Unregistered marriages are already a loophole enabling child marriage in Iraq, where child marriage rates have been rising over the last 20 years, a March 2024 report by Human Rights Watch found.

The potential consequences of child marriage were laid bare in a 2016 report by the United Nations Population Fund on the effects of child marriage in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, which ...

Protesters in Baghdad's Tahrir Square demonstrating against a proposed law that critics said would legalize child marriage in Iraq on August 8, 2024.

IRBIL, Iraq — Shaimaa Saadoun is haunted by her memory of being forced into an abusive marriage to a 39-year-old man just after she turned 13. Her impoverished family near the southern Iraqi ...

Iraq’s parliament passed three divisive laws Tuesday, including amendments to the country’s personal status law that opponents say would in effect legalize child marriage.

Although Iraq outlawed child marriages in the 1950s, a United Nations 2023 survey found that about 28% of girls in the country had married before their 18th birthday. Filed under.

Iraq’s parliament has approved new legislation that would lower the minimum age of marriage below 18, a shift rights groups say will legalize “child rape” in Iraq.

Girls as young as nine could enter marriages under new measures being proposed in Iraq that could also see divorce protections for women revoked, human rights campaigners have warned.. Amnesty ...

IRAQ has effectively legalised child marriage, with girls as young as nine being able to marry after amendments to decades old laws. The change on Tuesday has increased the interpretation of Islami… ...

Although marriage under the age of 18 has been a national law since the 1950s, a survey by Unicef found that 28% of girls in Iraq got married before they turned 18.

Why It Matters. Opponents to the amendments say they effectively legalize child marriage in Iraq and mark a significant step backward for women's rights in the country.

Changes to Iraq’s Personal Status Law could allow girls as young as nine to get married. Iraq could allow marriage for girls as young as 9. A survivor says it will fuel rape and child abuse.