Study of the formal and informal juvenile justice system in Iraq

This report pinpoints which are the legislative guarantees offered to children in conflict with the law in the formal and informal juvenile justice systems in Iraq. Doing so, it aims to respond and provide assistance to programming needs of the access to justice programs that Terre des Hommes is carrying out in Iraq. At the same time, it provides data and draws a baseline for long-term juvenile justice programming. Beside a literature review, the paper contains data stemming from interviews that were carried out by the authors. Fifty actors from the formal and informal juvenile systems in Iraq including judicial personnel, social workers from the Ministry of Education, journalists, personnel from the Directorates of Labor and Social Affairs, security forces, children detained and released and actors of the informal system, i.e. tribal, religious and community leaders were interviewed. Through data gathered, the report matches the judicial path that a child in contact with the law through the formal system with the informal system path.