25-06-2025 | di COOPI

Iraq. A name, a future: how AMAL helped Maria reclaim her rights

In Tuz Khurmatu District, located in Iraq’s Salahaddin Governorate, the AMAL - Protection actions and new opportunities for the entire community of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Dohuk and SAD project, implemented by COOPI – Cooperazione Internazionale with the support from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), is changing the lives of families who’ve been “left behind”. The initiative has provided legal, educational and financial assistance to vulnerable families, helping children return to school, access essential services and begin rebuilding their futures.

In the village of Halwa, 15-year-old Maria has spent years cut off from education and the carefree childhood she deserved, all because she lacks legal identity documents. Her family’s struggles run deep, alongside her younger sister Maryam and their brother, who lives with a physical disability. Their father has been imprisoned for years, leaving behind no paperwork to register his children. Without legal documentation, Maria and Maryam were barred from attending school and their brother was denied access to vital public services. Repeated efforts by their mother to enroll the girls in school were always met with the same roadblock: “Where are the documents?”

Unable to visit their father in prison to resolve the legal gap, the family became trapped in a cycle of invisibility and exclusion. Their mother shares with deep sorrow:

My daughters have no birth certificates, no access to school, as if they don’t even exist in the eyes of this country."

Survival falls to their elderly grandmother, who pays the rent for their modest home. Meanwhile, Maria’s younger brothers scour the streets for discarded cans and soda tins to sell in markets, an all-too-common form of child labor in vulnerable areas. But a turning point came with the arrival of the AMAL project. Through its support, the family received cash assistance, enabling them to buy clothes, pens and school supplies. For the first time in three years, thanks to this support, Maria and Maryam were finally able to return to school. Their brother was referred to specialized disability services, beginning the long-overdue process of receiving proper care.

Maria’s story and those of her siblings represent one of the silent struggles in regions like Tuz Khurmatu, where legal barriers, poverty, and social stigma intersect, threatening the future of an entire generation. The AMAL project is not just a short-term relief effort, it is a path toward rebuilding lives, restoring rights, and preserving the dignity of forgotten families. Through legal protection, psychosocial support, and access to education and basic services, the project is rekindling hope for children like Maria.

Active in Iraq since 2017, COOPI provides humanitarian and development assistance across the sectors of protection, education, livelihoods and water and sanitation. From restoring schools and water systems damaged by conflict, to providing psychosocial support, legal aid and vocational training, COOPI’s work focuses on empowering displaced families, women and youth. In areas like Nineveh, Salahaddin, and Sulaymaniya, COOPI continues to respond to Iraq’s complex challenges with integrated solutions.