Iraqi MP sounds alarm as parliament moves closer to amending Personal Status Law

As Iraq grapples with heated debate over amendments to its Personal Status Law, a group of mainly female politicians are leading the charge against the proposals that could roll back decades of hard-won rights for women and girls.

The proposed changes, supported by Islamist factions, mainly Shiite, would not only lower the legal age of marriage to nine years, but also allow religious authorities control over family matters and curtail women's rights in divorce and inheritance cases.

“These amendments would limit and restrict the judicial authority and would strengthen the [religious] jurist,” legislator Noor Al Jilaihawi told The National. “In general, we have many concerns about them.”

According to the amendments, couples would be able to choose whether to be subject to the provisions of the current 1959 Personal Status Law or to the provisions of specific Islamic schools of jurisprudence. This would lead to separate legal regimes with different rights accorded to different sects. In the event of disagreement between a husband and wife who are from different sects, the school followed by the husband’s sect would apply.

“This would further deepen sectarianism in Iraq and undermine the right to legal equality for all Iraqis guaranteed in Article 14 of the constitution,” Ms Al Jilaihawi said.

She is one of about 15 mainly independent and secular women MPs who have formed a bloc to to defeat the proposed amendments.

They stipulate that the Scientific Council in the Scholar Council of the Shiite Endowment Office and the Scientific and Fatwa Council of the Sunni Endowment Office will each draw up a “code of Sharia [Islamic law] rulings on personal status matters” and submit it to the parliament within six months from the date of entry into force of the law.

“They want us to vote on the law without having a chance to review the code and see what’s in there,” Ms Al Jilaihawi said. “Since this code would come from a religious authority or a jurist, the parliament would find itself obliged to accept it and we can’t make any changes. It will be booby-trapped.”

Iraqis are worried that the proposed changes could encourage child marriage, which has been on the rise over the past 20 years, as it would allow girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 to be married. The Personal Status Law sets the legal age for marriage at 18 for both, or 15 under strict conditions.

Early marriage is one of the main challenges facing Iraqi women and girls. In its country analysis report for 2021, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq said nearly 24.8 per cent of Iraqi marriages involve girls under the age of 18. Also, 33.9 per cent of marriages in Iraq take place outside courts, with 22 per cent of them involving girls under the age of 14.

“These amendments would have a significant impact on Iraqi society as they would legitimise marriage of children at nine years old and this is considered human trafficking,” Ms Al Jilaihawi said.

They would also legitimise marriages conducted by clerics but not registered in court, which are considered illegal under the current law.

Public opposition to the amendments has been overwhelming. In an opinion poll conducted last month by Iraq Polling Team, an NGO, more than 73 per cent of those surveyed expressed “strong opposition” to the changes to the 1959 law. Only about 24 per cent voiced strong support, while about 3 per cent were indifferent.

In early August, parliament completed the first reading of the bill, considered the initial step to enacting draft laws. The bill's supporters pushed for the second reading on Monday, which is meant to begin the debate on suggested changes. When a final version is agreed upon, it will be put to a vote at a third reading.

Over the past weeks, Ms Al Jilaihawi managed to muster support to derail the process by collecting signatures to remove the scheduled readings from the parliament agenda or to boycott the sessions. She submitted a request signed by 124 MPs to remove the second reading of the law from the agenda of Monday’s session, but the parliament president refused to receive it, she said.