2.2.1 Amendment on Personal Status Law
In August 2024, Iraq’s parliament read a bill proposing changes to the Personal Status Law,480 the main legal framework regulating family matters in Iraq.481 Backed by the Shiite Coordination Framework, 482 the amendments grant Sunni and Shia religious councils the authority to develop their own ‘code of Sharia rulings’ on matters related to personal status,483 with significative impact in the legal implementation of gender equality within the Iraqi society.484 Muslim couples are required to declare their sect when concluding a marriage contract485 and to choose whether to be governed by the 1959 Personal Status Law or a sect-specific mudawana (Personal Status Code).486 Couples cannot later change this choice.487 In the final version approved, only Shia couples are granted the option between the Personal Status Law and the mudawana,488 which is to be drafted by the Shia Jafari school of Islamic jurisprudence,489 while Sunni couples remain subject to the Personal Status Law.490 The Jaafari Jurisprudence Code was passed by the Iraqi parliament on 27 August 2025.491
In its first articulation, the amendment would allow nine year-old girls to be married and limit women’s rights regarding custody, inheritance and divorce,492 and women’s alimony would be conditioned on the ‘enjoyment’ of the marriage by the husband.493 In January 2025, the law has passed,494 giving the religious authorities power to decide on family matters and effectively abolishing the ban on child marriage that has been in place since the 1950s.495 A new code for the Shia Muslims adopting the changes was meant to be drafted within four months.496 While widely supported by Shias clerics, Sunnis were mostly against the amendment,497 whereby Sunni religious scholars refused to participate in drafting their own mudawana.498 By granting clerics the authority to conduct marriages, the law raised women’s organisations concerns over the potential legalisation of the so-called pleasure marriages.499 Amendment also maintained the existing provisions in the Personal Status Law concerning polygamy.500 After a suspension by the Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court because of the irregularities in the voting process,501 the amendment eventually entered into force on 17 February 2025.502 The final text of the personal status codes stipulates that the minimum age of marriage in the mudawana must conform with the Personal Status Law of 1959,503 which sets the legal age for marriage at 18, or at 15 with judicial consent based on the child’s ‘maturity and physical capacity’. 504 Despite this provision, the amendment ‘continues to pose serious risks to the rights of Iraqi women and girls’, particularly regarding temporary and unregistered marriages, the regulation of polygamy, and alimony. It also undermines gender equality by granting precedence to the husband’s personal status code over that of the wife in cases of disagreement on family matters.505 Additionally, it is believed that marriages of underage girls will likely unofficially continue or will be registered upon reaching the legal age.506
- 480
HRW, Iraq: Parliament Poised to Legalize Child Marriage, 16 August 2024, url
- 481
UNSG, Report of the Secretary-General, Implementation of resolution 2732 (2024), S/2025/323, 30 May 2025, url, para. 49
- 482
Jummar Media, Three laws in one basket. Iraq insists on division and regression, 27 February 2025, url
- 483
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Iraq’s Legal Crisis Through the Lens of Its Personal Status Law, 22 May 2025, url
- 484
Martini L.S., The Square Centre, From Personal Status to General Amnesty: A Controversial Political Process in Iraq, 12 March 2025, url
- 485
Watan, News Iraq’s Personal Status Law Sparks Controversy, 23 January 2025, url; HRW, Iraq: Personal
- 486
HRW, Iraq: Personal Status Law Amendment Sets Back Women’s Rights, 10 March 2025, url; LOC, Iraq: House of
- 487
Middle East Eye, Iraq: Revised 'sectarian' law that raised fears over child marriage passed without vote, 21
- 488
Martini L.S., The Square Centre, From Personal Status to General Amnesty: A Controversial Political Process in
- 489
Atlantic Council, Legalizing child marriage in Iraq: Stepping back from the brink, 8 April 2025, url
- 490
Martini L.S., The Square Centre, From Personal Status to General Amnesty: A Controversial Political Process in
- 491
Shafaq News, Iraq passes code on Shia personal status, 27 August 2025, url
- 492
Walk Free, Iraq’s new law allowing children as young as 9 to marry undermines women and girls’ rights, 31 January 2025, url; Rudaw, Iraqi women MPs unite to fight legislation that endangers women, girls, 3 August 2024, url; UN Press, Despite Many Obstacles that Remain, ‘Iraq Today Is More Secure, Stable and Open’, Special Representative Tells Security Council, 6 December 2024, url
- 493
IOHR (Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights), Notes on the Proposals to Amend the Personal Status Law, 24 July 2025, url
- 494
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Iraq’s Legal Crisis Through the Lens of Its Personal Status Law, 22 May 2025, url; Walk Free, Iraq’s new law allowing children as young as 9 to marry undermines women and girls’ rights, 31 January 2025, url
- 495
Walk Free, Iraq’s new law allowing children as young as 9 to marry undermines women and girls’ rights, 31 January 2025, url
- 496
KSC (Kurdistan Save the Children), Slemani: KSC Addresses Concerns Over Controversial Amendments to Iraq’s Personal Status Law - New Amendments Spark Debate on Marriage Age, Custody Rights and Protections for Women and Children, 24 January 2025, url, p. 1
- 497
New Lines Magazine, The Child Brides of Iraq, 16 July 2025, url
- 498
HRW, Iraq: Personal Status Law Amendment Sets Back Women’s Rights, 10 March 2025, url
- 499
HRW, Iraq: Personal Status Law Amendment Sets Back Women’s Rights, 10 March 2025, url
- 500
Art 3(4) reads as follows: ‘Marrying more than one woman is not allowed except with the authorization
- 501
AP News, Iraq’s top court suspends new legislation that activists say undermines women’s rights, 5 February 2025, url
- 502
HRW, Iraq: Personal Status Law Amendment Sets Back Women’s Rights, 10 March 2025, url
- 503
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Iraq’s Legal Crisis Through the Lens of Its Personal Status Law, 22 May 2025, url; HRW, Iraq: Personal Status Law Amendment Sets Back Women’s Rights, 10 March 2025, url; KSC, Slemani: KSC Addresses Concerns Over Controversial Amendments to Iraq’s Personal Status Law - New Amendments Spark Debate on Marriage Age, Custody Rights and Protections for Women and Children, 24 January 2025, url, p. 1; UNSG, Report of the Secretary-General, Implementation of resolution 2732 (2024), 30 May 2025, url, para. 49
- 504
HRW, Iraq: Personal Status Law Amendment Sets Back Women’s Rights, 10 March 2025, url
- 505
Martini L.S., The Square Centre, From Personal Status to General Amnesty: A Controversial Political Process in Iraq, 12 March 2025, url
- 506
New Lines Magazine, The Child Brides of Iraq, 16 July 2025, url