ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US diplomats encouraged civil discourse in Iraq on Tuesday, as the country ponders an amendment to its personal status law that could legally allow for provisions to permit marriage for boys as young as fifteen years old and girls as young as nine.
“We are concerned about proposed amendments to the Iraqi Personal Status Law that could undermine the rights of women and children,” the State Department’s principal deputy spokesperson, Vedant Patel, said in a post on X on Tuesday.
Ambassador Alina L. Romanowski in Baghdad and the consul general in Erbil also reshared Washington’s position on the controversial bill.
“We urge Iraqis to engage in a civic dialogue in full respect of both freedom of religion or belief and the rights of women and children,” the post added.
Rights activists have strongly protested the bill to amend the 1959 Personal Status Law (Number 188), which would effectively legalize child marriage and give religious authorities regulatory power over inheritance and marriage.
Across Iraq, demonstrations have been held this month in protest of the controversial bill, including in the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil.
"We unanimously say this amendment is against women, children and humanity,” Rezan Sheikh Dler, a former MP, told Rudaw at a protest in Erbil on Tuesday. “Therefore, we completely reject it. We as the women of Kurdistan, the political parties, activists, and men who support the rights of children, women and humans, say we reject this draft law.”
Other protesters have held signs reading: “We reject laws that degrade women” and “188” in reference to the 1959 law’s number.
The current provisions of the personal status law require couples to be at least 18 years old to marry, or 15 if a judge permits and subject to consent from the legal guardian - typically a male relative.
Many marriages in Iraq are unregistered, conducted by religious leaders and not legally valid. The proposed amendment calls for legitimizing marriages authorized by religious leaders.
The Iraqi parliament conducted the first reading for the bill on August 4, but has yet to vote on the amendment. If it is passed, Iraqis would be allowed to choose either Shiite or Sunni rules at the time of marriage to govern all personal status-related matters in their family.
The proposed bill specifies following the provisions of the Jaafari school of jurisprudence for the Shiite sect, which permits marriage for girls as young as nine and boys at fifteen.
The amendment to the law must be read two more times, debated and re-drafted, in parliament prior to the changes being put to a vote. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani announced on August 10 The Higher Council for Women is holding a workshop for "observations" raised regarding the contentious bill.
The amendment was demanded by over 100 Shiite members of the parliament, but has been met with backlash from the rest of the legislature. Around 130 lawmakers signed a petition against its passing, according to MP Kurdo Mohammed.
The bill was introduced by independent MP Raed al-Maliki, who was also responsible for controversial amendments to the country’s anti-prostitution law earlier this year that criminalized any practice of homosexuality and sex-reassignment surgeries.
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