Iraqi lawmakers pass a bill that critics say legalizes child marriage
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[January 22, 2025]
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and STELLA MARTANY
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s parliament passed three divisive laws Tuesday,
including amendments to the country's personal status law that opponents
say would in effect legalize child marriage.
The amendments give Islamic courts increased authority over family
matters, including marriage, divorce and inheritance. Activists argue
that this undermines Iraq’s 1959 Personal Status Law, which unified
family law and established safeguards for women.
Iraqi law currently sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage in most
cases. The changes passed Tuesday would let clerics rule according to
their interpretation of Islamic law, which some interpret to allow
marriage of girls in their early teens — or as young as 9 under the
Jaafari 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.
The parliament also passed a general amnesty law seen as benefiting
Sunni detainees and that's also seen as giving a pass to people involved
in corruption and embezzlement. The chamber also passed a land
restitution law aimed at addressing Kurdish territorial claims.
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, which violates their right to life as
children, and will disrupt the protection mechanisms for divorce,
custody and inheritance for women.”
The session 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 authorized to comment publicly. He said
that some members protested loudly and others climbed onto the
parliamentary podium.
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Protesters gather to demonstrate against a proposed law to permit
underage female marriage in Tahrir Square in Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 8,
2024. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
After the session, a number of legislators 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 organizing the daily lives of citizens.”
Also Tuesday, at least three officers, including the national
security chief of the al-Tarmiyah district north of Baghdad, were
killed and four others wounded in an explosion at an ammunition
depot, a security official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to brief the media, said the explosion occurred as a
joint force of the Iraqi army and the national security service
conducted an operation following intelligence reports of the Islamic
State group's activity and an ammunition cache in the area.
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