UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

2. Roma (Kawliyah) 461
a) Introduction
The Roma, or Kawliyah, originate from India, but have been living in Iraq for hundreds of
years. They are a distinct ethnic group with their own language, traditions and culture,
although they have never been recognized as such in Iraq. Roma usually adopt the
dominant religion of the host country while preserving aspects of their particular belief
systems. 462 In Iraq, they usually adhere to Islam, either the Sunni or Shi’a branch. The
Kawliyah used to live a nomadic life, were not registered and did not have any
documentation. During the Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988), the regime of Saddam Hussein
provided them with Iraqi nationality and Iraqi ID cards in order to recruit the males for the
war. The former Government also provided them with housing in the newly created “First
of June” village in the District of Abu Ghraib as well as in Al-Kamalia area in southeast
Baghdad. Other villages could be found in the south, in particular in the Governorate of
Qadissiyah. Under the Ba’ath regime, Kawliyah villages enjoyed police protection and the
authorities turned a blind eye and even encouraged the Kawliyah to pursue occupations
such as playing music, dancing, selling of alcohol and prostitution. Reportedly, the former
regime built amusement parks and brothels along the Southern Iraqi border to attract people
from the Gulf, but Iraqi military officers and Ba’ath party officials also became frequent
customers. Nevertheless, Kawliyah were considered second-class citizens and remained
deprived of a number of rights. For example, they were not allowed to own property and
did not have access to higher positions in the Government or the military. 463
There are no official statistics on the number of Roma in Iraq. It is estimated that some
10,000 individuals lived in the Baghdad area before the fall of the former regime. 464 Today,
Kawliyah tribal leaders say that there are more than 60,000 in the whole country, with some
Arabs and Kurds in Kirkuk; UNAMI HRO, August 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 6, see above footnote 26.
ITF offices in Mosul were attacked by unidentified gunmen on 11 November 2005, resulting in the killing of
two passers-by; see UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 2, see above footnote 10.
Turkmen leader Mr. Qassab Uglu was killed in a drive-by shooting in Kirkuk on 14 September 2005; see
Ahmed Janabi, Everyone is a target in Iraq, Al Jazeera, 18 December 2005, http://english.aljazeera.net/
news/archive/archive?ArchiveId=15127. A senior Education Ministry official and member of the ITF was
assassinated in August 2004 in Kirkuk; he had been strongly involved in a debate over which languages
should be taught in schools in Kirkuk; see Middle East Online, Iraqi Turkmen official killed in Kirkuk,
31 August 2004, http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=5422.
461 Most sources used in the section refer to the Roma as “gypsies”. However, this term is often considered
derogatory and these guidelines therefore refer to this group as either Roma or Kawliyah, the latter is the
name the community in Iraq itself uses.
462 For further information on the history, religion and culture of the Roma, see, for example,
http://www.rroma.org/ and the Dom Research Center, Middle East and North Africa Gypsy Studies,
http://www.domresearchcenter.com/.
463 IRIN, Iraq: Gypsies call for greater rights, 3 March 2005, http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?
reportid=24925; Najem Wali, Iraq Stories, 2005, http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article.php
?lab=IraqStories; IWPR, Gypsies Seek Government Protection, Iraqi Crisis Report No. 70, 24 June 2004,
http://iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=167679&apc_state=heniicr2004.
464 IOM Mission in Iraq, Newsletter January – February 2006, p. 10, http://www.iom-iraq.net/newsletters/
IOM_Iraq_Newsletter_JanFeb06_English.pdf.
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