A conservative coalition in Iraq has introduced proposals to lower the legal marriage age for girls to nine, sparking fierce opposition from activists and human rights groups.
This week, protesters demonstrated in Baghdad to express their outrage over changes that would allow religious sects to legislate on personal status issues instead of the courts.
Because many Iraqi marriages are informal and unregistered, the revisions would allow figures from Sunni and Shiite religious sects to legally authenticate unions between people.
But critics fear the Shia code is based on “Jaafari jurisprudence,” which allows girls to marry as young as nine and boys as young as 15. Under current Iraqi law, both can marry at 18.
“The Iraqi community categorically rejects these proposals, it is a humiliating step for both Iraqi men and women. This is what we have been fighting for years,” said women’s rights activist Suhalia Al Assam The National this week.
An Iraqi woman holds a banner in Arabic that reads: “Changing the personal status law will increase social division” during a protest in Baghdad on August 8, 2024
Protesters hold signs in English and Arabic calling for secular legislation to protect children
Protesters gather to demonstrate against a bill that would allow underage girl marriages
The amendments to Law No. 188, the Personal Law of 1959, were pushed through by a coalition of conservative Shiite Islamist parties, which form the largest bloc in parliament.
The Coordination Framework attempted a first reading on 24 July, but shelved the plans until last Sunday after political resistance arose.
On Thursday, many protesters gathered in the capital’s Tahrir Square to voice their opposition to the bill, which some say will further divide society.
Iraq’s current legislation states that marriage requires “soundness of mind and the age of eighteen years,” with provisions for women who wish to escape abuse by having a contract annulled.
Fifteen-year-olds can file a marriage petition. The judge can approve this petition if he/she finds that the person in question is healthy and has permission from the legal guardian.
A judge may allow a 15-year-old to marry “if he considers it absolutely necessary,” the law states, without giving further details.
Under the new laws, Muslim couples who want to marry would be able to choose a Sunni or Shiite sect, which would then represent them in “all matters of personal status” instead of the civil judiciary.
“When a dispute arises between the spouses regarding the doctrine on the basis of which the marriage contract was concluded, the contract shall be deemed to have been concluded in accordance with the spouse’s doctrine, unless there is evidence to the contrary,” the draft said.
And figures from the offices of each ‘foundation’ could perform marriages, instead of the courts.
This could lead to unregistered marriages – more than a fifth of which involve girls under the age of 14 – being legitimised by the state.
The amendments currently in circulation do not directly address the issue of child marriage, as previous drafts did, leading to sharp and sustained criticism from human rights activists.
Yanar Mohammed, chair of the Organisation for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), told Middle East Eye that the Coordination Framework was using the changes to distract from their own “corruption” and political failures.
She said the proposals served to “terrorise Iraqi women and civil society with legislation that takes away all the rights that Iraqi women have acquired in modern times”.
Ms Mohammed added that the bill would impose on them “archaic Islamic Sharia law, which views women as bodies for pleasure and procreation, and not as human beings with human rights.”
An Iraqi woman holds a banner in Baghdad on Thursday that reads in Arabic: ‘Changing the Personal Status Law will increase social division’
Activists gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Thursday to oppose the bill
Protesters have repeatedly appeared in Tahrir Square as the coalition tries to push through the law
On July 28, activists carrying signs reading “The era of female slaves is over” and “No to underage marriage” walked through Tahrir Square in Baghdad, the UN’s outlet. reports.
The 1959 law was introduced nearly 30 years after the British left by a progressive, left-wing 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 include banning marriage between Muslim men and non-Muslim women and legalising marital rape.
Many Iraqis, especially in cities like Baghdad, have liberal attitudes toward women’s rights.