Introduction

 “I believe that the rights of women and girls are the unfinished business of the 21st century.” – Hillary Clinton

With changing times, law evolves to cater to the needs of changing societies. However, adopting regressive, outdated, and draconian steps to diminish the rights of women and girls in the name of changing times is unthinkable. From the U.S.'s anti-abortion laws to the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan, the systematic violation of women's fundamental rights prevails worldwide. Governments have often infringed on women's rights, but in recent months this is increasingly apparent in Iraq where the alarming oppression of women and girls grows ever more brazen.

Iraq’s regression towards the Stone Age

Iraq’s Ministry of Justice has proposed The Jaafari Personal Status Law (“Bill”) which aims to amend the existing Personal Status Law of 1959. The proposed legislation gained traction against a backdrop of grim realities for girls in Iraq: According to UNICEF, 28% of girls are married before the 18-years-old. According to Article 7 of the current law, the minimum marriage age is set at 18 years. However, the new bill would amend the minimum age to just 9 years, a deeply troubling move as it envisions a society where a mere child is considered suitable for marriage. The future of countless young girls would be threatened with many thrust into the responsibilities of marriage before they had completed primary education.

Personal matters such as marriage, inheritance, and divorce are traditionally governed by the 1959 law which mandates court intervention to resolve disputes. However, the new bill seeks to change this system by requiring couples to declare their sect—Sunni or Shia—before marriage. Consequently, any related disputes would be settled by a jurist from the couple's sect, rather than by a court or arbitrator, shifting authority to Islamic jurists. Supporters of the bill argue that there is freedom in choosing between the two routes, but it would ultimately drive a  dramatic erosion of women’s rights in areas including inheritance, divorce, and child custody.

Violations of International Law

Iraq's proposal to reduce the legal age of marriage contravenes several international human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). By permitting marriage at such a young age, Iraq violates the CRC’s provisions that protect children from exploitation and ensure their right to education, health, and development. The draft Iraqi law also contravenes Article 19 of the CRC, which mandates state parties to protect children from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, and maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse. Article 16(2) of CEDAW explicitly condemns child marriage, requiring states to set a minimum age for marriage that guarantees the full consent and maturity of both parties. If enacted, Iraq would directly violate these obligations. This undermines the government’s commitment to protect and promote the human rights of women and children.

The proposed changes are rooted in conservative interpretations of Islamic law which raise questions about the balance between religious law and international human rights standards. While states have the sovereignty to legislate according to their cultural and religious values, this sovereignty is not absolute. International human rights frameworks impose certain limitations on state sovereignty, particularly on protecting the fundamental rights of individuals.

Winners and Losers

Nine years, a childhood barely sown,
In this, a fate not freely grown.
To bind in vows before the dawn,
Of womanhood, her rights withdrawn.

Who truly benefits from such a law? Is it the young girls, or those in power seeking to tighten their grip on society by imposing yet another irrational patriarchal norm? The proposed law clearly reflects an outdated patriarchal mindset in Iraq, one that threatens to open the floodgates for further human right violations, child marriages and exploitation.

Child brides are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy and childbirth. This can cause lifelong health issues or even death. The proposed reduction in the legal age of marriage exacerbates these risks, further infringing upon the right to health as protected under international human rights law. Early marriage can curtail girls’ educational opportunities. This perpetuates cycles of poverty and inequality, undermining broader developmental goals including Goal 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Laws should protect the vulnerable, not be used as a weapon of control. The bill would undo decades of progress since the existing Personal Status Law transferred family law authority from religious figures to the judiciary. The bill’s proponents defend the indefensible. It ignores the realities of child marriage as it turns a blind eye to the suffering caused to the girls. The draft law’s intention appears to be to legitimize illegal marriages, effectively legalizing paedophilia in order to provide legal cover for practices that have persisted in the shadows.

Concluding Remarks

The proposed lowering of the legal age of marriage is one part of Iraq’s broader regressive trajectory. Earlier this year, dominant hardline Islamist parties passed legislation criminalizing same-sex marriage. While the United Nations aims to eradicate child marriage by 2030, this goal seems increasingly unattainable for Iraq. Other nations have made some progress with child marriage rates at 20% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 33% in India.

Iraq’s proposed lowering of the legal age of marriage must be seen as a failure to uphold the rights of its citizens. The nation’s prioritization of religious interpretations over international human rights obligations also highlights the challenges of implementing universal human rights frameworks in a culturally and religiously diverse world where discriminatory attitudes exist. Even with an international human rights framework and even with intergovernmental organizations encouraging consensus, we are deaf, dumb, and blind towards safeguarding the fundamental rights of women and girls.

A bill, they say, to bind in chain
The tender age, in cruel disdain,
From eighteen down to just a child,
A future lost, hopes defiled.

What of the voices, silenced, still,
In the corridors where they bend the will?
This bill, if passed, a bitter blight,
Strips girls of dreams, denies the light.

For how can justice claim this right,
To rob a child of peaceful night?
Draconian rules, fatal and grim,
Girl’s soul begins to dim.

Shelal L. Rajput is a fresh graduate of Symbiosis Law School, Pune with B.B.A LL.B (H).