Defending child marriage in Iran due to “increased sexual manifestations”

One Iranian official cited the high level of “sexual displays in society” and the lowering of the age of prostitution for girls as reasons for opposing the ban on child marriage. The role of “marriage age restrictions” in “population reduction” is also one of the reasons given by advocates of child marriage.

Fereshteh Rooh-Afza, director of planning and policy development at the Iranian Women's and Family Social Cultural Council, cited on Tuesday, December 4, the high level of "sexual manifestations in society," the high number of runaway girls, and the lowering of the age of "prostitution" among her reasons for opposing the ban on child marriage.

Ms. Roohafza said: "The most common age group for runaway girls is between 13 and 15 years old, and the number of our runaway girls is definitely higher than the number of girls who are married as children. All I'm saying is that with these laws [prohibiting child marriage], a majority is being sacrificed for a minority, which is not logical."

This official affiliated with the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution of Iran added: "Unfortunately, the age of prostitution for girls has decreased based on the statistics provided. The age of friendship between girls and boys has also decreased and has reached the age of elementary school. Therefore, girls understand sexual issues at the age of 13 and pursue them, and they definitely need the opposite sex and a partner at this age."

Explaining her reasons for defending child marriage, Fereshteh Rooh-Afza continued: "Sexual manifestations in society are extremely high, to the point where they talk about the advantages and disadvantages of masturbation on television. Unfortunately, sexual stimulation for young people is high in society, and there are many manifestations of sexual stimulation in magazines, newspapers, mobile phones, television, computers, etc. Many advertisements in cyberspace contain sexual topics and state that those under 18 should not watch them, while this is not the case in any country in the world, because this encourages more people to watch them."

Ms. Roohafza attacked advocates of the law banning child marriage, saying that they were "only doing what they were told by the international community and did not know anything themselves."

The director of planning, programming and policy development at the Iranian Women and Family Social Cultural Council added: "When sexual manifestations increase in society and young girls see it and feel the need, if they want to get married, some say it's wrong, but if the same girls want to become prostitutes, the same people say they should be issued a health card."

In another part of her speech about the spread of "illegal" abortions in Iran, Fereshteh Rooh-afza said: "The number of legal abortions in the country per year is very low compared to illegal and unauthorized abortions, and the number of unauthorized abortions is high in the country, and the people who perform this work are people who have no expertise in this matter."

40,000 marriages annually for children under 14 years old

Sina Kalhor, Director General of Cultural Studies at the Iranian Parliament Research Center, also stated yesterday at a meeting to review the "juridical and legal dimensions of the marriage age limit plan" that "40,000 marriages occur every year under the age of 14, with Zanjan, East Azerbaijan, North Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, Ardabil, and Hamedan provinces ranking first to sixth, respectively."

Parvaneh Salahshouri, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and an advocate for raising the marriage age, said on December 1: "We have 45,000 children under the age of 13 who are married in the country. These children do not marry of their own free will, but rather are forced into marriage by their fathers."

According to the Student News Agency, Sina Kalhor claimed that "the representatives who are pursuing the amendment plan of Article 1041 in the parliament are not the designers of this plan, but are only pursuing it," adding: "This plan was designed by NGOs and public institutions, and these institutions have put pressure on the representatives, asking why they are not pursuing the demands of civil society institutions?"

Article 1041 of the Iranian Civil Code permits the marriage of girls under the age of 13 and boys under the age of 15 "with the permission of a guardian, on the condition of expediency and with the determination of a competent court."

In another part of his speech, the Director General of Cultural Studies at the Parliamentary Research Center called age a “false criterion” for marriage and said: “We support the idea of ​​conditions and say that anyone who meets the conditions for marriage should get married. However, a very heavy public atmosphere has been created and it is difficult to talk about this issue in this atmosphere.”

Kalhor also claimed that "according to my research, marriages under 14 years of age have the lowest divorce rate in the country, and this reality is the opposite of what the designers of this plan say."

Qasim Jafari, a former member of parliament, also opposed the plan in a meeting to review the “jurisprudential and legal dimensions of the marriage age limitation plan,” saying, among other things: “Our first question is that God has made puberty a natural thing and you have limited this puberty; where is your religious aspect? What is the necessity for you to forbid what God has permitted? The second point is that if religious puberty is the permission for marriage and it is the Prophetic tradition, we must be presented with a much stronger element and expediency than this, which is the expediency and prevention of such and such a corrupter. This is an abomination that we have not seen. Another reason is that based on the rule of tasliyat, the fundamentalists and jurists believe that they have the first choice of their own life based on the rule of priority. A person meets the conditions for marriage and is, let’s say, 16 years old, and you say we do not allow it? What is the reason for that?”

Investigating the “Population Infiltrators” Case in the Parliament

One of the concerns of opponents of the plan to increase the minimum marriage age in Iran is the impact of the possible approval of this plan on the policy intended by the Leader of the Islamic Republic for population growth in the country. According to IRNA, Sina Kalhor, Director General of Cultural Studies at the Majlis Research Center, in part of her speech yesterday, had called the plan to “limit the marriage age” a factor in “population decline.”

In 2013, contrary to previous policies to control population in Iran, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, called for the implementation of programs to increase the population to 150 million people and issued his decree under the title of “General Population Policies” to the three branches of government. Following the announcement of the population growth policy by the Supreme Leader, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, issued a four-article directive to the Ministries of Interior, Health, and Labor to explain the general population growth policy. Facilitating population growth was among the items in this directive.

Khamenei's decree also extended the issue of population control to security areas, and after that, circles close to the Leader of the Islamic Republic, especially security agencies, viewed any move to control or reduce the population in Iran with skepticism. For example, Fars News Agency wrote on December 25: "It has been heard that one of the country's security agencies, in cooperation with the judicial system, has arrested and summoned a number of influential elements in the field of population control."

According to this news agency affiliated with the IRGC, "These individuals, through their networked actions, have attempted to infiltrate various governmental agencies under the guise of scientific activities and create obstacles to the proper implementation of the regime's general population policies."

Shortly after, the identity of one of the detainees in the “population control zone” was revealed. He is Maymant Hosseini Chavoshi, a professor of demography and researcher at the Institute of Public Policy at the Australian National University.

Last Saturday, the state-run Kayhan newspaper mentioned this university professor, who goes by the name “M.H,” in a report, writing that this “dual-national demographer” was arrested by “the unknown companions of the Imam of the Time” and “during a successful operation while leaving the country.” Kayhan described the arrest as “a continuation of the confrontations with enemy infiltrators” and emphasized that Maymant Hosseini Chavoshi had dual nationality.

IRNAPlus, citing an “informed source,” reported that Ms. Hosseini Chavoshi’s case is set to be on the agenda of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament. According to this “informed source,” “This issue [Ms. Hosseini Chavoshi’s arrest] has not yet been officially raised in the National Security Commission, but we are waiting for an opportunity to ask the Deputy Minister of Intelligence about these issues when he comes to the commission.” The university professor is said to not have access to a lawyer.

The “risks” of a plan

Parvaneh Salahshouri said on November 20 that the plan to increase the minimum marriage age has strong opponents not only among men who are "defending their own interests," but also "even among women."

According to this reformist representative: "The noteworthy point is that in the plan we presented, we even had men from the conservative faction who voted for it. But on the other hand, some female representatives were against it. It may even be interesting to know that due to the risks it entailed, some of those in favor were not willing to sign the plan and have their names on it."

Tayyaba Siavashi, a member of the women's faction of the parliament, also said on November 15 that the "plan to combat child marriage" or increase the minimum age of marriage, although approved in the open court of the parliament on October 25, 2017, had not been reached in "initial discussions with the Guardian Council." According to Ms. Siavashi, despite the fatwa of Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a Shia religious authority in Qom, the plan is still facing opposition and resistance in the parliament and the Guardian Council.

Fatemeh Zolqadr, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also said on August 10: "A few religious authorities were not very in favor of increasing the marriage age for girls and boys, but many of them have announced their agreement with this issue, and the plan to increase the marriage age has not yet been ruled out."

Source: DW