Iraq legalises marriage so that 9 year olds can marry

Legalised paedophilia, in a country run by men. Why am I not surprised. Absolutely disgusting, these poor children.

These dirty old men dislike western culture but consider child rape as their right and normal.

I alluded to Islamic Relief on the last page and they make it quite clear:

“Islamic Relief is an independent aid agency that is guided by Islamic humanitarian principles and seeks to end poverty and suffering around the world, especially among vulnerable groups.

As part of our commitment to ending suffering, we seek to protect children and establish gender justice by ending gender-based violence.

Early and forced marriage (EFM) often take place in communities where there is a wider social context that denies women’s and children’s rights, and where EFM persists alongside other harmful practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), gender-based violence and child abuse.

We are committed to seeing an end to these harmful practices that are prevalent in many Muslim communities and often wrongly associated with Islamic teaching"

As well as child marriage still being allowed in the US, it is a problem in Latin America too - I found this article just 2 months ago where after 17 years of campaigning , Colombia has banned child marriage;
www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/14/colombia-outlaws-child-marriage-after-17-year-campaign-under-18

Yes, it is Iam64

That may be so nana8 but it doesn’t make it ok.

Slightly off topic but relevant I think to discussions on equality. I read this morning of a growing movement in the USA for ‘wives’ to stay at home, not to be in paid employment.

As for adult men having sex with pre pubescent girls - it’s child abuse isn’t it.

My daughter’s first husband’s mum was married 13, had 3 kids by the time she was 17 and is now a very proud great grandma. She is an accountant and all the children are professionals and very successful. Her husband was 5 or 6 years older than her and they had to get a special licence. She has a Dutch heritage.

And that has also happened in Yemen too.

I remember seeing political commentator, Douglas Murray, on some discussion programme a couple of years ago, making the statement, which I imagine some would object to, "that not all cultures are equal" substantiating that in the way they treat women/girls and gay people. How can a 9 year old be married off, still a child, unable to give consent, treated as a mere chattel a commodity, no doubt money changes hands between her family and the man who acquires her. I've also read reports that this has happened in Afghanistan too. I was under the impression before I read this particular article, that the child had to reach a certain age, past puberty and that's bad enough, before the husband consummated the marriage. In this case the much older man, in fact quite old, who married the little girl, didn't wait till she was older to have sex with her, she the child was maybe 8 or 9, causing substantial injuries to her child's body, in fact she may have died. Sanctioned paedophilia! girls and women really count for nothing in these societies, of course we knew that about Afghanistan and now Iraq too. Shocking and appallingly regressive. .

Oops, crossed posts, with different results.

Mine were from Wikipedia.

I'm not saying that the situation in America makes the developments in Iraq any better by the way!

NotSpaghetti

Hasn't America still got some states with no minimum age for marriage (with consent from parents)?
I know this was the case a few years ago.

I think in some very "religious" areas if a man made a young girl pregnant and they then married there was no legal case to answer.

I believe Jerry Lee Lewis had a 13 year old bride back in the '50s, whether or not that's still the case, seems archaic by today's standards.

NotSpaghetti

Hasn't America still got some states with no minimum age for marriage (with consent from parents)?
I know this was the case a few years ago.

I think in some very "religious" areas if a man made a young girl pregnant and they then married there was no legal case to answer.

There is no statutory minimum age for marriage in California, Mississippi, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

One state is 15, the others are 16, 17 and 18.

It is also illegal for a minor to divorce or leave an abusive spouse, in the first four states.

Unbelievable in the 21st Century.

I am so grateful that I was born in the U.K.

Re under 18s and marriage USA:

However, child marriage remains legal in 37 states and is happening in the U.S. at an alarming rate: Unchained’s groundbreaking research revealed that more than 300,000 children as young as 10 were married in the U.S. since 2000 – mostly girls wed to adult men.

Unchained at Last - where this is copied from - are campaigning for all states to set the legal age at 18.

Child marriage undermines statutory rape laws. In most states and under federal law, sex with a child that would otherwise be considered rape – in some cases, felony rape – becomes legal within marriage. In those situations, the marriage license becomes a “get out of jail free” card for a child rapist.

www.unchainedatlast.org/child-marriage-in-the-u-s/

It's one of the reasons I'm Atheist ....

So they can be repeatedly raped and beaten by their grotesquely fat, smelly and ugly ''husbands'' who are old enough to be their great-granddads.

Totally twisted.

Hasn't America still got some states with no minimum age for marriage (with consent from parents)?
I know this was the case a few years ago.

I think in some very "religious" areas if a man made a young girl pregnant and they then married there was no legal case to answer.

I think 9 is a significant age in Islam

According to Aisha herself

The messenger of Allah married me when I was six and consummated the marriage with me when I was nine

To add context Aisha is depicted as being very scholarly along with helping to spread the word of Islam for over 40 years.

It used to be the case in the UK,too, a few centuries ago. Mostly marriages made by the respective parents to ensure prosperity and uniting assets. The nobility in particular did this. More often than not the marriages were not consummated until the females were older. I sincerely hope this is the case in Iraq but I doubt it.

Galaxy

That sounds a bit ominous, what are the other aspects, I am not particularly familiar with them

I went googling and checked out their status as regards UK and USA governments as NGO's and areas where they do charity.

Just wanted to add that the UK has considerable interests in Iraq in course oil - BP and other firms. We import oil from Iraq - we may not be without influence, tho I dont know that situation.

@AN41
Thanks 🙏🏾 we also donate to them.
We can only do what we can do.

That sounds a bit ominous, what are the other aspects, I am not particularly familiar with them

There is also an Islamic International Organisation called Islamic Relief which speaks out against child brides, forced marriage, and FGM

www.islamic-relief.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FORCED-MARRIAGE-CSW62.pdf

btw GN's may not like other aspects of Islamic Relief's work but they are clear on this

Galaxy

Well they are paedophiles so am not sure how we could expect humanity . I dont mean to dismiss that question but you cant rationalise it if you know what I mean.

Child brides are a huge problem in many parts of the world where it is legalised, as well as FGM. Many don’t survive the rigours of childbirth when a child themselves or FGM where there are many cases of infection resulting in sepsis.
Half the population of this world is female yet only a staggeringly small percentage enjoy the freedoms that their male counterparts have. In countries where we do enjoy these freedoms I believe it is incumbent upon us to campaign against this totally unacceptable state of affairs. Many human rights organisations help fight these injustices, petitions are often online, MPs can be contacted by email, and as I have said before we can donate to charities that fund the fight against child brides, as well as other heinous practices.

Babs03

There is a very poor record of women's rights in many countries across the ME, in parts of Africa, and India, to name but a few. But as with Iran there are brave groups of women fighting to improve this in all these parts of the world, risking their freedom and their lives, and I imagine women's groups in Iraq will fight this.
This is not about religion is about patriarchal cultures using religion to control and abuse girls/women. The best way anyone can help these girls and women would be to donate to Amnesty International or other human rights organisations trying to fight against this and release women imprisoned for challenging such laws.

Babs. I shall do just that, donate something to Amnesty International, as there is little else I can see for us to do, and it is hard to know of the suffering and do nothing.
India has still a long way to go too, even though it might look all right to some, on the surface, to make life better for women and girls.

I guess the Iraqis whose applications for asylum will be turned down by the UK, will not suffer much if at all, as they are mostly young men. Maybe if they like our values they can go home and join those there who are already trying to improve the values of their own country.

Well they are paedophiles so am not sure how we could expect humanity . I dont mean to dismiss that question but you cant rationalise it if you know what I mean.