ZAWERGOSK, Iraq — Aria is stateless. Like thousands of other children born to Syrian refugees living in Iraq, the 10-month-old girl is beginning her life in legal limbo.
Some 240,000 refugees who fled the fighting in Syria now live in Iraq, where among many other hardships, they are often unable to get their children citizenship in either country.
“It’s required to have a nationality,” said Azad Khalil, the girl’s father. “She doesn’t exist in any records (in Syria) because she was born here.”
In this Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015 photo, Syrian refugee children play at a temporary refugee camp in Irbil, northern Iraq. (AP Photo/Seivan M. Salim)s
