Inclusive Social Assistance for Marginalised People in the KRI

Abstract

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has experienced conflicts, displacement, socioeconomic shocks, and climate change effects. Marginalised people, especially those facing intersecting inequalities, are disproportionately affected. Many face unemployment, poverty, and limited health care access. With formal social assistance broadly unavailable, marginalised groups rely on ad hoc informal assistance. This briefing presents evidence on marginalised people’s circumstances in the KRI and their experience accessing social assistance, gathered through Participatory Action Research with peer researchers from a Sulaymaniyah disabled women’s group and Halabja rural youth group. It highlights emotional and psychosocial barriers, risks, and significant failures experienced by marginalised people trying to access social assistance in this protracted crisis context, and provides recommendations on fostering safer, more dignified, inclusive, and effective social assistance processes.