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Iraq’s New Marriage Amendment: A Blow to Women’s and Children’s Rights
What’s happening
In January 2025, the Iraqi Parliament passed an amendment to the country’s 1959 Personal Status Law (Iraq)—a law that governs marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody.
The amendment has drawn broad condemnation because it opens the door for under-age marriage by giving religious authorities and sect-specific legal codes the power to decide family law matters. In effect, activists warn, this could allow girls aged as young as nine years old to be married under certain religious legal frameworks.
The legal ingredients & changes
• Under the previous law (1959 Personal Status Law), the minimum age of marriage was set at 18 years for both sexes; a judge could allow a girl to marry at 15 in exceptional cases.
• The amendment allows families to choose whether to apply the civil law or follow a religious code (Sunni or Shia) for marriage, divorce and inheritance.
• Because the religious code option doesn’t clearly fix a minimum age for marriage, that has raised fears that some interpretations—particularly under the Shia Jaʿfari school—would permit girls from age 9 to marry.
• The law also appears to weaken protections in other areas: rights to divorce, inheritance, and legal oversight of religious marriages.
Why there is outrage
• Children forced into or encouraged to marry lose their childhood, education, autonomy and often face serious health risks from early pregnancy.
• Critics say the amendment violates several international treaties which Iraq has ratified, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
• The moves are viewed as a regression in women’s and girls’ rights in Iraq, undermining decades of change. One Iraqi lawyer said: “We have reached the end of women’s rights and the end of children’s rights in Iraq.”
• Transparency concerns: there are questions about how the law was passed, and whether the minimum age of nine was explicitly in the text or effectively permitted via religious codes.
Political and social context
• Conservative religious blocs in Iraq, especially Shia-led ones, backed the amendment, framing it as returning “family law” to religious norms and reducing “Western influence.”
• There has been significant push‐back: women’s groups, civil society organisations and some secular politicians have mobilised protests. The United Nations described the bill as “an assault on childhood”.
• In response to backlash, some parts of the bill were revised. After protests, the parliament confirmed that the minimum age would formally remain 18, or 15 with judge’s approval, under the civil law; however, the religious law path remains open.
Impact & risks
• For girls: early marriage often ends education, increases the risk of maternal mortality, psychological trauma and lifelong dependency.
• For the rule of law: allowing parallel legal systems weakens state oversight and uniform protection of rights.
• International image & obligations: Iraq risks censure for back-pedalling on child protection and gender equality.
• Social fabric: departments of civil society warn potential increase in unregistered religious marriages, lack of legal redress, and further marginalisation of women.
What happens next
• Many opponents plan to challenge the law’s constitutionality in the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq, arguing the parliamentary vote lacked proper quorum and that the text violates Iraq’s constitution. 
• Civil society and international groups are calling for Iraq to adopt a strict minimum marriage age of 18 with no exceptions, in line with global standards.
• Monitoring & implementation will be key: even if the formal age remains higher under civil law, the religious option may be used to circumvent protections.
Conclusion
The amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law marks a pivotal moment: while officially the age of marriage remains 18 under civil law, the opening of religious legal pathways has sparked deep fears that child marriage—from age nine upwards—could become legitimised in practice. It’s a stark reversal in gender and child-rights policy, drawing domestic protest and international condemnation alike. Iraq now faces a crossroads: whether it will protect the rights of girls and women or allow religious legal frameworks to deviate from global human-rights norms.
Attached is a news article regarding Iraq passing the legal law on children being able to marry at the age of 9 years old which has caused outrage
Article written and configured by Christopher Stanley
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