WUNRN
IRAQ - WOMEN PROTEST AGAINST
PROPOSED LAW TO PERMIT CHILD MARRIAGE AT AGE 9 & FATHER CUSTODY
9 March 2014 - About two dozen Iraqi women have
demonstrated in
The group's protest was on International Women's Day on Saturday (local
time) and a week after the cabinet voted for the legislation, based on Shiite
Islamic jurisprudence, allowing clergy to preside over marriages, divorces and
inheritances.
The draft law would also condone a husband's right to insist on sexual
intercourse with his wife whenever he wishes.
The draft now goes to parliament.
"On this day of women, women of
"We believe that this is a crime against humanity," said Hanaa
Eduar, a prominent Iraqi human rights activist.
"It would deprive a girl of her right to live a normal
childhood."
The United Nations's representative to
Mr Mladenov wrote on Twitter the bill "risks constitutionally
protected rights for women and international commitment".
The legislation goes to the heart of the divisions in
It describes girls as reaching puberty at nine, making them fit for
marriage, and makes the father sole guardian of his children when they hit two
years of age.
The legislation is referred to as the Ja'afari Law, named after the
sixth Shiite imam Ja'afar al-Sadiq, who founded his own school of
jurisprudence.
The draft was put forward by justice minister Hassan al-Shimari, a
member of the Shiite Islamist Fadila party, and approved by the cabinet on
February 25.
It must now be reviewed by parliament, but the draft could very well
languish, with national elections scheduled for April 30, and vocal opposition
among secularists.
Shiite religious parties first attempted to pass a version of the law in
2003 under
Since then, amid
The proposed new law's defenders argue that the current personal status
law violates sharia religious law.
"This is the core of the freedom. Based on the Iraqi constitution,
each component of the Iraqi people has the right to regulate its personal
status in line with the instructions of its religion and doctrine,"
Hussein al-Mura'abi, a Shi'ite lawmaker and Fadila party leader, said.