Arab and Islamic Law to Go: Ayad Kokha

Tuesday, 4 February 2025, 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (CET)

The Legal Status of Children Born to ISIL Fighters under Iraqi and Yazidi Family Laws

About the Speaker

Ayad Kokha is a professor of International Law at Salahaddin University-Erbil, Kurdistan Region-Iraq and an Alexander von Humboldt fellow for experienced researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. He is a former dean of the College of Law & International Relations at Knowledge University (Erbil). He holds an LL.B. (Salahaddin University-Erbil), a MPhil Degree in International Law (International College of Islamic Sciences, London), a master’s degree in international law (Salahaddin University-Erbil), and a PhD in International Law (Cairo University). He received a DAAD Scholarship (2018) and a Junior Thyssen Fellowship (2022), in addition to the Georg Forster Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers by the Humboldt Foundation for his research project ‘The Filiation of Children Born to ISIL Fighters Under International Private Law.' His draft paper ‘The Legal Status of Children Born to ISIL Fighters Under Iraqi and Yazidi Family Laws’ was recently accepted for submission in the Journal of Middle East Law and Governance (Brill) for a special issue on Kurdish family law.

About the Topic

Sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) between 2014 and 2017 against Yazidi women are deemed among the gravest crimes committed by the Islamic State. Marriages with ISIL fighters, registered by ISIL authorities, are not recognized by the Yazidi community, nor the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities. This has made it difficult for children born in the context of these marriages to access rights under the Iraqi and Yazidi Family Laws. Indeed, there is a conflict of laws in personal status associated with registering such “illegitimate” births of unknown ISIL fighters in the civil records and issuing official documents for these children has been proven challenging. The children of Yazidi women who were raped, enslaved, and held captive by ISIL members, are considered as “illegitimate” by the Yazidi community. Controversially, such children are rejected by the Yazidi community. As a result, they are refused to be registered as Yazidis. Without documents they are unable to enjoy their legal personality and are not subject to Yazidi family law. This lecture explores comparative perspectives from leading scholars on resolving these children’s legal status and facilitating their integration into society.

The lecture will be held as a hybrid event, i.e. you are welcome to participate either in person at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Mittelweg 187, 20148 Hamburg, or via Zoom.