Thousands of children from former Isil territory in Iraq are being barred from school because they do not have the right papers, Human Rights Watch reports.

Government officials have told schools to prevent any pupils from starting class if they lack the correct civil documentation, despite an agreement signed last year that an exception would be made for children who were living in the Islamic State.

Campaigners say this amounts to a transparent attempt by authorities to identify children with fathers who fought for Isil or who lived in Isil areas, and withhold their basic rights.

“Denying children their right to education because of something their parents might have done is a grossly misguided form of collective punishment,” said Lama Fakih of Human Rights Watch.

Between 2014 and 2017 Isil commanded large swathes of territory across northern Iraq.

Iraqis living under their control were issued with Isil state documents including birth certificates, which the Iraqi government does not recognise.

Many children had their government certificates confiscated by Iraqi soldiers or militiamen while fleeing the army’s offensive against Isil.

Iraq’s constitution guarantees all children born to an Iraqi mother or father citizenship, and as such access to civil documentation.

But one woman claims that when she took her 3-year-old’s Isil birth certificate to have it changed to a government one, the clerk tore it up. “He said to me, we won’t give your son a birth certificate, his father was Isil,” she said.