Ministry of Youth and Sports: Child Marriage Has Quadrupled in Some Parts of Iran
The Ministry of Sports and Youth has warned about a fourfold increase in child marriage, attributing it to increased marriage loans. No age restrictions have been imposed on those benefiting from marriage facilities, leaving the door open for exploitation of children.
A senior official at the Ministry of Sports and Youth has warned about a fourfold increase in child marriage in Iran, which he attributes to increased marriage loans. This senior official does not consider marriage facilities a step toward increasing marriage in the country. Meanwhile, the institution providing marriage loan facilities has not imposed age restrictions for beneficiaries, and according to experts, has opened the door to child exploitation.
Mohammad Mahdi Tandgoyan, Deputy for Youth Affairs at the Ministry of Sports and Youth of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has reported a fourfold increase in child marriage in Iran following the increase in marriage loans.
According to Tandgoyan, impoverished parents in deprived areas, some of whom also suffer from cultural poverty, are “trading” their underage children in light of increased marriage loans.
The Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports expressed his dissatisfaction with the increase in marriage loans and their repayment conditions on Tuesday, December 10, and stated that this measure not only failed to increase the marriage rate but has also created conditions for the growth of social harms.
Tandgoyan warned about the misuse of marriage facilities and said: “Statistics show that after the increase in marriage loans, child marriage has also significantly increased in some areas, and at least compared to last year [year 1397], this issue has increased up to fourfold in some parts of the country.”
Based on information contained in the “Marriage Interest-Free Loan Facilities” system of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, each newlywed couple receives 30 million tomans in marriage loan facilities after completing the registration process. Each couple must pay approximately 1.1 million tomans monthly to repay this loan, an amount that according to Mohammad Mahdi Tandgoyan exceeds the financial capacity of many young people.
Age Restrictions for Marriage Loans
The question that arises in this regard is whether the law has considered a mechanism to protect children in deprived areas, and whether age restrictions are applied for beneficiaries of interest-free marriage loan facilities.
Referring to the Central Bank’s system in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section shows that no age restrictions have been considered for benefiting from these facilities, and it is explicitly stated in this system: “Initially, both husband and wife register separately in the marriage system, and after determining the branch and completing the relevant procedures, marriage facilities are paid to their legal guardian or custodian.”
What Do the Statistics on Child Marriage Say?
Tayebeh Siavoshi, a member of the Women’s Faction in Parliament, stated in September of this year, based on civil registration statistics, that in the first six months of 1397, the rate of marriage for girls aged 10 to 14 was approximately 7 percent of all marriages, meaning 17,486 cases.
According to a report from the “Cultural Studies Office of the Parliamentary Research Center,” between the years 1391 to 1395, between 4.9 to 5.6 percent of girl marriages were in the age group of 10 to 14 years old. The Director General of Civil Registration of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad had previously reported the registration of 9 cases of marriage under the age of 10 in that province in 1396.
Since many underage marriages in Iran are not registered, there are no accurate statistics available for them.
Society’s Sensitivity to Child Marriage
While a senior official at the Ministry of Sports and Youth has warned about the fourfold increase in early marriages, society has become more sensitive to this issue than before and is taking a strong stance against it.
The latest case of underage marriage that became public and sparked public outrage on social media was the marriage of an 11-year-old girl to a young man in the city of Behbahan in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province in September 1397, which was declared void following public pressure and the follow-up of civil activists and local authorities in the province.
In the final days of 1397, the story of a child’s life made headlines; the story of an 11-year-old girl living in Ilam who had married a 50-year-old man. According to the Imam Ali Society, the girl’s addicted family had arranged her marriage to a 50-year-old man with seven children and another wife for 15 million tomans. The follow-up efforts of this civil organization and the Welfare Organization paid off, and the girl, who was given the name “Raha,” was removed from this life.
Source: DW
