Iraq’s parliament is close to passing a law that would lower the legal marriage age for girls to just nine years old, stripping away key protections and opening the door to legalised child abuse. This sweeping amendment, put forth by Iraq’s dominant Shia coalition, also threatens to remove basic rights for women across the country, including their rights to divorce, custody of their children, and inheritance.
The amendment, aimed at overhauling Iraq’s 1959 personal status law, would be a devastating setback for gender equality in a nation already grappling with high rates of child marriage. Women’s rights advocates have condemned the proposal as a catastrophic assault on girls’ safety, health, and future. “This law legalises child rape,” said activist Raya Faiq, who is working with a coalition of Iraqi women leaders to block the amendment. “The idea of grown men marrying young girls is horrific, but here it’s on the brink of being enshrined in law.”
Under the current personal status law, Iraq has one of the most progressive family codes in the Middle East, which mandates a legal marriage age of 18 and provides a set of protections for women and children. But the proposed amendment, which follows an interpretation of Islamic law adopted by the country’s ultra-conservative Shia coalition, would replace these protections with religious rules that strip away fundamental rights for women. The coalition argues that the law would “protect” young girls from “immoral relationships,” but critics and human rights groups point to the grim reality: this legislation would create new risks for young girls, especially in economically vulnerable communities.
UNICEF data reveals that 28% of Iraqi girls are already married before 18, often through unregistered religious ceremonies that offer no legal protection for the women or their children. With the law legitimising religious marriages, these young girls could face further abuse and exploitation without recourse. Under this amendment, girls married off at nine would be at heightened risk of sexual and physical violence and could be pulled from school, denied the chance for an education, and relegated to lives shaped by early childbearing and poverty.
“This amendment doesn’t just erode rights — it erases them,” warned Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch, underscoring the severe implications of the proposed law. The amendment also disproportionately impacts women by granting men sole authority to decide between secular and religious law in cases of dispute, effectively silencing the voices of Iraqi women and ensuring they remain under male control.
Efforts by Iraq’s ultra-conservative Shia parties to pass this amendment date back nearly a decade, with failed attempts in 2014 and 2017. But the coalition’s newfound parliamentary majority makes the amendment’s passage highly likely. Dr. Renad Mansour, a researcher on Iraqi politics, argued that the proposal is part of a broader agenda by Shia Islamist factions to consolidate their power by imposing religious laws, especially amid waning public support. “They are pushing a strict religious agenda to control women’s lives and solidify their ideological authority,” Dr. Mansour said.
The proposed law has ignited protests across Iraq, with activists and civil rights advocates demanding action to protect women and girls. Leading feminist Athraa Al-Hassan decried the law as a threat to Iraq’s social fabric. “This is not about society’s interest, but the personal and political interests of men in power,” Al-Hassan said, warning that the amendment could intensify Iraq’s sectarian divides and undermine any progress on gender equality.
This attempt to lower the marriage age to nine follows a series of recent government actions that curb women’s rights. Earlier this year, parliament passed a law criminalising same-sex relationships with prison sentences of up to 15 years. And last year, media outlets were instructed to replace the term “homosexuality” with “sexual deviance” in all reports. The introduction of a law that sanctions child marriage is seen by many as the latest step in a disturbing campaign to control and oppress women and girls.
With a final vote expected soon, Iraq’s women’s rights defenders are watching closely, urging the international community to take a stand against what they see as an unconscionable betrayal of Iraq’s women and children. Activists say that a law designed to let grown men marry children cannot and should not be allowed to pass.
