Iraq’s decision to introduce the Ja’fari law in January means girls can marry based on perceived “maturity and physical ability”.
Baghdad’s bride industry has seen a huge boom since Iraq outlawed child marriage, and human rights groups have warned that girls are being auctioned off in black market sales to elderly men, a Sunday Times investigation revealed on Saturday.
The relatives of Amani, a 12-year-old girl who will marry a 17-year-old woman she has never met, told the Sunday Times that the ceremony will take place ‘without the need for her permission’.
A local cleric confirmed that Amani could be married, as she had started puberty.
Iraq’s decision to introduce the Ja’fari law in January means girls can marry based on perceived “maturity and physical ability”.
One of Amani’s relatives admitted that, after the amendment was passed, four of her younger cousins quickly married older men for “financial reasons.”
A girl holds a placard as activists demonstrate against child marriages, in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad on July 28, 2024, amid a parliamentary discussion on a proposed amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law. Rights advocates are alarmed by a bill introduced in Iraq’s parliament which, (credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images)
An activist told the paper that under the new law, “parents could exchange daughters for money or status,” and the legislation amounted to “legalizing child rape.”
Even before the law was passed, 28% of girls in Iraq were married before the age of 18, and another 22% of unregistered marriages involve girls under 14, the United Nations reported in 2023.
Ghezi, who oversees shelters for girls escaping forced marriage under the Organization of Women’s Freedom Iraq (OWFI) in Baghdad, confirmed to the newspaper, “We have seen a growing black market in Iraq where fathers are selling their children, and taking them out of education, mostly because of poverty… but they have been encouraged by some. [clerics] who can benefit.”
Ghezi added, “These are children who are not aware that their husbands can use Ja’fari law to strip them of their rights — they can divorce them, marry a second wife, and take their children without dispute.”
Who is profiting from child marriage in Iraq?
Clerics often charge a fee for blessing marriages, religious officials in Kadhimiya confirmed. One officer admitted that he talked a 15-year-old into divorcing her husband, adding that he would only discuss the subject “with her father’s permission.”
Dozens of businesses have confirmed to the British shop that since the Ja’fari law was passed, they have increased their sales.
Baraa Macer, influencer and bridal makeup artist, admitted that most of her clients are now under 10.
A video allegedly showing an 11-year-old girl covered in white shared on Macer’s page has gained more than 250,000 views. Macer declined to confirm whether the content was monetized.
Another Iraqi makeup artist, Zainab Saleem, also known as Makera Dobaa, claimed that she does not agree with child marriage but shared her underage client’s videos because “younger brides get more views” and people ask for ages in the comments.
Saleem said that her youngest customer this year was 14 years old, although she confirmed that her customers this year were younger than before.
Ruweida, a bridal make-up artist in Sadr City, also said that her clients this year were “almost entirely children.”
Ruweida described “a 10-year-old girl who cried over her hair and makeup, and yet her family was proud to say that she was marrying an older man. She was trying to resist, but I could see that she had bruises all over her head… this is very common.”