Child marriages were common in Iraq. But now, Iraq’s Parliament has legalized them. There is an outrage worldwide on this new law passed on 21st January 2025 because it is a violation of women’s and children’s rights.
Iraq’s Parliament and its new regressive law
Iraq is a country that has a lot of oppression of women. The voice of the vulnerable sections of society is not heard and this would become worse with Iraq’s Parliament passing a new law that would allow girls as young as nine years to give their consent for marriage.
Iraq had a Personal Status Law of 1959 in which there was a unified family law with provision for women protection. However, the recent amendment to this Law means that girls and women would be at the suffering end.
This is the work of the conservative Shiite lawmakers of the country. Their rationale is that they want to abolish western influence on their culture and align their country with the principles of Islam. The previous law had set the minimum age of marriage as 18 years. But now, even 9 years old girls can be married off legally under the new amendment.
What human rights activists say?
People advocating human rights are upset with this new amendment of the government. They feel that it is against women and children rights. Intisar-al-Mayali is a member of the Iraqi Women’s League and also a human rights activist. She said:
“This law will have disastrous effects on the rights of women and girls, through the marriage of girls at an early age, which violates their right to life as children, and will disrupt the protection mechanisms for divorce, custody, and inheritance for women.”
Of course, the session of the Parliament that passed this law concluded with chaos and accusations from the Opposition party. A parliamentary official revealed:
“Half of the lawmakers present in the session did not vote, which broke the legal quorum.”
There were loud protests and slogans and some members of Parliament even climbed onto the parliamentary podium.
The other thing that angered the opposing members was that three laws belonging to different blocs were voted for together. The other two laws were related to general amnesty and land restitution.
But the ruling party was adamant and Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was full of praise for the new amendments and said that it will organize the daily lives of citizens and increase justice for all!!!
Impact of the law on girl child in Iraq
Child marriage is a formal marriage or informal alliance between a child less than 18 years of age and an adult or another child. In Iraq, data states that 28% of girls are married off before they reach 18 and 7% are less than 15 years at the time of the marriage.
Such marriages are devastating for the girl. It robs the girl of her due rights and education. She is pushed to do adult tasks such as household work and sexual gratification when she should be playing and enjoying her childhood.
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Moreover, the girl also faces risk of marital rape, diseases, chronic illnesses and even death. Her body is not yet developed to get pregnant and bear another child. Her health and safety is jeopardized and she might end up also with emotional wounds and mental illnesses.
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