ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Human rights activists gathered on Sunday in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to protest a proposed amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law that has drawn strong criticism for its measures such as the legalization of child marriage under certain religious jurisprudence.
“If I don’t criminalize the marriage of minors today, who will protect children from a perverted father? Who will protect daughters from drug-addicted fathers? Today, despite having criminalized the marriage of minors, some fathers sell their children because they are addicts,” Zainab Jawad, an activist at the protest, told Rudaw.
The law makes women “merely a tool for sex and reproduction,” she said.
If the amendment to the Personal Status Law of 1959 is passed, couples will be required to select the religion of the spouse whose laws will govern their marriage and the Jaafari school of Shiite jurisprudence would permit marriage for girls as young as nine and boys at fifteen.
Mahir Rajab, another protester, condemned the amendment as destructive as it undermines Iraqi families and society. He said the government should instead address issues of drug abuse, human rights violations, and domestic violence.
Versions of the bill, which was first proposed in 2014, have faced criticism for its provisions that include prohibiting Muslim men from marrying non-Muslims, legalizing marital rape, and requiring women to obtain their husband's permission to leave the house, according to Human Rights Watch.
In November 2017, the United Nations mission in Iraq also expressed criticism as the proposed changes could violate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Iraq is a signatory.
The amendment is now back on the parliament’s agenda and has sparked concerns among human and women's rights activists who argue it could exacerbate violations of women's rights and deepen sectarian divides in Iraq.
The Personal Status Law stipulates that if a parent converts to Islam, their children who are under 18 should also adopt the new faith.
In May, Iraqi authorities told a Christian woman she should convert to Islam with her children. Her parents divorced when she was 15 and her mother later married a Muslim man and converted to Islam. The law mandates that if one spouse converts to Islam, Sharia law applies to the marriage, inheritance, and custody.
Under Iraqi law, the legal marriage age is 18, or 15 with the permission of a judge given in special circumstances. About a third of marriages in Iraq are unregistered, conducted by religious leaders and not legally valid.
Halkawt Aziz contributed to this report.