack of sufficient educational facilities, and IDPs' and refugees' lack of identification documents. (8,9,13,37,38) In addition, children with suspected ties to ISIS may not have access to identification documents required for school enrollment. (36) According to UNICEF, over half of the schools in Iraq required repairs and the education of 3 million children had been interrupted. (8) UNICEF also reported that, while 92 percent of children enroll in primary schools, only half of children from economically disadvantaged families complete primary school and only a quarter complete secondary education. (39) In addition, in 2018, it was estimated that some 50,000 Syrian refugee children did not attend formal school; however, this number is over-inclusive as it also counts children who receive permissible non-formal education. (40) For these refugees, the majority of whom live in the Kurdistan Region, access to education was limited because of security concerns; school-related costs such as transportation, textbooks and uniforms; and language issues, due to most classes in the Kurdistan Region being taught in Kurdish rather than Arabic, the language of Syrian children. (41)

As of December 2019, 1.41 million people, including about 658,000 children, remained internally displaced; 4.6 million individuals, including over 2 million children, had returned home to newly accessible areas; and 3.3 million children in Iraq were in need of education support. (42) UNICEF supported 3,354 children with direct cash assistance for the 2018–2019 academic year; however, this program was discontinued for 2019–2020. (42) The KRG agreed to start paying incentives to Syrian refugee volunteer teachers in the Kurdistan region; however, it stopped doing so in January 2020. (4) The lack of this direct cash assistance to children and incentive payments to volunteer teachers makes children vulnerable to child labor and child trafficking.

Iraq has ratified all key international conventions concerning child labor (Table 3).

The government has established laws and regulations related to child labor (Table 4). However, gaps exist in Iraq's legal framework to adequately protect children from the worst forms of child labor, including the prohibition of child trafficking.

* No conscription (48)
‡ Age calculated based on available information

Article 117 of the Constitution of Iraq recognizes Kurdistan, which comprises the provinces of Dohuk, Erbil, Sulaimaniya, and Halabja, as a federal region. (52-55) Article 121 grants the Kurdistan Region the right to exercise legislative and executive powers. (52) The Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament must endorse any laws the Government of Iraq has passed after 1991 for such laws to enter into force in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. (53-55)

In Iraq, Article 1 of the Law to Combat Human Trafficking requires force or coercion to be present as an element of the crime of child trafficking, which is inconsistent with international standards, including Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol. (46) The Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament endorsed the Iraqi Law to Combat Human Trafficking, which means the operative human trafficking standard in the Kurdistan Region is also not in compliance with international standards. (56)

The KRG reported that a draft Child Protection Law was prepared by a joint committee that included the ministries of Labor and Social Affairs, Education, Health, Culture, the Independent Human Rights Commission, UNICEF, and other child protection NGOs, and was submitted to the KRG Parliament for ratification. (57)

In Iraq, the laws do not sufficiently prohibit the use of children in prostitution or the use, procuring, and offering of children for the production of pornography or pornographic performances. (47)

Moreover, under the Iraqi Education Law and under the Law on Compulsory Education, children are required to attend primary school for only 6 years, which is typically up to age 12. (49,50) This standard makes children ages 12 to 15 particularly vulnerable to child labor, because they are not required to be in school, yet they are not legally permitted to work.

The government has established institutional mechanisms for the enforcement of laws and regulations on child labor (Table 5). However, gaps exist within the authority of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA) and the KRG's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (KMOLSA) that may hinder adequate enforcement of their child labor laws.

Labor Law Enforcement

In 2019, labor law enforcement agencies in Iraq took actions to combat child labor (Table 6). However, gaps exist within the authority and operations of MOLSA and the KRG's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (KMOLSA) that may hinder adequate labor law enforcement, including an insufficient number of labor inspectors.

In 2017, MOLSA employed 98 inspectors and research was unable to determine that significantly more have been hired. KMOLSA reported 18 inspectors were employed during the reporting period. (4) Although the number of labor inspectors in Iraq during the reporting period is unknown, research indicates that in 2019 the number of labor inspectors was likely insufficient for the size of Iraq and the KRG's workforce, which combined includes over 8.9 million workers. (4,58) According to the ILO's technical advice of a ratio approaching 1 inspector for every 15,000 workers in industrializing economies, Iraq would employ about 593 labor inspectors. (59,60)

In 2019, KMOLSA did not provide training on child labor to inspectors and only conducted inspections for child labor in response to complaints. (57) When inspectors identify child labor violations, they can issue warnings and instructions, or refer cases to court. (61) KMOLSA indicated that funding is insufficient to carry out its duties. (4)

The government did not provide information on its labor law enforcement efforts for inclusion in this report. (4)

Criminal Law Enforcement

In 2019, criminal law enforcement agencies in Iraq took actions to combat child labor (Table 7). However, gaps exist within the operations of the criminal enforcement agencies that may hinder adequate criminal law enforcement, including training for criminal investigators and prosecution planning.

In 2019, Iraqi and KRG authorities continued to inappropriately detain and prosecute without legal representation Iraqi and foreign children allegedly affiliated to ISIS—some of whom were victims of forcible recruitment and use—and used abusive interrogation techniques and torture to gain children's confessions; the government did not screen these children as potential human trafficking victims. (3,32,66)

KRG officials stated that courts can refer cases of the worst forms of child labor to KMOLSA. (14) The government did not investigate or hold anyone criminally accountable for continued allegations of unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers. The government also failed to investigate and hold criminally accountable military and security personnel for allegations of the sexual exploitation of girls in IDP camps. (3) An NGO reported that police occasionally detained children engaged in street begging and kept them in custody before releasing them; police did not screen these children as possible victims of human trafficking or refer them to appropriate protection services. (3,4)

According to the KRG, between 2014 and 2019, KRG authorities funded the rescue of more than 3,515 kidnapped Yezidis from ISIS, including 1,600 children. Civil society organizations reported that returned victims of sexual exploitation remained vulnerable to exploitation upon their return to the Kurdistan Region. (57)

Some victims of trafficking, including children trafficked for child soldiering, continued to be punished for unlawful acts while being trafficked. (27,55,67) Lack of sufficient coordination among judicial authorities and security forces across governorates led to re-arrests of some children previously cleared of charges related to ISIS. (68,69)

The government did not provide information on its criminal law enforcement efforts for inclusion in this report. (4)

The government has established mechanisms to coordinate its efforts to address child labor (Table 8). However, gaps exist that hinder the effective coordination of efforts to address child labor, including coordination among agencies to effectively process cases of children suspected of having ties with ISIS or children who are victims of human trafficking.

* Mechanism to coordinate efforts to address child labor was created during the reporting period.

In December 2019, the government of Iraq presented a proposal to prepare a comprehensive plan to reduce child recruitment operations in armed and terrorist conflicts to an intergovernmental committee headed by MOLSA. This proposal was approved with funding by the council. (57)

The government has established policies related to child labor (Table 9). However, policy gaps exist that hinder efforts to address child labor, including coverage of all worst forms of child labor.

Based on available information, there were no child labor policies in the Kurdistan Region. (8)

In 2019, the government funded and participated in programs that include the goal of eliminating child labor (Table 10). However, gaps exist in these social programs, including services to address the full scope of the problem.

† Program is funded by the Government of Iraq.

Neither the Government of Iraq nor the KRG reported efforts to provide protection services to demobilized child soldiers of ISIS or the PMF, thus failing to prevent re-victimization or re-recruitment of these children into armed groups. (3) Likewise, research found no evidence of specific active programs to support children engaged in commercial sexual exploitation or other worst forms of child labor, including child soldiering. Existing programs do not sufficiently address the lack of access to education in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Based on the reporting above, suggested actions are identified that would advance the elimination of child labor in Iraq (Table 11).

1. Pasha-Robinson, Lucy. 'I was raped everyday': Yazidi girl speaks of horrors of being held as Isis sex slave. Independent. July 24, 2017.
   http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-sex-slave-yazidi-girl-northern-iraq-rape-sexual-abuse-experiences-a7857246.html.

2. UN Human Rights Council. Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the human rights situation in Iraq. A/HRC/28/18. March 27, 2015.
   https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session28/Pages/ListReports.aspx.

3. U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report- 2019: Iraq. Washington, DC, June 20, 2019.
   https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report-2/iraq/.

4. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad. Reporting. February 18, 2020.

5. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad. Reporting. March 30, 2020.

6. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Gross intake ratio to the last grade of primary education, both sexes (%). Accessed March 1, 2020. For more information, please see "Children's Work and Education Statistics: Sources and Definitions" in the Reference Materials section of this report.
   http://data.uis.unesco.org/.

7. ILO. Analysis of Child Economic Activity and School Attendance Statistics from National Household or Child Labor Surveys. Original data from Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 6 (MICS 6), 2018. Analysis received March 2020. Please see "Children's Work and Education Statistics: Sources and Definitions" in the Reference Materials section of this report.

8. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad. Reporting. January 9, 2019.

9. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad. Reporting. January 17, 2018.

10. Terre des Hommes. Because we struggle to survive: Child labour among refugees of the Syrian conflict. August 28, 2016.
    https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/50817.

11. Falah, Ahmed. Displaced Children in Iraq face child labor and exploitation. Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, 2016.
    http://rights-iq.org/تقارير/3324-displaced-children-in-iraq-face-child-labor-and-exploitation.html.

12. UNICEF. Childhoods Cut Short. June 10, 2016.
    https://medium.com/photography-and-social-change/childhoods-cut-short-d44fa863992d#.gvxvqg6ly.

13. Iraqi Al-Amal Association and UNICEF. A Rapid Assessment of Worst Forms of Child Labour. December 2015.
    http://www.iraqi-alamal.org/uploads/pdf/2016/e15-06-2016.pdf.

14. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad. Reporting. January 13, 2017.

15. Khoder, Salam. Child labour a growing problem in war-torn Iraq. Al Jazeera. August 22, 2016.
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/child-labour-growing-problem-war-torn-iraq-160808111630367.html.

16. Baghdad Post. As corruption goes rampant, Iraq children eat from garbage. July 31, 2017.
    http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/story/15054/As-corruption-goes-rampant-Iraq-children-eat-from-garbage.

17. Hartleib, Elisabeth. Child Labor in Iraq. Deutsche Welle, June 12, 2017.
    http://www.dw.com/en/child-labor-in-iraq/av-39210131.

18. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad. Reporting. January 24, 2016.

19. Nazeh, Maher and Hameed, Saif. Child labor doubles in Iraq as violence, displacement hit incomes. Reuters, July 10, 2016.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-children-idUSKCN0ZQ0DQ.

20. Abdullah, Ala and Lindsay Mackenzie. What I would most like is to leave this job and go back to school. UNICEF. March 14, 2016.
    https://medium.com/stories-from-unicef-in-iraq-english/what-i-would-most-like-is-to-leave-this-job-and-go-back-to-school-2910fed16aff#.2pjnu1bwi.

21. Westcott, Tom. Donors talk big on Iraq reconstruction, but Mosul residents go it alone. IRIN. The New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN News). February 15, 2018.
    https://www.irinnews.org/feature/2018/02/15/donors-talk-big-iraq-reconstruction-mosul-residents-go-it-alone.

22. Castelier, Sebastian and Wilson Fache. Iraqi children scavenge for a living. Al Jazeera. March 29, 2016.
    https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/03/iraqi-children-scavenge-living-160321112736752.html.

23. Al-Marjani, Alaa. Sea of death: World's biggest cemetery filling up as Iraq's battle against Isis takes its toll. Reuters. August 23, 2016.
    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sea-death-worlds-biggest-cemetery-filling-iraqs-battle-against-isis-takes-its-toll-1577637.

24. Mufti, Nermeen. Iraq Faces Worrisome Drug Problem. The Arab Weekly. September 11, 2016.
    http://www.thearabweekly.com/Society/6371/Iraq-faces-worrisome-drug-problem.

25. Esfandiari, Golnaz. Death of Young 'Porter' Highlights Plight of Iran's 'Human Mules'. Radio Free Europe. October 3, 2017. Source on file.

26. Radio Farda. Many Children Working As Porters Die On Iran-Iraq Border. December 22, 2019.
    https://en.radiofarda.com/a/children-working-as-porters-killed-by-guards-on-iran-iraq-border/30338407.html.

27. U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report- 2018: Iraq. Washington, DC, June 28, 2018.
    https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-trafficking-in-persons-report/iraq/.

28. Human Rights Watch. Iraq: Forced Marriage, Conversion for Yezidis. October 12, 2014.
    http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/11/iraq-forced-marriage-conversion-yezidis.

29. Elbagir, Nima, et al. ISIS' power is waning, but its child slave trade is still booming. CNN, October 18, 2017.
    https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/18/middleeast/isis-yazidi-slavery-child-slaves/index.html.

30. The Associated Press. Yazidi boys describe captivity, indoctrination by ISIS. May 11, 2017.
    https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/yazidi-boys-describe-captivity-indoctrination-by-isis-1.3408397.

31. The New Arab. The Iraq Report: Children bought and sold in 'sex markets' by Baghdad Mafia. August 16, 2017.
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2017/8/16/the-iraq-report-child-trafficking-by-baghdad-mafia-exposed.

32. United Nations Security Council. Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in Iraq. S/2019/984. December 23, 2019.
    https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2019/984&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC.

33. Abdul-Zahra, Qassim. IS mortar attack on soccer field kills 6 in Iraq. August 25, 2019.
    https://apnews.com/2d9a27a66df1430ebdc2a918cfbbc128.

34. UN Reporting 2018.

35. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad official. E-mail communication to USDOL official. May 10, 2018.

36. Amnesty International. The Condemned: Women and Children Isolated, Trapped, and Exploited in Iraq. MDE 14/8196/2018. April 2018.
    https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1481962018ENGLISH.PDF.

37. United Nations Security Council. Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Iraq. Report S/2015/852. November 9, 2015.
    http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/N1535632.pdf.

38. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Concluding observations on the combined second to fourth periodic reports of Iraq. March 3, 2015: Report No. CRC/C/IRQ/CO/2-4.
    http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/IRQ/CO/2-4&Lang=En.

39. UNICEF. Deep inequality continues to shape the lives of children in Iraq. November 19, 2018.
    https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/deep-inequality-continues-shape-lives-children-iraq.

40. UNHCR. 3RP Iraq Monthly Update - Education. October 2018.
    https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/3rp_2018_iraq_monthly_dashboard_october_2018.pdf.

41. Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry of Interior. Situational Report: The Education for Syrian Refugee Students in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Report No. 24. March 27, 2019.
    http://jcc.gov.krd/contents/files/27-03-2019/1553689405.Refugee Children Situation in KRI (Report No. 24) English.pdf.

42. UNICEF. Iraq 2019 Humanitarian Situation Report. December 2019.
    https://www.unicef.org/iraq/media/1056/file/Iraq Humanitarian Situation Report for End -Year 2019.pdf.

43. Government of Iraq. Labor Law No. 37 of 2015. Enacted: October 15, 2015.
    http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=96652&p_country=IRQ.

44. Government of Iraq. Labor Code, Law No. 71 of 1987, as amended by Coalition Provisional Authority Order 89 of May 30, 2004.
    http://www.ilo.org/dyn/travail/docs/751/Coalition Provisional Authority Order No.89.pdf.

45. Government of Iraq. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs' Instructions No. 19 of 1987 on Works Prohibited for Children. Enacted: November 9, 1987.
    http://www.iraq-lg-law.org/ar/webfm_send/555.

46. Government of Iraq. Law to Combat Human Trafficking, No. 28 of 2012. Enacted: April 4, 2012.
    http://moedu.gov.iq/upload/upfile/ar/22k.docx.

47. Government of Iraq. Penal Code, Law No. 111 of 1969. Enacted: July 19, 1969.
    http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/57206/110681/F-1289690696/IRQ57206.pdf.

48. Government of Iraq. Coalition Provisional Authority Order 22 on the Creation of A New Iraqi Army. Enacted: August 6, 2003.
    http://www.refworld.org/docid/468d0ae62.html.

49. Government of Iraq. Law No. 22 of the Ministry of Education. Enacted: September 13, 2011. Source on file.

50. Government of Iraq. Compulsory Education Law No. 118 of 1976. Enacted: 1976.
    http://www.iraq-lg-law.org/ar/webfm_send/233.

51. Kurdistan Regional Government. Law No 27 of 2007, Third Amendment to the Law of the Ministry of Education No. Act, 1992. Enacted: December 10, 2007.
    http://www.presidency.krd/docs/EducationMInistryAmendemnt3-34-2007-ar.pdf.

52. Government of Iraq. Constitution of Iraq. Enacted: 2005.
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/12/AR2005101201450.html.

53. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad official. E-mail communication to USDOL official. May 4, 2018.

54. Kurdistan Regional Government. The Kurdistan Region in Brief.
    http://cabinet.gov.krd/p/page.aspx?l=14&s=050000&r=355&p=250&h=1.

55. U.S. Consulate - Erbil and U.S. Embassy - Baghdad. E-mail communication to USDOL official. July 10, 2019.

56. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad. Reporting. February 13, 2019.

57. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad official. E-mail communication to USDOL official. June 29, 2020.

58. CIA. The World Factbook. Accessed May 21, 2018. Please see "Labor Law Enforcement: Sources and Definitions" in the Reference Materials section of this report.
    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/index.html.

59. ILO. Strategies and Practice for Labour Inspection. November 2006: (GB.297/ESP/3). Please see "Labor Law Enforcement: Sources and Definitions" in the Reference Materials section of this report.
    http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb297/pdf/esp-3.pdf.

60. UN. World Economic Situation and Prospects 2017 Statistical Annex. New York. 2017. Please see "Labor Law Enforcement: Sources and Definitions" in the Reference Materials section of this report.
    https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/publication/2017wesp_full_en.pdf.

61. U.S. Consulate- Erbil. Reporting. January 13, 2019.

62. Human Rights Watch. Everyone Must Confess: Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIS Affiliation in Iraq. March 6, 2019.
    https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/03/06/everyone-must-confess/abuses-against-children-suspected-isis-affiliation-iraq.

63. Hendawi, Hamza, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, and Maya Alleruzzo. Children of Islamic State group live under a stigma in Iraq. The Associated Press. October 15, 2018.
    https://www.apnews.com/c1e7973320584c12a97f88fd006974df.

64. Becker, Jo. Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Detained Children Tortured. Human Rights Watch. January 8, 2019.
    https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/01/08/kurdistan-region-iraq-detained-children-tortured.

65. Madnick, Sam. In limbo: 'Isis children' in prison. Mail & Guardian: Johannesburg. January 18, 2019.
    https://mg.co.za/article/2019-01-18-00-in-limbo-isis-children-in-prison.

66. Human Rights Watch. KRG: Children Allege Torture by Security Forces. January 29, 2017.
    https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/29/krg-children-allege-torture-security-forces.

67. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Concluding observations on the report submitted by Iraq under article 12, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. March 5, 2015: Report No. CRC/C/OPSC/IRQ/CO/1.
    http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/OPSC/IRQ/CO/1&Lang=en.

68. U.S. Embassy- Baghdad. Reporting. February 12, 2018.

69. Human Rights Watch. Iraq/Kurdistan Region: Risk of Double Trials. December 23, 2018.
    https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/23/iraq/kurdistan-region-risk-double-trials-isis-ties.