Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned an Iraqi draft law that would permit marriages of children as young as nine years old. The bill proposes an amendment to Iraq’s 1959 Personal Status Law, and was officially introduced to the Iraqi Parliament on August 4, 2023 by Ra’ad al-Maliki. The amendment seeks to change Article 7(1), which currently sets the minimum marriage age at 18 years old.
Civil society activists, particularly women’s groups, have actively protested against the bill. Demonstrations took place in Erbil where participants urged the Parliament to reject the proposal on grounds that it would undermine the rights of women and families. Under the current law, marriages are conducted in court to ensure provisions like genetic screening are met; the proposed amendment would nullify this requirement.
HRW has also raised alarms over the potential shift in legal authority that the amendment could create. The organization stated that the new code on Sharia rulings for personal status matters would eliminate democratic oversight, granting disproportionate power to religious authorities. This would effectively remove the opportunity for public or parliamentary review or voting before the code becomes law.
The implications of the proposed law oppose the equality principles enshrined in Article 14 of the Iraqi Constitution and breach international agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Iraq has ratified.
HRW Iraq researcher Sarah Sanbar described the bill’s passage as a “devastating step backwards” for gender equality in Iraq, stripping women of their legal protections and “hard-won rights.” The Iraqi Parliament will have two more readings before deciding to vote on the bill.
This issue follows other human rights controversies in Iraq. In April, the Iraqi parliament passed a law criminalizing same-sex relationships and transgender individuals, drawing widespread international criticism.