Around 10,000 girls aged 10-14 got married in Iran this spring
According to a report by Iran’s Statistical Center, 9,753 girls aged 10-14 got married in Iran during this past spring.
IRNA news agency, in releasing this report, wrote that over the past two years, this figure represents “the highest seasonal statistics for marriages of girls aged 10-14”. Another section of the report states that during this past spring, “45,522 girls aged 15-19” also got married.
According to Islamic law, the age of puberty for girls is 9 years old and for boys 15 years old, but Iran’s government authorities typically approve marriages for girls above 13 years of age.
In recent years, statistics on child marriages in Iran have increased. According to Iran’s Statistical Center, the number of marriages for girls aged 10-14 in 2020 increased by 10.5 percent compared to the previous year, and approximately 5 percent of all registered marriages in 2020 involved children under 15 years of age.
On the other hand, according to a report by the Civil Registration Organization, in the first six months of this year, 791 children were born to mothers aged 10-14.
These figures only relate to marriages registered with the country’s Civil Registration Organization, and it appears that the actual number of cases is higher than these figures.
Previously, Mahmoud Abbasi, Deputy Minister of Human Rights at Iran’s Ministry of Justice, referring to “Iran being questioned regarding child marriage in international forums,” said that the actual rate of early marriages in Iran is far higher than official statistics.
He also mentioned cases of marriages under ten years of age, saying a 9-year-old girl got married and had three children within three years before getting divorced.
In recent years, efforts have been made to reform laws related to child marriage, including a bill presented in parliament that “set the minimum marriage age for girls at 16 years and for boys at 18 years,” but the bill was rejected due to opposition from some Shiite religious authorities.
In 2018, a bill prohibiting marriage with children was also rejected in the judicial committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.
Javaid Rehman, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, in March 2021 submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council calling for “immediate reforms” regarding the Islamic Republic’s treatment of women and girls, but this request was not heeded by Iran’s government authorities.
Source: Radio Farda
