On Tuesday, the Iraqi parliament passed three controversial laws, including amendments to the personal status law, which, according to opponents, effectively legalize child marriage.
Transmits to UNN with reference to CNN.
On Tuesday, the Iraqi parliament passed three controversial laws, including amendments to the personal status law, which, according to opponents, effectively legalize child marriage.
The amendments give Islamic courts more authority in family matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance.
Iraqi law currently sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage in most cases. But Tuesday's changes will allow clerics to rule according to their interpretation of Islamic law, which some interpret as allowing girls to marry in their early teens.
Activists argue that this undermines the 1959 Iraqi Personal Status Law, which unified family law and established guarantees for women.
The adoption of the amendments to the civil status law will have catastrophic consequences for the rights of women and girls. ... (it) violates their right to live as girls, and will also disrupt the mechanisms of divorce, custody and inheritance protection for women
A session of the Iraqi parliament is reported to have ended in chaos and accusations of procedural violations. Some MPs protested loudly, while others took to the parliamentary rostrum.
“Half of the deputies present at the meeting did not vote, which violated the legal quorum,” said a parliamentary official, speaking on condition of anonymity.