Stop the Law Proposal against Child Marriages in Iraq

The network “Stop the Law Proposal against Child Marriages in Iraq”
2014 / 5 / 9



The Iraqi "Jaafari" a law proposition that allows child marriage from nine years of age is a crime and a catastrophic human rights violation.
To:
- Iraqi Embassy in Stockholm
- The Swedish Government and all other parties.
- United Nations, UN, Women
- Amnesty International
- EU Communion
- Concerned Media

In solidarity with women and children and in the name of human rights, we urge the Iraqi government to withdraw the proposed law that allows child marriage from nine years of age. The Iraqi government has an obligation to ensure the protection of children and women in line with human rights and international conventions. Now we appeal to the international community and the Government of Sweden and parties to urge to raise their voices against the family law proposition that was recently approved by the current Nori Al-Maliki s government. The so-called Jaafaari proposal would include Iraq s Shiites, who represent a majority of Iraq s population.
Beside the Jaafari proposal to change the minimum age for marriage from 18 years to 9 years for girls and 18 to 15 for boys, it also includes other paragraphs that pull Iraq back to the Middle Ages. The law proposal legalizes marital rape by claiming that the marital cohabitation gives the husband the right to the woman without her consent. Women cannot leave the house without permission from her husband. Muslim men are not allowed to marry non-Muslim women, except for the occasional connections (where the man might be married but pays a woman for a short visitation).
The law proposal is contrary to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ratified by Iraq in 1986 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Iraq in 1994.
The Iraqi government has not taken its responsibility to protect women and children from the social, economic, political, clan-based and honor-based violence that violate their human rights daily. Women and children need protection and security and not a law that makes them sex slaves.
The law who now is being implemented is the opposite of the international conventions, which will invalidate Iraq from the international treaties on human rights and women s and children s rights.
What now is about to take place in Iraq is something that concerns us all. We cannot ignore the fact that the Iraqi women and children are now in danger of totally losing their dignity. As global citizens, we must all speak up against this inhumane law proposal and stand on the side of the children and the women, of human rights - against the oppressive power structure that wants to bring Iraq back to the Middle Ages. The outside world cannot silently watch as Iraqi women and children are deprived of their childhood and the right over their own lives.
We who sign this letter are asking the Iraqi government to withdraw the law proposal and respect the children and women s rights in Iraq. We ask other key players and personalities urging the Iraqi government not to commit this crime.

Participants organizations
1- Sverige Kvinnolobby
2- Brottsofferjouren
3- ALMAeuropa
4- Kvinnors Nätverk
5- TRIS
6- Förbundet fritankarna
7- Förbundet Humanisterna
8- Varken Hora eller kuvad
9- Föreningen Kvinnors Rätt
10- Föreningen tigris fåglar
11- Irakiska kvinnoföreningen
12- Mandai kvinnoföreningen
13- Kvinnojouren NINA, Irakiska Kommittén för Kvinnors Rättigheter
14- Nätverket mot hedersrelaterat våld.
15- Kurdistan kvinnoförbund i Sverige
16- Riksorganisationen GAPF- Glöm Aldrig Pela och Fadime.


Contact for the network: Bayan Nasih, GAPFs ambassador for 2014
Email: [email protected], phone +46736241076

Promoter: National Organization GAPF-Never Forget Pela and Fadime
www.gapf.se




Add comment
Rate the article

Bad 12345678910 Very good
                                                                                    
Result : 100% Participated in the vote : 1