Iraq’s parliament has passed controversial legislation that critics argue will legalize child marriage, permitting girls as young as nine to marry.

The amendments to Iraq’s personal status law significantly increased the power of Islamic courts to oversee family matters, including marriage, divorce, and inheritance. This marks a substantial shift from the unified family law and protections for women that were established in 1959.

Currently, Iraqi law sets the minimum marriage age at 18, but the changes approved this week allow clerics to rule based on their interpretation of Islamic law. Some of these interpretations permit the marriage of girls in their early teens, and even as young as nine under the Jaafari school of Islamic law, which is followed by many Shiite religious leaders in Iraq.

Supporters of the amendments, primarily conservative Shiite lawmakers, argue that the changes are needed to align Iraq’s legal system with Islamic values and reduce Western influence on the country’s cultural practices.

However, Intisar al-Mayali, a human rights activist and member of the Iraqi Women’s League, warned that the amendments will have devastating effects on the rights of women and girls by enabling child marriages.

“This violates their right to a childhood, and it undermines the protective measures related to divorce, custody, and inheritance,” al-Mayali said.

The parliamentary session that saw the amendments passed ended in chaos, with accusations of procedural violations.

“Half of the lawmakers in the session did not vote, which broke the legal quorum,” a parliamentary official revealed, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Some members loudly protested, and a few even climbed onto the parliamentary podium.

Following the session, several legislators expressed dissatisfaction with the voting process, noting that all three controversial laws were voted on together, each supported by different factions.

“Regarding the civil status law, we support it, but the way the vote was conducted might lead to a legal appeal at the Federal Court,” said independent MP Raid al Maliki.

Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani praised the passage of the laws, calling them “an important step in enhancing justice and organizing the daily lives of citizens.”

In addition to the personal status law amendments, the parliament passed a general amnesty law, criticized for potentially benefiting Sunni detainees and allowing those involved in corruption and embezzlement to escape accountability. A land restitution law addressing Kurdish territorial claims was also passed.

The proposed amendments, which were first announced in August, have sparked widespread protests in Baghdad. Many Iraqi marriages are informal and unregistered, and the new laws will likely allow figures from Sunni and Shia religious sects to finalize these unions.

Previously, the law required a person to be of “sound mind” and at least 18 years old to marry, with provisions allowing for annulment in cases where women flee abusive marriages.

Under the new laws, Muslim couples would choose either a Sunni or Shia sect to represent them in matters of personal status, such as marriage. In the event of a dispute, the husband’s sect would be considered the determining factor for the marriage contract unless evidence to the contrary is presented.

This change could also legitimize unregistered marriages, which, according to reports, often involve girls under 14.

Although the current draft of the amendments does not explicitly mention child marriage, previous versions have, sparking significant backlash from human rights advocates.

Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), told Middle East Eye that the changes are a tactic used by the Coordination Framework to deflect attention from their political failures and corruption.

“These proposals are a direct attack on Iraqi women and civil society,” Mohammed said. “They strip away the rights women have fought for and impose a version of Islamic sharia that views women not as human beings with rights, but as objects for pleasure and reproduction.”


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