By Aneeta Prem MBE JP
Published 10 November 2025 | London, United Kingdom
In early 2025, Iraq’s parliament passed amendments to its Personal Status Law under the Ja’afari Personal Status Code, permitting girls as young as nine lunar years—around eight years and nine months—to marry with parental and judicial consent. Until now, Iraq’s minimum legal marriage age was 18 for both girls and boys.
The amendments give religious authorities aligned with the Shiite Ja’afari school extensive power over family matters, including marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance. Legal analysts and women’s rights advocates warn that the legislation dismantles decades of protection established under Iraq’s 1959 Personal Status Law, effectively legitimising child marriage through clerical interpretation.
According to UNICEF, 28 per cent of Iraqi girls were married before the age of 18 as of 2023, with many unions unregistered and invisible to authorities. Early marriage exposes girls to early pregnancy, interrupted education, and lifelong disadvantage.
The World Health Organization confirms that pregnancy-related complications remain one of the leading causes of death among adolescent girls worldwide.
The new law has triggered protests across Iraq and condemnation from human-rights organisations globally.
UK campaigner Aneeta Prem, founder of Freedom Charity, described the move as a grave violation of children’s rights:
“This amendment robs girls of their childhood, education, and fundamental human rights. Girls under nine cannot genuinely consent to marriage or sexual activity. Forcing a child into such a relationship is abuse and child rape under international law. Calling this marriage is an insult to humanity — it is rape.”
Prem added that governments must be held accountable for protecting children, warning that the law reinforces harmful traditions at the expense of girls’ safety and dignity.
Critics say the amendments also legitimise temporary “pleasure marriages” (mutʿah), creating space for exploitation under religious approval. Women’s groups fear that the reforms remove safeguards concerning divorce, inheritance, and custody, further deepening gender inequality.
The bill passed amid parliamentary walkouts and widespread opposition. Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court has since suspended implementation pending constitutional review, but campaigners caution that political pressure could see the measure reinstated.
Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), all states are required to protect minors from sexual exploitation and ensure consent in marriage.
No culture, faith, or tradition can legitimise sexual relations with a child. By international definition, sexual activity with a nine-year-old constitutes rape.
Globally, an estimated 12 million girls marry before the age of 18 each year, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Poverty, conflict, and lack of education drive the practice. Laws such as Iraq’s represent a major setback to Sustainable Development Goal 5.3, which commits nations to end child, early, and forced marriage by 2030.
Aneeta Prem called for coordinated international pressure:
“This is not about religion or culture; it’s about human dignity. A nine-year-old should be playing, learning, and dreaming — not becoming a bride. When we normalise the abuse of children, we destroy our collective humanity.”
“We must stand with Iraqi women and girls — and with all children whose futures are sold under the guise of tradition. Real faith and real strength lie in protecting the innocent, not exploiting them.”
As Iraq faces this defining moment, the world must not look away. Protecting children from abuse is not a cultural debate; it is a universal human duty.
Aneeta Prem MBE JP is a UK human-rights campaigner and founder of Freedom Charity, which educates and protects young people from forced marriage, child exploitation, and dishonour-based abuse.
UNICEF Iraq Country Data (2023): 28% of girls married before 18 — UNICEF Data Portal
WHO Fact Sheet (2023): Adolescent pregnancy and maternal mortality — WHO Newsroom
CEDAW Articles 1 & 16 and CRC Article 19 — protection from exploitation and forced marriage
UNFPA Global Estimates (2023): 12 million child marriages annually
Iraqi media and parliamentary reports (2025): debates on the Ja’afari Personal Status Law and court suspension (Reuters, Al-Monitor, BBC Arabic)
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