In Iraq, men may soon be allowed to marry 9-year-olds. What are world's lowest marriage ages?

In Iraq, women’s and girls’ rights are in a downward spiral.

Legalising child marriages, the country is on the verge of reducing the marriageable age for women from 18 to nine.

The proposed amendment , which had its first reading on Sunday, has sparked significant backlash both domestically and internationally.

Iraq to change marriage laws

Shia Islamist parties in Iraq are considering making amendments to Law 1888 of the Personal Status.

The law passed in 1959 was considered one of the most progressive in West Asia.

The law set 18 as the legal age for marriage for both men and women and set curbed on men being allowed to take a second wife. It also allowed a Muslim man marry a non-Muslim woman without any pre-conditions.

However, the Coordination Framework, which is an alliance of conservative Shia Islamist parties, has been pushing for amendments to the law.

The proposed amendment, introduced by Independent MP Raed al-Maliki, reduces the marriageable age for women from 18 to nine and boys as young as 15, legalising child marriage.

The draft bill also states that a couple are required to choose between the Sunni or Shia sect “all matters of personal status.”

“When a dispute occurs between the spouses regarding the doctrine according to whose provisions the marriage contract was concluded, the contract is deemed to have been concluded in accordance with the husband’s doctrine unless evidence exists to the contrary,” the draft bill states.

The amendment would let “the offices of the Shiite and Sunni endowments” sanctify marriages instead of the courts.

Once the amendment gets the nod, women would be deprived of rights to divorce, child custody, and inheritance, according to The Telegraph.

To protect young girls from “immoral relationships,” the ruling coalition described the action as a stringent interpretation of Islamic law.

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The backlash

Experts believe that this amendment will sweep away women’s most significant rights.

“The amendment would not just undermine these rights,” Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch, was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. “It would erase them.”

Raya Faiq, who is opposing the bill alongside Iraqi lawmakers, claimed that it would give religious leaders more control over practically all family issues and let young girls to be married off at a young age. “This a catastrophe for women,” Faiq told The Guardian, adding that this law would legalise child rape.

The increasing number of child marriages in Iraqi society is already a problem.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) reports that over 28 per cent of women in the nation are married by the age of 18.

The main cause of this is a legal gap in the personal status law that permits religious leaders to perform marriages instead of courts, even for females as young as 15 with the consent of the father.

According to The Telegraph, these unregistered marriages are primarily common in Iraq’s ultra-conservative, economically disadvantaged Shia community.

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Countries with the lowest marriage age

Many nations allow children to get married between the ages of 15 and 16 as long as their legal guardians approve of the arrangement.

Nonetheless, the majority of countries in the world have set a minimum age of 18 for marriage without parental approval.

According to The Times of India, Afghanistan and Yemen have the lowest marriage age of 15 for both men and women, with parental consent. Malaysia also has set the minimum legal age for marriage as 16. The minimum age for marriage without parental consent is 18. Brazil, Chile, and Italy (with Juvenile Court authorisation) with a minimum age of 16 for marriage for both men and women.

In Pakistan, the minimum age for girls to get married is 16 and for men is 18. In North Korea, the marriage age for girls is 17 and for boys is 18.

In Iran, the minimum age for marriage with parental consent is 13 for girls and 15 for boys. However, for marriage without parental consent, reports say that individuals have to be 15 if they are female and 18 if they are male.

Similarly, in Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe, children can marry at the age of 14 with their parents’ consent but have to wait until they are 18 otherwise.

There is no minimum age for marriage in Saudi Arabia.

Around 117 nations, including the United States, allow children to marry, according to a 2016 US Pew Research Centre analysis.

18 and above

Although certain countries, such as the UK, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the Netherlands, have set the legal age for men and women at 18, child marriage is still legal with parental consent.

Countries such as Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Russia, Botswana, Chad, Eswatini, Guinea, South Korea, Ivory Coast, Namibia, and Zambia have set the minimum age for marriage as 18.

India has set the legal marriage age at 21 for men and 18 for women.

Sudan once had a special law governing the legal marriage age. Muslim children might lawfully marry as soon as they reach puberty. For non-Muslim children, however, marriage was only permitted after the age of 13 for girls and 15 for boys. The Sudanese government banned child marriage in late 2020 and raised the legal marriage age to 18, according to The Standard.

The countries that require individuals to be 21 years old before they can legally be married are Burundi, China, and Rwanda.

The legal minimum age for women to marry without parental agreement or approval was set at 18 in 158 countries in 2010.

In 180 nations, men can legally get married at the age of 18, and in 105 countries, they can get married with their parents’ consent.

In recent years, a number of EU countries have tightened their laws governing marriage, banning marriages between those under the age of 18 or requiring legal approval.

Other emerging countries have also approved quite similar laws.

With inputs from agencies