The Iraq Parliament is debating on a draft bill that seeks to bring down the legal age of marriage for girls to nine. This has sparked fears of legalizing “child rape” and exploitation. The bill also allows the minimum age of marriage for boys as 15. If the bill is passed, it shall amend the Personal Status Law which has set the minimum age for marriage as 18 years.
The proposed bill has sparked widespread protests among women and human rights groups. While marriages under the age of 18 is against the law in Iraq, a UNICEF report highlights that 28 per cent of girls are married under 18 years in the country.
All women MPs in the Iraq parliament are trying to stop the bill from passing. However, they are facing stiff opposition from the male MPs.
“Unfortunately, male MPs who support this law speak in a masculine way, asking what’s wrong with marrying a minor? Their thinking is narrow minded. They don’t take into consideration that they are the legislators that determine people’s fate … but rather follow their masculine thinking to authorise all this,” said Alia Nassif, a woman MP who is opposing the move.
The bill would allow citizens to take family matters to either religious authorities or civil courts. This has led to concerns that matters like inheritance shall be interfered with.
The draft bill was set aside when members opposed, but it has been reintroduced in early August after receiving significant support from some powerful Shia blocs.
The new amendments represent a significant shift from the 1959 legislation, which moved family matters from religious authorities to state courts. The revised Bill seeks to reintroduce the option of applying religious rules to these decisions.
The proposed amendments allow "Muslims of age" to choose between the 1959 Personal Status Law and Sharia Islamic rules for family matters.
Additionally, couples already married under civil law will have the option to switch to religious regulations.
After the youth protests in 2019, “these political players saw that the role of women had begun to strengthen in society. They felt that feminist, gender and women’s organisations, plus civil society and activist movements, posed a threat to their power and status… [and] began to restrict and suppress them,” Nadia Mahmood, co-founder of Iraq-based Aman Women’s Alliance told The Guardian.