• Iran, child bride who had killed her husband executed

  • Unicef: there are 12 million precocious brides every year

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November 21, 2021 The hearing was underway to sanction the regularity of the marriage between Israa - a 12-year-old child bride - and her husband: but at least for today the judge had to postpone the validation: outside the Baghdad court, a protest by activists of an Iraqi NGO - the Organization for the Freedom of Women in Iraq - together with their mother, assisted by the lawyer Marwan Obeidi, who asked not to register her marriage.



Israa perhaps a victim of rape


The mother has no contact with her daughter, and accuses her ex-husband of kidnapping her, also claiming that she was a victim of rape. Different is the version of the "Iraqi social police" - a department of the interior ministry - which claims to have met at the end of October with the daughter, the father and the husband, and that Israa "assured that the marriage was celebrated with the your consent ".



The law on marriage for minors in Iraq 


Legally in the country you can get married at 18 but there are some exceptions that allow you to get married even at 15: with the consent of the parents or the judge.



"Marriage can be formalized by paying a fine"


According to the humanitarian association Save the Children: "This type of union still takes place regularly in Iraq and can be formalized with the payment of a fine", reads a report by the NGO. 



Some religious unions even at 9 years of age


"A 12-year-old girl is not of legal age to make such a decision that can determine her future" - claims the NGO, the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq - which denounces that some religious unions also take place at the age of 9. 


The NGO has called for the repeal of article 398 of the penal code which "allows the rapist to escape punishment if he marries the victim". 



Unicef: 650 million child brides


In the report "COVID-19: A threat to progress against child marriage", launched on International Women's Day - according to UNICEF today there are 650 million women and girls who have been married as children, while in the last 10 years 25 million early marriages have been avoided. In the report, the humanitarian organization, analyzing the period of the pandemic, argues that the closure of schools, economic stress and the interruption of services, "have exposed the most vulnerable girls more to the risk of early marriage. "