Child Marriage; 54 Children Under 15 Years Old Married in Khoda Afarin Last Year
The governor of Khoda Afarin county in East Azerbaijan province reported the marriage of 54 children under 15 years old last year. Recently, the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs announced that marriages of girls under 14 years old amount to approximately 30,000 cases annually. The physical and psychological harms resulting from marriage during childhood inflict irreparable blows on girls’ lives, particularly affecting pregnancies under 18 years of age, maternal mortality, depression, and sometimes suicide attempts, alongside other harms such as divorce, school dropout, and the perpetuation of cycles of cultural and economic poverty.
According to HRANA news agency, citing Mehr news, the governor of Khoda Afarin reported 284 registered marriages in this county during the past year.
Stating that the spread of child marriage in this county has become a serious problem, he added: “54 of the registered marriages last year involved children under 15 years old.
Recently, Massoumeh Ebtekar, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, stated that “according to statistics, marriages of girls under 14 years old are reported to be approximately 30,000 annually,” and added “the marriage age is conditional on a judge’s opinion, and currently there is no minimum age for marriage. Another matter that should be considered as a matter of protecting children’s rights is the guardianship clause, by which a father is permitted to marry his ward under conditions approved by a judge.”
In December 2019, the Iranian government approved the general principles of a bill to set a minimum marriage age to combat child marriage. The bill set the minimum marriage age at 13 years for girls and 15 years for boys.
Child marriage in Iran has been increasing in recent years. Child rights activists say this phenomenon will have negative impacts on the health of Iranian families in the future.
The high statistics of children marrying before reaching intellectual and psychological maturity reflect the prevalence of this phenomenon in Iran. The marriage age in Iran is determined based on “sexual maturity,” while according to experts, sexual maturity is only one aspect of complete human maturation. Development, awareness, education, and freedom of choice are the most fundamental and human conditions for forming a family.
The physical and psychological harms resulting from child marriage inflict irreparable blows on girls’ lives, particularly affecting pregnancies under 18 years of age, maternal mortality, depression, and sometimes suicide attempts, alongside other harms such as divorce, school dropout, and the perpetuation of cycles of cultural and economic poverty.
Based on published statistics, over 95,000 divorces of women under 19 years old were registered between 2011 and 2015, of which approximately 5,760 divorces were related to marriages where both spouses were under 15 years old.
Source: HRANA
