Iraqi Legislators Approve Controversial Bill Critics Claim Endorses Child Marriage

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.