Iraq parliament passes law critics say could legalize child marriage

Lawmakers in Iraq on Tuesday passed three controversial pieces of legislation, including a bill to give Islamic courts more authority over marriage and family life. The law aimed to reinforce constitutional provisions prohibiting laws that go against the tenets of Islam. Activists have argued the amendments to the country’s personal status law could legalize child marriage by allowing clerics to rule based on their interpretation of Islamic law. While Iraq currently sets the minimum age to marry at 18 or 15, with a judge’s permission, the Islamic Ja’afari school of law followed by many Shia Muslims allows girls as young as nine years old to be married. A report from the United Nations Children’s Fund found that 28% of girls in Iraq are married before age 18 and the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq said 22% of unreported marriages involved girls under age 14. The nonprofit group Human Rights Watch said the new law passed on Tuesday violates international human rights law and could strip women of their rights in cases of divorce.

What other laws did the Iraqi parliament pass? Lawmakers approved a general amnesty law that some say benefits Sunni Muslim detainees and grants pardons for embezzlement and drug-related offenses, according to local media. The third law is a land restitution law aimed at addressing Kurdish territorial claims.

What else have critics said? Lawmakers voted on all three measures in one vote, according to Shafaq News, an Iraq-based news agency. In a post on social media a member of the parliament’s legal committee Alia Nassif said the vote moved ahead without the minimum number of lawmakers present required to pass a law. Nassif said she and other opponents would challenge the decision in federal court.