A conservative coalition in Iraq has pushed through proposals to lower the legal age for girls to marry to just nine, sparking a fierce backlash from activists and rights groups.
Protesters demonstrated in Baghdad this week to express outrage at changes that would allow aspects of personal status to be legislated by religious sects, rather than the courts.
Since many Iraqi marriages are conducted informally and not registered, the revisions would allow figures from Sunni and Shiite religious sects to finalize unions between people in accordance with the law.
But critics fear the Shiite code is based on “Jaafari jurisprudence” which allows girls aged nine and boys aged 15 to marry. Under current Iraqi law, both can marry from the age of 18.
“The Iraqi community categorically rejects these proposals, it is a degrading measure for both Iraqi men and women. This is what we have been fighting against for years,” said women’s rights activist Suhalia Al Assam. The National this week.
An Iraqi woman holds a banner reading in Arabic “amending the Personal Status Law will deepen social division” during a protest in Baghdad on August 8, 2024.
Protesters hold signs in English and Arabic calling for a secular law to protect children
Protesters gather to protest against a bill that would allow underage marriage
The amendments to Law No. 188, the Personal Status Law of 1959, have been pushed through by a coalition of conservative Shiite Islamist parties, which form the largest bloc in Parliament.
The Coordination Framework attempted to hold a first reading on July 24, but shelved the plans until last Sunday after encountering political resistance.
Protesters gathered in the capital’s Tahrir Square on Thursday to voice their opposition to the bill, which some say would further divide society.
from Iraq current law It states that marriage requires “a sound mind and completion of eighteen years of age,” with provisions for women fleeing abuse to void a contract.
Fifteen-year-olds can apply for marriage, which judges can decide to approve if they consider the person to be fit and obtain the consent of their legal guardian.
A judge can allow the marriage of a 15-year-old girl “if he considers it absolutely necessary,” the law states, without providing further details.
Under the new laws, Muslim couples who marry will be required to choose a Sunni or Shiite sect that can represent them in “all matters of personal status,” rather than the civil judiciary.
“When a dispute arises between the spouses as to the doctrine under whose provisions the marriage contract was concluded, the contract shall be deemed to have been concluded in accordance with the husband’s doctrine, unless there is evidence to the contrary,” the draft law says.
And the figures in the offices of each ‘endowment’ would be able to finalize the marriages, instead of the courts.
This can also lead to unregistered marriages (more than a fifth of which involve girls under 14) being legitimised by the state.
The amendments currently in circulation do not directly address the issue of child marriages, but earlier drafts did, prompting harsh and sustained criticism from human rights activists.
Yanar Mohammed, chair of the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), told Middle East Eye that the Coordinating Framework was using the changes to distract from its own “corruption” and political failures.
She said the proposals serve to “terrorize Iraqi women and civil society with legislation that eliminates all the rights Iraqi women have gained in modern times.”
Ms Mohammed added that the bill would “impose on them archaic Islamic sharia that views women as bodies for pleasure and reproduction, and not as human beings with human rights.”
An Iraqi woman holds a banner in Arabic reading “amending the Personal Status Law will deepen social division” in Baghdad on Thursday.
Activists gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Thursday to oppose the bill.
Protesters have repeatedly taken to Tahrir Square as the coalition tries to push through the law.
On July 28, activists carried signs reading “the era of slave women is over” and “no to underage marriage” as they walked through Tahrir Square in Baghdad, the outlet reported. information.
The 1959 Act was introduced nearly 30 years after the UK’s departure by a left-wing progressive nationalist government led by Abdul-Karim Qasim.
Since the invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein, right-wing groups have attempted to repeal many of these laws and rights.
Proposals have included banning marriage between Muslim men and non-Muslim women and legalising marital rape.
Many Iraqis, especially in urban centers like Baghdad, have liberal attitudes toward women’s rights.