The government in Iraq is moving to pass new laws that would lower the legal age of consent for girls from 18 to just nine years old.
Under the new Shia-backed law, children could be forced to “marry” adult men.
Advocates of the new law are pushing to allow parents to have arranged marriages for their young daughters.
Iraq doesn’t have a male guardianship system.
Females are now required to have the permission of a husband, father, or other male guardian to make crucial life decisions, such as marriage.
The law would also allow religious authorities to carry out marriages between men and girls as young as nine.
The proposed law is currently on its second way through the parliamentary government and is expected to pass.
However, it has been opposed by women in the members of parliament (MP) and activist groups, according to the Guardian.
Raya Faiq, the coordinator for a coalition of groups opposing the law change, which also includes some Iraqi MPs, argues that the law “legalizes child rape.”
“This is a catastrophe for women,” said Faiq.
“My husband and my family oppose child marriage.
“But imagine if my daughter gets married and my daughter’s husband wants to marry off my granddaughter as a child.
“The new law would allow him to do so.
“I would not be allowed to object. This law legalizes child rape.”
The new law would bring back a Taliban style of slashing women’s rights.
Iraqi citizens have protested on the streets of the country’s capital, Baghdad, and other cities around the country.
Protesters have been met with aggressive pushback from local law enforcement, leading to violent clashes.
Marriage under the age of 18 has been against national law since the 1950s.
However, a survey by Unicef found that 28% of girls in Iraq got married before they turned 18.
Nadia Mahmood, co-founder of the Iraq-based Aman Women’s Alliance, said the Iraqi government feels threatened by a movement of youth organizations and women.
“Following the mass youth protests which took place in Iraq in 2019, these political players saw that the role of women had begun to strengthen in society,” said, according to a report by the Guardian.
“They felt that feminist, gender and women’s organizations, plus civil society and activist movements, posed a threat to their power and status … [and] began to restrict and suppress them.”
There have been 25 female members of Iraq’s government who tried to stop the proposed law from going to a second vote.
However, they say the strong opposition by their hardcore Islamic colleagues has made it nearly impossible.
“Unfortunately, male MPs who support this law speak in a masculine way, asking what’s wrong with marrying a minor?” said Alia Nassif, an Iraqi MP.
“Their thinking is narrow-minded.
“They don’t take into consideration that they are the legislators that determine people’s fate … but rather follow their masculine thinking to authorize all this.”
Protesters fear that their children could face an even harsher future than their own if the law changes are adopted.
“I have one daughter, I don’t want her to be forced like me to marry as a child,” said Azhar Jassim, who had to leave school to be married at 16.
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