Thursday, January 23, 2025 - Iraq's parliament has reportedly passed several laws including the one that will effectively legalise child marriage for girls as young as nine.
According to Mail Online, the amendments to Iraq's personal
status law will give Islamic courts increased authority over family matters,
including marriage, divorce, and inheritance.
Iraqi law currently sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage
in most cases, but the changes passed on Tuesday, January 21, would let clerics
rule according to their interpretation of Islamic law.
Some of these interpretations allow the marriage of girls in
their early teens or as young as nine under the Ja'afari school of Islamic law
followed by many Shiite religious authorities in Iraq.
Proponents of the changes, which were advocated by primarily
conservative Shiite lawmakers, defend them as a means to align the law with
Islamic principles and reduce Western influence on Iraqi culture.
But Intisar al-Mayali, a human rights activist and a
member of the Iraqi Women's League, said passage of the civil status law
amendments 'will leave disastrous effects on the rights of women and girls
through the marriage of girls at an early age'.
'This violates their right to life as children, and will
disrupt the protection mechanisms for divorce, custody, and inheritance for
women,' the activist declared.
The parliamentary session which saw the passage of the
amendments ended in chaos and accusations of procedural violations.
'Half of the lawmakers present in the session did not vote,
which broke the legal quorum,' a parliamentary official said on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly.
After the session, a number of legislators reportedly
complained about the voting process, under which all three controversial laws,
each of which was supported by different blocs were voted on together.
'Regarding the civil status law, we are strongly supporting
it and there were no issues with that,' said Raid al Maliki, an independent MP.
'But it was combined with other laws to be voted on
together... and this might lead to a legal appeal at the Federal Court.'
Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani in a statement
praised the laws' passage as ‘an important step in the process of enhancing
justice and organising the daily lives of citizens.’
The parliament also passed a general amnesty law that is
seen as benefiting Sunni detainees and has been criticised as giving a pass to
people involved in corruption and embezzlement.
The chamber passed a land restitution law aimed at
addressing Kurdish territorial claims.
The proposed amendments to the law were first announced in
August.
With many Iraqi marriages conducted informally and left
unregistered, the revisions will allow figures from Sunni and Shia religious
sects to finalise unions between people in law.
The law previously stated that marriage requires 'a sound
mind and completing 18 years of age', with provisions for women fleeing abuse
in annulling a contract.
Fifteen-year-olds could submit a marriage request, which
judges could choose to approve if they deem the individual well and obtain
their legal guardian's consent.
A judge could permit the marriage of a 15-year-old 'if he
finds this absolutely necessary', the law stated, without providing further
details.
Under the new laws, marrying Muslim couples would choose
either a Sunni or Shia sect, who would be able to represent them in 'all
matters of personal status' rather than the civil judiciary.
'When a dispute occurs between the spouses regarding the
doctrine according to whose provisions the marriage contract was concluded, the
contract is deemed to have been concluded in accordance with the husband's
doctrine unless evidence exists to the contrary,' the draft says.
And figures from the offices of each 'endowment' would be
able to finalise marriages, rather than the courts.
This may also see unregistered marriages more than a fifth
of which involve girls under 14 - legitimised by the state.
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