Legalizing Underage Marriage: A Betrayal of the Iraqi People

Al Mada, Iraq, September 20

Ten years ago, I interviewed women and girls who had escaped the horrors of ISIS. When this terror organization swept through northern Iraq in 2014, abducting females from their families and bringing them to the so-called caliphate, any girl 9 years old or older was forced into marriage. Under ISIS’s twisted interpretation of law, sexual assault on minors was deemed legitimate. Fighters even claimed they were enacting God’s will. Now, although the Iraqi government has aggressively combated ISIS, members of the Iraqi parliament are pushing for legislation that mirrors these heinous practices. A proposed amendment to the Personal Status Law of 1959 would effectively legalize child marriage, a law no less barbaric than the abuses endured by the girls I met a decade ago. Such legislation would betray their bravery and resistance to oppression and represent a significant regression in the rights and dignity of Iraqi women. The Personal Status Law passed under leader Abdul-Karim Qasim’s government is one of the most progressive civil codes in the Arab world. It guarantees equal rights to all Iraqis, regardless of sect, and sets a reasonable standard for marriage, divorce, and inheritance. This law requires state court judgments and sets the legal age for marriage at 18, or 15 with special judicial approval. Last month, the Iraqi parliament completed its first reading of the proposed amendment, which will soon be debated before a final vote. If enacted, it would allow couples to choose between the provisions of the Personal Status Law or those of Islamic schools of jurisprudence (Sharia), which permit child marriage and polygamy. These Sharia provisions are not uniform and vary widely among sects. For instance, the Ja’fari school, adhered to by many Shiite Muslims, allows girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15 to marry. The proposed legislation would place personal matters previously under state jurisdiction in the hands of religious authorities. Furthermore, it mandates that the Shiite Endowment Office and the Sunni Endowment Office draft a “Code of Islamic Sharia Provisions on Personal Status Matters” within six months of the law’s implementation, bypassing both parliamentary and public scrutiny. The bill contains other alarming provisions too. If a couple belongs to different sects, the husband would decide which Sharia law to follow, which could exacerbate the already deep sectarian divisions between Shias, Sunnis, and non-Muslims. The amendment would also legalize unregistered marriages, which are performed by clerics but not registered in court. The looming prospect of legalizing child marriage is symptomatic of the profound crisis Iraq is currently facing—one that prioritizes tradition over progress, control over empowerment, and silence over expression. Even before this legislation was proposed, the country was grappling with a growing crisis of child marriage. According to UNICEF, over 28 percent of Iraqi girls marry before the age of 18. This number has steadily risen since the US-led invasion in 2003, when religious parties ascended to power and began framing civil liberties as “Western intrusions.” However, attributing this crisis solely to the clergy would be an oversimplification; Iraq has long endured extraordinarily challenging conditions. Proponents of the amendment promote it as a defense of religious freedom, asserting that it would merely allow followers of different sects to manage their personal affairs. Dr. Faris Kamal Nazmi, a professor of social psychology at the University of Baghdad, encapsulated this view in an article: “They want to present it as if it is a democratic activation of religious freedom that followers of each sect practice in their personal affairs in a fragmented and isolated manner while deliberately ignoring the full consequences of this amendment and the disastrous constitutional, legal, judicial, social, and psychological disorders that it will produce.” Many young Iraqis vehemently oppose this legislation, viewing it not as a divine mandate but as an embodiment of patriarchal control over women. For them, this is an authoritarian law misaligned with their broader societal aspirations. Activists and human rights advocates have led widespread protests. Fifteen female parliamentarians from diverse parties have united against the bill despite the significant challenges they face. If passed, the bill will escalate violence and gender bias, damaging the country’s social fabric. Legalizing child marriage would also have catastrophic consequences for female education and employment. Girls who marry prematurely are more likely to drop out of school, reducing the pool of educated women and decreasing female participation in the workforce, leadership, and politics. This reinforces patriarchal norms that hinder progress. Child marriage violates not only human rights but the essence of childhood itself. Childhood is a precious period when individuals discover life’s simple joys and view the future as a distant, carefree adventure. Legalizing child marriage would rob girls of this sanctuary. The silence that will haunt every prematurely married girl resonates with the question of what might have been had circumstances been different. And this silence is not only theirs but also ours. It is the silence of a society that allows a 9-year-old girl to be forced into becoming a wife before she understands what it means to be a young girl. Legalizing child marriage betrays the very essence of what our civilization stands for: the power of voice, the sanctity of choice, and the relentless pursuit of justice. It betrays a cultural heritage that has long celebrated the strength and wisdom of women. In my vision for the future of these girls, I see a world full of eager minds keen to learn, where every girl has the chance to grow into the woman she chooses to be. I see a world where the law protects them rather than condemns them to a fate offering little more than mere survival. This vision should not remain a dream. —Donia Michael (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)