"We're Real Iraqis": Securing Roma Rights and Integration in Iraq

Despite the ongoing persecution and displacement of the Iraqi Roma since 2003, there is little information available on this social group compared to the country’s other minorities. This lack of information is symptomatic of decades of systematic discrimination and neglect at both governmental and social levels, resulting in devastating socio-political and socio-economic marginalization. Roma communities in Iraq are often characterized by lack of adequate clean water, electricity, education and health provision alongside pervasive poverty, resulting in the Roma comprising one of ‘the most vulnerable, disfavoured and at risk of all the marginalized groups in Iraq.’

This policy brief will examine the current socio-political and socio-economic circumstances of the Iraqi Roma in order to argue that decades (if not centuries) of discrimination, marginalization and social ostracization have facilitated the appalling poverty that many Iraqi Roma experience today. This brief will urge both the Iraqi Federal and Kurdistan Regional government (IFG and KRG) to prioritise addressing the marginalization of the Roma, whilst cautioning that policies and strategies to address this entrenched marginalization must be consultative, considered, and above all, long-term in their approach.