ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Baghdad has launched an ‘’urgent’’ action plan to curb foreign nationals begging in the capital, which includes verifying visa and entry permits, residence and personal belonging checks for narcotics, and providing shelter for the homeless, an official said Thursday.

"An extensive meeting held with specialized security and service agencies resulted in the approval of an urgent action plan that includes several axes to reduce the phenomenon of begging by non-Iraqi nationals," Ali al-Gharawi, deputy governor of Baghdad, told the state al-Sabah newspaper.

Several measures, such as verifying visas and entry, checking residence and personal belongings for narcotics, and providing shelter for the homeless, will be taken to curb the phenomenon. Gharawi cited drug addiction as one of the reasons for the practice. 

“The local government will not be lenient in applying the law to preserve the security of society and the civilized appearance of the capital,” Gharawi asserted.

Iraq’s interior ministry told The New Region on Thursday that security forces routinely carry out campaigns against beggars.

“There are laws against beggars and we carry out daily, weekly, and monthly operations against them,” ministry spokesperson Miqdad Miri said, adding that “women and children are the most vulnerable.” 

Many foreign nationals, often from neighboring countries, are seen begging on Iraq’s streets. 

“We carry out operations against the limited number of foreign beggars in the country and deport them after their arrest," Miri said. 

The interior ministry is in the process of finalizing and publishing data on the total number of beggars in Iraq, according to the spokesperson.

Beggars in Iraq usually stand at traffic lights, cleaning windshields, selling flowers, water, tissues, and other things as a loophole to begging laws.