Little Girls Forced to Marry Old Men in Iraq

The Guardian wrote in November that almost one-third of girls marry before they are 18, but a large number of unions end in abuse and failure. Now, a new law could allow marriage from the age of nine.

The proposed legal change also deprives women of rights to divorce, child custody, and inheritance.

When Joe Biden allowed Afghanistanis to flee to the US, the military was told to ignore the young wives.

The heartbreaking practice of older men marrying children.

Iraq is on the brink of a significant legislative shift that could lower the legal marriage age from 18 to nine, potentially allowing men to marry young girls. The move, reported The Telegraph, has sparked widespread international condemnation, as it threatens to strip Iraqi women of their fundamental rights, including divorce, child custody, and inheritance.

Iraq’s Parliament, largely dominated by a coalition of conservative Shia Muslim parties, is preparing to vote on changes to the ‘personal status law,’ or Law 188. Introduced in 1959, this law was once one of the Middle East’s most progressive, protecting the rights of Iraqi families regardless of religious background.

Iraq’s parliament is considering controversial legal changes that would give religious authorities more power over family law matters, a move that rights groups and opponents warn could open the door to the marriage of girls as young as nine.

The push for the changes comes mainly from powerful Shiite Muslim political factions backed by religious leaders that have increasingly campaigned against what they describe as the West imposing its cultural norms on Muslim-majority Iraq. In April, the parliament passed a harsh anti-LGBTQ+ law.

The proposed amendments would allow Iraqis to turn to religious courts on issues of family law, including marriage, which currently are the sole domain of civil courts.

That would let clerics rule according to their interpretation of Shariah, or Islamic law, as opposed to national laws. Some clerics interpret Shariah to allow the marriage of girls in their early teens — or as young as nine under the Jaafari school of Islamic law followed by many Shiite religious authorities in Iraq.

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