Iraq lowers age of consent for girls to just nine: report

Iraq is close to passing a new law that will lower the legal age of consent from 18 to nine and allow men to marry young girls, according to a new report.

The Shiite conservative groups that dominate Iraq’s parliament have proposed a change to the country’s “personal status law” that could see a Taliban-style rollback of all women’s rights.

The opportunity would allow young girls to be married off and place almost all family decisions in the hands of religious authorities, said Raya Faiq, who is coordinating a challenge to the law with Iraqi representatives.

“This is a disaster for women,” Faiq told The Guardian. “This law legalizes child rape.”

Critics say it would deprive women of any freedom of choice.

The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and overthrew the brutal, secular regime of Saddam Hussein. The war cost at least three trillion US dollars – including for the reconstruction of government institutions and education systems.

However, years of sectarian infighting have resulted in a government controlled by the Shiite Muslim religious majority.

The Shiite coalition has attempted to change the personal status law twice in the past, but opposition from Iraqi women defeated both attempts.

However, religious groups now hold a large majority in parliament, sparking a tough battle for Faiq and a bloc of 25 female lawmakers who want to block a second vote that would ratify the bill.

Alia Nassif, an Iraqi representative, told the Guardian that many of her male colleagues do not recognize the problem with allowing adult men to marry girls.

“Unfortunately, male MPs who support this law speak in a masculine manner and ask, ‘What’s wrong with marrying a minor?’ Their thinking is narrow-minded,” she said.

If passed, the law would also strip women of the right to divorce, custody and inheritance.

The Shiite coalition has repeatedly claimed that the purpose of the law is to protect girls from “immoral relationships.”

However, opponents of the law and human rights groups criticized the bill as an attempt to crack down on women’s rights in the country, following protests by young women against the strict government in recent years.

Human rights groups say the new law actually puts young girls at risk of sexual and physical violence and would also make it easier for them to be pulled out of school and miss out on their education.

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