An amendment to Iraq’s 1959 Personal Status law was officially proposed in the Iraqi parliament on Aug. 4. The draft law could theoretically make it legal for girls as young as nine years old to get married.
The bill was proposed by Iraqi MP Ra’ad al-Maliki, and is supported by conservative Shi’ite factions within the government. Many civil society and women’s groups have mobilized against the law, protesting on the streets of Baghdad and other cities across the country.
The law would add the option of having matters of family law – such as marriage – adjudicated by religious authorities. “Civil courts that file marriage and divorce may become obsolete, and will no longer defend women’s rights to alimony, custody of children, or other rights,” said Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, according to the Middle East Eye.
The MP who proposed the bill, al-Maliki, has denied that it could lead to child marriage, saying that such implications are “lies fabricated by some out of hatred for applying the provisions of God’s law to those who want them,” per the Middle East Eye.
Read more at Aol.com
What Are Your Thoughts?
