In a deeply alarming move, the Iraqi parliament has proposed legislation to lower the age of consent for girls from 18 to just 9 years old, a change that many activists and citizens are condemning as an endorsement of child marriage and abuse. This proposed law has ignited widespread protests across Iraq, where demonstrators are decrying the potential erosion of women's rights and the normalization of child exploitation. Advocates like Raya Faiq have voiced their horror, highlighting how this law could pave the way for the systemic violation of children's rights under the guise of marriage.
The Iraqi parliament has announced plans to lower the age of consent for girls from 18-years-old to just 9-years-old, effectively legalizing child rape in the country.
“This is a catastrophe for women,” said Raya Faiq, the coordinator for a coalition of groups opposing the law change, which also includes some Iraqi MPs.
“My husband and my family oppose child marriage. But imagine if my daughter gets married and my daughter’s husband wants to marry off my granddaughter as a child. The new law would allow him to do so. I would not be allowed to object. This law legalizes child rape.”
“Despite all the political difficulties in Iraq, we have adopted democracy as a step and the peaceful rotation of democratic changes at the federal level and regional level," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani says during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos pic.twitter.com/l7BQkWEUSk
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The pro-pedophilia law is bringing back a Taliban-style of slashing women’s rights and promoting rampant pedophilia in society.
As well as slashing the legal marriage age, the legislative amendment will also remove women’s rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance.
Iraqi citizens have protested on the streets of the country’s capital, Baghdad, and other cities around the country. The protests have been met with clashes against local law enforcement.
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.
Nadia Mahmood, co-founder of the Iraq-based Aman Women’s Alliance, said the male-dominated MP in Iraq feels threatened by a movement of youth organizations and women.
“Following the mass youth protests which took place in Iraq in 2019, these political players saw that the role of women had begun to strengthen in society,” said, according to a report by the Guardian. “They felt that feminist, gender and women’s organizations, plus civil society and activist movements, posed a threat to their power and status … [and] began to restrict and suppress them.”
There have been 25 female members of Iraq’s government who tried stopping the proposed law from going to a second vote, but they say the strong opposition by their MP colleagues has made it nearly impossible.
The proposed legislative change not only threatens to legalize child marriage but also strips women of fundamental rights such as divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Historically, Iraq has had a legal marriage age set since the 1950s, yet a significant percentage of girls were already marrying young, with UNICEF reporting 28% wed before 18. The recent push to amend these laws is perceived as a regressive step reminiscent of oppressive regimes, resembling the Taliban's harsh stance on women's rights. The backlash has galvanized many, including 25 female MPs who are striving to halt the bill, underscoring a disturbing trend of political actors reacting against the empowerment of women and youth movements that have gained traction since the 2019 protests in Iraq.