Iraqi Law Proposes Nine Year Old Girls Can Be Married Off

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Law proposed in Iraq would allow girls to marry at 9

 

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

A controversial law in Iraq, proposed by former Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari and passed by the Cabinet, would have girls considered adults at the age of 9 and able to marry, NPR reports.

Known as the Jaafari law (after a school of Islam by the same name), it still has to make its way to the Parliament. Action likely won't be taken until after Iraq forms its new government, following last month's elections. If passed, following the law will be voluntary, and will only apply to the country's Shiite Muslim majority.

Those who oppose the law say that although the people of Iraq have more opportunities to travel and internet access, women's rights are not moving forward, and conservative religious politics are becoming more mainstream. "We know the state of women in Iraq is getting worse, despite the intellectual openness that women had benefited from following the American occupation and the removal of the regime," Fawzia al-Babakhan, a lawyer, told NPR.

While the law is unlikely to be passed and was likely an overture to conservative Shiites, it is still unsettling to radio host Ahlam al-Obeidi. "We are a society plagued by patriarchal attitudes and outdated tribal laws, which are all conducive to violence against women," she said to NPR. "This is not marriage, but rather the selling and buying of young women." --Catherine Garcia

In the USA, These Men Would be Jailed as Sex Offenders

Legalized pedophilia.  Sick cultures.  Even sicker than ours.  How low can we go?

Caption:  In this photo provided on Friday Feb. 10, 2012 by World Press Photo, the 1st prize Contemporary Issues Stories category of the 2012 World Press Photo contest by Stephanie Sinclair, USA, VII Photo Agency for National Geographic magazine shows Tahani (in pink), who married her husband Majed when she was 6 and he was 25, posing for this portrait with former classmate Ghada, also a child bride, outside their mountain home in Hajjah, Yemen, June 10, 2010. Nearly half of all women in Yemen were married as children. (AP Photo/Stephanie Sinclair, VII Photo Agency for National Geographic Magazine)

Do you know what happens to a girl who has a baby when she's 12, 13, 14, 15 and her body is still growing and not yet ready for childbirth? 

(1) A girl's pelvic girdle isn't wide enough for childbirth.  That means often times, after long (several days) and extremely painful labor contractions as the girl's uterus attemps to expel the fetus, she and the fetus die before it's ever born.  If she does deliver the baby, it might be stillborn or severely brain-damaged due to oxygen cut-off during delivery.  Often the girl experiences uncontrolled bleeding due to internal ruptures and dies from blood loss.

(2) Extremely young mothers have a higher risk of pregnancy-induced high blood pressure known as preeclampsia, and their babies are at risk for fetal growth restriction. 

(3)  If a young mother and the baby survive the birth, she may be plagued with "obstetric fistula."   Even physically mature women often experience urinary incontinence for a time after giving birth, but it usually clears up as her body recovers from the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth and through special exercises designed to strengthen the pelvic girdle.  In a young girl where those muscles have been stretched beyond their limit, or torn and not surgically repaired, this doesn't happen.  Think of a rubberband that has lost its elasticity - that is what happens.  If this happens to a girl (and it often does when the body is not mature enough to experience the rigors of childbirth) she will be plagued with health issues for the rest of her life -- if she isn't killed by infection.

Obstetric fistua has become something of a cause celebre in some African countries where westerners have gone in and made television specials on the subject, but in truth, any girl anywhere who is not physically mature enough to go through the rigors of carrying a fetus to term and then childbirth can experience obstetric fistua. Take a good hard look at the girls in the photo at the beginning of this posrt.  Do either of them look old enough to be having sexual intercourse, let alone becoming pregnant and giving birth?  Look at the expressions on their faces.  Would you want YOUR eleven year old to look like that?  These girls don't even have breasts yet.

Perverted, sick, evil.  In the United States and most civilized countries around the world, these men would be jailed for years as child molesters.  Sick societies and cultures condone such things.  We are a very sick world, indeed.

"Child" Marriage Voided by Indian Court

From Shine at Yahoo:

Child Bride Has Marriage Annulled. Laxmi Sargara is Our Hero of the Day
April 25, 2012

Laxmi Sargara

At an age when most kids are learning to walk, Laxmi Sargara was already married. Her husband, Rakesh, was just three-years-old when family sealed the deal on their fate. She was one.

Now seventeen years later the couple have set a history-making precedent by having their marriage annulled. But the real hero of this story is Laxmi, now 18, who took remarkably brave steps to reverse the archaic tradition and opened the door for more child brides to follow.

Though technically illegal in India, poor families living in rural areas often rely on these types of partnerships, using kids as pawns in order to provide more financial stability to those who can't afford to feed their children long-term. The fall-out is hardest felt for child brides, plucked from their parents' homes in their teens and forced to live with the husband they wed as a toddler and his family. The girls are expected to play the role of obedient wife and daughter-in-law, and in some instances, are beaten into submission by members of their new family.
Just days ago, Laxmi's was informed of her own marriage obligations, promised almost two decades before by her Rajasthani elders, and given a move-in deadline of April 24 from her in-laws.

"I was unhappy about the marriage. I told my parents who did not agree with me, then I sought help," Sargara told AFP.

She reached to a social worker in Jodhpur who advocates for children's rights through an organization called the Sarathi Trust. The social worker contacted the groom, who was prepared to go through with family arrangement. After some persuading, he finally changed his mind and agreed to an annulment, influenced by the fact that he'd be marrying a woman risking everything to live without him.

"It is the first example we know of a couple wed in childhood wanting the marriage to be annulled, and we hope that others take inspiration from it," Kriti Bharti, the social worker who orchestrated the annulment, told AFP.
A joint legal document signed by both Rakesh and Laxmi made it official and provided a road map for other young brides to do the same.

"Now I am mentally relaxed and my family members are also with me," said Laxmi, who beamed as she held up the document for photographers. She plans to continue her education in hopes of landing a job so she can maintain her independence. But Laxmi's newfound freedom comes with risk.

In India, where an estimated 50 percent of girls are married before they're 18, opponents of arranged child marriages can face serious threats, including gang rape, beatings and maiming. On the same day as Laxmi's annulment became official, protesters trying to stop a mass child wedding in Rajasthan were attacked and injured by villagers. When a 13-year-old refused to wed her arranged husband in 2009, her parents withheld her food for two weeks. Amazingly, the young girl prevailed and gained international attention and support for her stance. This week Laxmi moved the needle even further; hers is the first legally-binding child marriage annulment in India's history.

Child marriages are a worldwide phenomenon, particularly in rural areas with high poverty rates and closely-guarded ancient traditions. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, The Middle East and even the U.S. underage children are forced into marriages at the behest of their families. In recent years, American officials have cracked down on fundamentalist polygamist sects in Utah and Texas known to pair adult grooms with child brides. Other countries provide less legal clout needed to protect young girls. In Yemen where, there is no punishment for families who marry off an underage daughter, about half the country's brides are under 15. In Saudi Arabia, there is no minimum age for marriage at all. An 8-year old girl found this out in 2009, when the Saudi courts denied her annulment request. At the time, her husband was 58.