Objecting to recruitment decisions and changes of birth year in Iraqi law

In briefThe Military Service Law No. 65 of 1969 allows an objection within thirty days to an examination committee's decision changing a birth year, before a committee chaired by the governor or his deputy whose decision is final, and a fresh medical examination before an appellate medical committee for one claiming an illness arising after his examination. A person held for age assessment for more than seven days must be brought before the investigating judge.

Recruitment office decisions touched a young man's life directly: an age changed so that his call-up came sooner, or a medical examination declaring him fit while he was ill. The office of lawyer Ali Barakat, in al-Yarmouk, Baghdad, sets out the routes of objection drawn by the Military Service Law No. 65 of 1969, even though compulsory service is on hold today under CPA Order No. 2 of 2003. These routes still matter because the effects of some of those decisions remain recorded in the civil register.

Change of birth year

Article 4 takes civil register entries as the basis for ages, but allows examination committees to change an age where personal appearance does not match the recorded birth year. That decision does not stay inside the recruitment office: paragraph 3 of the same article makes it binding on the civil register, so the person's official age changes accordingly.

Objecting within thirty days

Article 4(2) gives the conscript and the Director-General of Recruitment a right to object to a change of birth year within thirty days, running for the conscript from the date of the decision and for the Director-General from notification. The objection is heard by a committee chaired by the governor or a deputy he authorises, with the regional recruitment director, the civil status director and a military doctor, or a civilian one where none is available. That committee's decision is final. The window is short and runs from the decision, not from when the conscript learns of it, which makes immediate follow-up essential.

A person whose age is doubted

Article 67 empowers the Director-General of Recruitment, regional recruitment directors and recruitment officers to bring anyone whose recorded birth date is doubted before the examination committee, and its decision is open to objection in the same way as under article 4.

A person missing from the civil register

Article 68 allows detaining a conscript not entered in the civil register, or releasing him on bail, until his registration is completed after his age is assessed. It requires his case to be brought before the competent investigating judge if detention exceeds seven days. The committee's age assessment, once final, takes effect as a decision issued under the Civil Status Law.

Courts that cannot correct

Article 4(4) allows only examination committees to change or correct the age of a male over eighteen, and disregards court corrections in that case, except after forty-five for someone never examined. A man who files an age correction case in the personal status court before that age gains no effect on his service position.

Medical re-examination

Article 62 empowers the Director-General of Recruitment to re-examine anyone whose earlier examination is doubted or where new grounds appear. A person claiming an illness or disability arising after his last examination must be referred to an appellate medical committee, which decides his fitness under the fitness rules issued by the Minister of Defence. Recent medical reports and hospital records are the material for this route.

False information in an objection

An objector submits documents and statements. Article 47 punishes with imprisonment anyone who gives false information about a conscript or his family, and anyone who vouches for it. A serious objection rests on genuine documents, not favours from witnesses.

What to keep before objecting

A copy of the contested decision and its date, extracts of the civil register entry before and after the change, any old school or health record showing the true age, and dated medical reports. These papers are what the committee examines.

Other decisions and the administrative courts

Recruitment decisions the law has not made final, such as refusing deferment or declining to issue a document, are administrative decisions open to grievance and then appeal under the general rules and time limits. Where the law declares a decision final, such as the governor's committee's, the room for judicial challenge narrows. The general limits are in time limit for challenging a decision before the Administrative Judiciary Court. Exemption and deferment grounds are in exemption from military service.

Legal basis and sources

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to object to a change of birth year?

Thirty days from the date of the decision for the conscript, under article 4.

Can the governor's committee's decision be challenged?

The law describes its decision as final.

What if I fell ill after the examination?

Article 62 requires anyone claiming an illness arising after his examination to be referred to an appellate medical committee.

Always check the text in force and its amendments in the official source.

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Challenging Recruitment Office Decisions