Iraq revises law to allow girls to be married at 15

The changes have been approved along with general amnesty and property restitution laws

Iraqis demonstrate against changing the age of marriage, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad. AFP

Iraq's parliament approved amendments to the country’s Personal Status Law on Tuesday that will allow girls as young as 15 to be married.

The changes to Iraq's 1959 Personal Status Law, considered one of the most progressive family laws in the Middle East, have sparked widespread protests and raised concerns about women's rights.

The amendments, which passed despite opposition from activists and human rights groups, set the minimum age for marriage at 15, stripped women of divorce and inheritance rights and granted religious authorities greater control over family matters.

Previously, the legal age of marriage had been 18, only allowing marriage at 15 under strict conditions including the approval of a judge and guardians.

The passage of the bill began in August last year with proposals which would have allowed girls as young as nine to be married. Public anger and condemnation by activists and politicians led Shiite parliamentarians, the main supporters of the amendments, to revise the marriage age to 15 in January. Marriage at age 14 will be allowed after judicial approval.

The approved amendments stipulate that the Scientific Council in the Scholar Council of the Shiite Endowment Office will draw up a “code of Sharia rulings on personal status matters” and submit it to the parliament within six months. Sunni political parties will not submit their code of Sharia and will adhere to the law setting the age of marriage at 18.

A schoolgirl passes by a banner promoting a draft personal status law, in Baghdad, 2014. AP

The amendments allow the choice of whether to be subject to the provisions of the current 1959 Personal Status Law or the provisions of the Shiite Jaafari Islamic school of jurisprudence. Reducing who has certain rights to their sect, rather than citizenship, will entrench sectarianism in the country, Human Rights Watch has warned.

To win the support of Sunni and Kurdish political parties for the changes, the bill's proposers put the motion forward as part of a package along with two other contentious bills; a general amnesty and property restitution aimed at returning confiscated lands to Kurdish and Turkmen owners in disputed areas.

Chaos erupted after the vote as politicians who opposed the amendments or the act of passing the three laws in one package began a campaign to collect signatures to remove the Parliament Speaker.

“This is a major violation committed by the House of Representatives, as they voted on three laws at the same time,” MP Mustafa Sanad said.

“This is a violation. This House of Representatives is legislating chaos instead of laws,” Mr Sanad said.

Since the 2003 US-led invasion which resulted in the fall of Saddam Hussein and enhanced the powers of both Shiite and Sunni religious institutions, Shiite political leaders have tried and failed several times to pass their own Personal Status Law based on the principles of a Shiite religious school.

Shiite parties have begun to gain more influence in parliament, holding at least 130 seats in the 329-seat legislative body, enabling the legislation to be passed.