Translated by Irene Cecchi
Hard months are expected in Iraq, a throwback to the middle age for women and girls. In fact, it’s been months since the Iraq parliament started discussing the modification proposal to the law that establishes the legal law to marry. Along with reducing this margin, these modifications would also deny the right to divorce, to have the custody of the children and to inherite anything.
In fact, In Iraq is currently enforced the law n.188 of 1959 that establishes the legal age to have consensual sex at 18. But the law is only theoretical since, in practice, UNICEF estimates that 28% of Iraqi women married before turning 18 and 22% of them were not even 14.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the Iraqi parliament tries to modify this law; it also happened in 2014 and 2017. The continuous pressure by shiite groups and their growing influence, along with the current political panorama ruled by a pro-Iran coalition (that promoted laws following the Sharia), seems to have prevailed and managed to formulate the proposal.
The modification to the law n.188, in fact, made through the first and second parliamentary discussion in August and September 2024. The next step is the formal discussion of every amendment and then the vote, this is why the issue came back under the spotlight in the last few days.
What are the actual changes and consequences?
Raad al-Maliki is the deputy who promoted this modification, the same one who introduced in April an amendment to the law regarding prostitution, criminalizing same-sex relations and every gender surgery.
The proposed amendments would give Iraqi people the possibility to choose between following a laic law or a religious one. Obviously, in case of a disagreement in a couple, the man's choice would rule. Athara Al-Hassan, legal consultant for human rights, underlined how these modifications would turn the actual governing system into something similar to Afghanistan or Iran, countries ruled by religious law.
The modification of the law n.188 comes from the need of the government to interpret the Islamic law and, most of all, to protect girls from “immoral relations”.
Every family would have the power to decide when to let their daughter marry, so every family would have the choice of respecting or not the basic rights of a girl. Iraqi people, as a consequence, would find themselves in a situation where a girl can decide to marry freely when she is 18 years old and maybe her neighbour already wore the white dress at nine. This might happen precisely because one family decided to follow the laic law and the other the religious one.
According to Sarah Sanbar, an Iraqi researcher at Human Right watch, “the approval of this law by the Iraqi parliament would represent a major setback for Iraqi girls and women and would also undermine the principle of equality before the law”.
Every nine year old girl should have fun at the playground, go to school, and do sports. At nine, they are not old enough to drive, vote, work but still some of them might find themselves obliged to marry older men and fulfill marriage obligations. All this would certainly increase the rates of domestic violence, no data and estimates needed, it’s already written.
Of course, protests didn't take long to start. Since the first discussion in the parliament, a group of 25 deputies tried to block the amendments and prevent a second discussion, just like it happened in 2014 and 2017. More recently, the 188 coalition (the name that was given to the group obstructing the modification of this law) organised various protests, calling on the parliamentary efforts to legalize “child rape”. Nonetheless, it didn't work that much.
Among all the worries that come with this new law, there is also the fact that it appears to be part of a wider plan, a plan that aims to introduce more and more limitations to women’s rights. What they want to achieve is to establish an ethical state, like the one in Afghanistan, well known for taking care with attention, consistency and dedication of women’s rights, eliminating them.
Who knows why women’s rights are so scary, Who knows why independent women scare men this much.
Mondo Internazionale APS - Riproduzione Riservata ® 2024
Share the post
L'Autore
Giorgia Milan
Giorgia Milan, classe 1998, ha conseguito una laurea triennale in “scienze politiche, relazioni internazionali e governo delle amministrazioni”, con una tesi riguardo la condizione femminile in Afghanistan, e successivamente una laurea magistrale in “Human rights and multi-level governance”, con una tesi riguardo la condizione delle donne rifugiate nel contesto dell’attuale guerra Russo-Ucraina, il tutto presso l’Università degli studi di Padova.
I suoi interessi principali sono i diritti umani, in particolare i diritti delle donne. È proprio il forte interesse per questi temi che l’ha spinta a intraprendere un tirocinio universitario presso il Centro Donna di Padova, durante il quale ha avuto la possibilità di approcciarsi al mondo della scrittura e della creazione di contenuti riguardanti la violenza di genere e le discriminazioni.
In Mondo Internazionale Post Giorgia Milan è un'autrice per l'area tematica di Diritti Umani.
Categories
Tag
Women's rights Iraq consenso