Iraqi parliament passes law allowing girls to be married off at age nine

The Iraqi parliament has approved amendments to the personal status law, allowing citizens to decide which legislation will apply to them in the family sphere – civil, Shia or Sunni.

The most important issue is the age of marriage. The law, passed in 1959, allows people to marry no earlier than 18 years of age. However, the Sunni interpretation of Sharia law reduces the age of marriage to 15 years, and the Shiite one – to nine.

Human rights organizations have sharply criticized the new law. “This will have catastrophic consequences for girls and women. Marriage of girls deprives them of their childhood. The mechanisms of divorce, custody, alimony, and inheritance are also violated,” Intisar al-Mayali, a representative of the Iraqi Women’s League, is quoted as saying by CNN.

It should be noted that teenage marriages were common in the country before. According to a UN study conducted in 2023, about 28% of Iraqi girls were married before the age of 18 – despite the illegality of such marriage.