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Iraq: Trial of 12-year-old girl’s marriage resumes | Children’s Rights News

Baghdad, Iraq – A judge has again tried to try to formalize a religious marriage between a 12-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man, sparking concern across Iraq.

It was not clear whether the verdict would be handed down on Sunday.

A court in the Kadhamiya district of Baghdad postponed the trial last week as protesters rallied in front of the court, chanting and holding banners with slogans and holding hands: “Child marriage is a crime against children” and “No to child marriage”.

“Children should be at home watching cartoons, not getting married,” a protester said last week in front of the court. “That’s why we’re here today to show our disapproval.”

The case was first filed when the girl’s mother – in a video – asked authorities to save her daughter. The mother told local media that her 12-year-old daughter was raped and forced to marry her stepfather’s brother.

A department of the Interior Ministry that deals with violence against women, however, said in a note after meeting with the girl, her father and her husband that they had made sure they were not forced into marriage.

“In any case, marriage between a 12-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man is not acceptable,” Hala Iraqi women’s and children’s rights advocate told Al Jazeera, asking only to be identified. in his name.

Iraqi law says the age of marriage is 18, but it can be lowered to 15 if “urgent” cases allow the father of the person in question to marry.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a universal legal document aimed at protecting women’s rights, also states marriage under the age of 18. a form of forced marriage.

However, despite the legal provisions, child marriage is plentiful in Iraq, especially in rural areas, and in other countries in the region. Poverty and religious practices encouraged many parents to marry their young daughters, believing that it would alleviate the burden of the family or provide financial support.

According to the Iraqi Government’s 2018 Multi-Indicator Survey (MICS), 7.2% of married women between the ages of 20 and 24 were married before the age of 15 and another 20.2% were married before the age of 18.

“It’s a children’s wedding human rights violations, endangering the development of girls and often leading to early pregnancy and social isolation, with little education and poor vocational training reinforcing the gender nature of poverty, ”said UNICEF, which participated in the survey.

Despite the uproar surrounding this case, many other girls do not enjoy the same level of attention, according to legal professionals.

“This case has received special attention in the media because the young girl’s mother joined social media and sparked controversy across the nation,” a Baghdad lawyer Mariam Albawab, who works on child rights cases, told Al Jazeera.

“However, there are thousands of cases that have been left under the radar of the media, and many of these marriages were advanced without much notice or disapproval.”

The international NGO Save the Children has called for the minimum age for marriage to be 18 and the removal of exceptions to this rule.

“You thought the story of Capernaum would be fictional, but the truth is that his argument is repeated every day here in Iraq,” said Halak, referring to the 2018 Lebanese film that premiered with a story that led to a family trying to make money. to Sold 11-year-old daughter in exchange for two sheep.




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