Child Marriage; Pre-Marriage Tests Conducted for Two 7-Year-Old Children in Kazeron
In recent days, images of pre-marriage tests for two 7-year-old children in Kazeron city in Fars Province have been circulated, reflecting the repetition of child marriage in Iran. However, following the release of the aforementioned images, the Public Relations Office of Kazeron Court claimed in a statement that the families of these children, in accordance with their customs, conducted preliminary tests to ensure there would be no complications for potential marriage when the children reach legal age. In June of the current year, the President of Iran, following a request from the Minister of Sports and Youth to reform age regulations for granting a 100-million-toman marriage loan based on not granting loans to individuals under 18 years old, ordered the review and amendment of the law. However, not only has this order not been implemented to date, but next year applicants who are boys under 25 years old and girls under 23 years old will receive the maximum loan amount. This will likely lead to an increase in child marriages.
According to Hrana news agency, citing Rokna, in recent days, images of pre-marriage tests for two 7-year-old children in Kazeron city in Fars Province have been circulated.
Following this incident, the Public Relations Office of Kazeron Court claimed in a statement that the families of these children, in accordance with their customs, conducted preliminary tests to ensure there would be no complications for potential marriage when the children reach legal age.
In June of the current year, the President of Iran, following a request from the Minister of Sports and Youth to reform age regulations for granting marriage loans based on not granting loans to individuals under 18 years old and over 40 years old, ordered the review and amendment of the law.
However, recently Ali Babaei Karnami, spokesman of the Islamic Consultative Assembly commission, said: According to the decision of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran is obligated to pay seventy million tomans to each couple in 1400 with a ten-year repayment period, and to support youth marriage and reduce the marriage age, it was decided to pay 100 million tomans in marriage loans to girls under 23 years old and boys under 25 years old. This measure is likely to lead to an increase in child marriages.
Child marriage in Iran has been on the rise in recent years. Child rights activists say this phenomenon will have a negative impact on the health of Iranian families in the future.
The high statistics of child marriages—those who marry before reaching intellectual and mental 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 part of the dimensions of full human maturity. Development, awareness, education, and freedom of choice are the most fundamental and humane conditions for forming a family.
The physical and psychological damages resulting from child marriage cause irreparable blows to girls’ lives, particularly pregnancies under 18 years old, maternal mortality, depression, and sometimes suicide attempts, alongside harms such as divorce, dropping out of school, and perpetuation of cycles of cultural and economic poverty.
According to published statistics, approximately 95,000 cases of divorce among women under 19 years old were registered between 1390 and 1394 (2011-2015), of which approximately 5,760 divorces are related to marriages where both spouses were under 15 years old.
Source: Hrana
