The Measure of Time: Using Age Determination to Secure Identity and Civil Documentation

The nearest centre that provides similar services is 70km away in Ramadi and not easily accessible to families in Fallujah, Saqlawiyah, A’meriyat and Garma, who returned home after years of displacement. For many, essential legal documents such as birth and marriage certificates were lost or not issued during displacement and securing them requires an initial step: determining the applicant's age.

"Establishing an age determination committee in Fallujah will make life much easier for many families,” shares Dr. Ahmed Salem Sameet, Director of the Primary Health Care Sector in Fallujah, affiliated with the Anbar Health Directorate. “Right now, they have to take long, expensive, and often risky trips to Ramadi to access this service. Having the committee closer to home will save time, reduce costs, and help communities in Fallujah and nearby areas get the support they need more quickly”. 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Iraq, with support from the Government of France, and in close coordination with local authorities in Anbar, established this new age determination committee to support returnees and displaced persons to address critical gaps in securing identity and civil documentation.  

“We thank IOM for its close coordination with the Iraqi authorities to provide internally displaced persons with civil documentation,” shares Patrick Durel, Ambassador of France to Iraq. “The new centre in Fallujah will facilitate the process to obtain the needed documents and ultimately contribute to a lasting return of internally displaced persons to their areas of origin. France has consistently supported Iraq to face the consequences of the conflicts and crises it had to deal with and will continue to do so”.

The age determination committee, consisting of three medical specialists is the first of its kind in the city that will support roughly 50,000 Iraqis to secure identity and civil documents. A typical examination consists of building a full medical history and examination of dental, skeletal x-rays and physical development, which is corroborated with family history and displacement data. The final results provide a near-accurate date of birth that is used to create the birth certificate and other national identification documents. 

“The documents issued by the centre are the building blocks for the future of Iraq,” shares Giorgi Gigauri, Chief of Mission for IOM Iraq. “Access to education and future development opportunities start with securing the right documents through the age determination committee”. 

Age determination certificates are prerequisites for many other legal documents, such as birth certificates, which adversely affect children’s enrollment in schools and their subsequent development. Access to identity and civil documents are a fundamental right and are required to exercise freedom of movement, access to healthcare, education, housing, land and property rights, as well as social protection mechanisms. In the past, traveling to the centre in Ramadi incurred high costs for families living in the outskirts of the governorate, as the process requires multiple visits and overnight stays. This was especially difficult for female-headed households, persons with disabilities, and the elderly. 

This initiative is part of IOM’s broader legal assistance programme, which seeks to address systemic barriers to access to identity and civil documents. Complicated registration processes, high costs, repeated follow up visits, and institutional inaccessibility have historically hindered displaced persons and returnees from obtaining these documents. IOM’s efforts include providing legal services, engaging government stakeholders, and strengthening the capacity of authorities, community-based groups, and civil society organizations. Similar age determination centres and committees have been set up in the governorates of Ninewa and Salah Din. 

The establishment of the Fallujah committee is a culmination of nearly one year of intensive coordination and advocacy with the Anbar governorate’s organizations affairs department, the joint coordination and monitoring center (JCMC), and the directorate of health in Al-Anbar. These collaborative efforts highlight IOM’s and the Government of Iraq’s shared vision to support the people of Iraq to secure durable solutions, leaving no one behind. 

For more info, pls reach out to IraqMCU@iom.int