[{"bbox": [83, 106, 1147, 451], "category": "Text", "text": "errors, as well as inadequate benefit levels. As a result, social protection expenditure has a limited impact on poverty, food security, and social inclusion, especially on gender equality and inclusion of persons with disabilities. Data shows that various social safety net schemes benefited only 20 percent of the poor and notwithstanding the overall expansion of social cash transfers in Iraq, 87.5% of poor children did not receive any social assistance. The information received by the *Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities* shows that medical certificates are the basis for access to social protection for persons with disabilities and that identity cards for persons with disabilities to receive social protection allocations have not yet been issued.¹² With the onset of COVID-19, the Iraqi Government was challenged with the imperative to expand social protection assistance to alleviate the economic shock across its population, amongst which IDPs, returnees, refugees, and emergency-affected populations face an elevated level of challenges. In addition to the social protection system deficiencies facing all groups in vulnerable situations, emergency-affected groups in vulnerable situations face additional barriers due to gaps at policy and financing levels with social protection policy frameworks not including dedicated provisions for displaced populations at the legislative and financing level."}, {"bbox": [83, 476, 1147, 1057], "category": "Text", "text": "With regards to *civic identification*, the loss of and non-issue of civil documentation of many displaced persons coupled with structural difficulties in the administration for the timely issue and management of civil documentation as well as the registration of life events continues to create a cascading effect that leads to exclusion and marginalisation. This predominantly affects Iraqi displaced persons and Iraqi returnees among whom more than 55% lack at least one crucial piece of civic identification, but also Syrian refugees¹³. The formal confirmation of a person's legal identity is foundational for citizens and residents to exercise their social, economic and political rights, notably access to the labour market, education and social protection services. Various factors include complex administrative procedures and burdensome court processes in various locations, discrepancies between de-jure and de-facto requirements, capacity constraints of administrations; while on the right holder-side, individuals lack the knowledge of procedures, face high transportation costs incurred to access government offices in places of origin, are ill-prepared for complex court procedures, and unable to meet de facto requirements. In light of the complexity of the topics and the sheer size of the issue affecting all the Iraqi population, it is required to shift from an approach at individual legal aid level, to an approach of systematically strengthening national civil affairs system, building on and supporting the Government's ambition to transition towards e-governance with biometric IDs and the creation of an electronic civil registry integrated across Government entities at federal and local levels. Lack of strong regulations around civic identification, criminalisation of migration smuggling practices and investigations of smuggling and trafficking networks, remains a key priority for Iraq. The lack of civic identification is also closely interlinked with the Iraqi population's *housing land property* (HLP) rights because only formally recognized legal persons can claim HLP rights. In addition to this, displaced populations continue to face substantial challenges in establishing ownership due to a loss of property records, damage/destruction of private property, secondary occupation of private property and administrative/security difficulties to retrieve documents, address/verify occupancy claims and submit compensation claims."}, {"bbox": [83, 1089, 1147, 1140], "category": "Section-header", "text": "**Identification of main stakeholders and corresponding institutional and/or organisational issues to be covered by the action:**"}, {"bbox": [83, 1141, 635, 1167], "category": "Text", "text": "The main counterparts in the Government are the following:"}, {"bbox": [83, 1169, 1147, 1248], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The Ministry of Planning (federal Iraq and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)) is the main government counterpoint for international partners in Iraq and the national authority for development planning, but also for statistics through its Central Statistics Office."}, {"bbox": [83, 1250, 1147, 1300], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The Prime Minister's Office coordinates the implementation of the White Paper of Reforms across Government entities."}, {"bbox": [83, 1304, 1147, 1358], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The Ministry of Migration and Displacement coordinates the implementation of the Iraqi National Returns Plan and sets the policy directions."}, {"bbox": [83, 1360, 1147, 1438], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The Ministry of Labour (federal Iraq and KRI) regulates the labour market and monitor the decent work provision in all sectors in Iraq. The Ministry of Municipalities, Construction and Housing (federal Iraq and KRI) is in charge of public works."}, {"bbox": [83, 1440, 1147, 1494], "category": "List-item", "text": "- The Ministry of Education (federal Iraq and KRI) and the Prime Minister Advisory Committee (PMAC) sets and oversees the implementation of education policies and strategies including resource management."}, {"bbox": [72, 1552, 1151, 1618], "category": "Footnote", "text": "12 https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2fPPRiCAqhKb7yhsjWBwex2dh47u9bw5cR5gOEBzApKONHHk4o pfLaKPuJSwErYJCLuuU2SMWOiMPI1nzV5pZmgxCXAi2aCA%2fOaaQhs%2bRJhuOWgv%2bKaFCHabz1X"}, {"bbox": [72, 1618, 1158, 1662], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹³ Crucial civic identification includes: nationality cards, identity cards, residency cards; birth, marriage and death certificates; employment permits and others."}, {"bbox": [1051, 1663, 1158, 1687], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 9 of 30"}]