Over 9000 girl children, 10-14, were married in Iran in spring 2021.
The National Statistics Center of Iran announced that 9,753 young girls between 10 and 14 were married in spring 2021. (The state-run ISNA news agency – November 22, 2021)
During the same period, 45,522 girls between 15 and 19 years old were also married.
Young girls between 10 to 14 years old gave birth to 969 infants, and young women between 15 and 19 years old gave birth to 44,896 infants.
The Sistan and Baluchestan Province tops the provinces in child marriages.
The marriages of over 9000 girl children between 10 to 14 in spring 2021 show a 32% increase compared to the same period last year.
Early marriage of over 9000 girl children, an example of violence against women
Early marriage in Iran is among the most evident examples of violence against women in the mullahs’ misogynistic rule.
Child marriage means rape. When a grown man marries a child, he abuses that child. Marriage must be after the end of puberty; otherwise, it can have no meaning other than rape.
23,698 marriages of 10–14-year-old girls were registered during 9 months in 2020.
In Iran, 100 marriages of children under 15 are registered every 24 hours (The state-run ISNA news agency – February 5, 2021).
70% of child marriages lead to divorce
Meanwhile, according to the state-run ROKNA news agency (July 27, 2021), 70% of child marriages lead to divorce.
“We are currently facing a 60% to 80% failure in early marriages, which often leads to divorce,” said Davood Hezarei, a psychologist.
He cited depression and anxiety as consequences of early marriage for girls. Instead of studying and having a normal childhood, these girls are forced to face life challenges and suffer from mental disorders as a result.
Fatemeh Zolghadr, a former member of the Majlis, said many families decide to marry off their underage children as a means of reducing family expenses amid economic poverty. Unfortunately, the end of this tragedy is the rising number of divorced children. In several cases, divorced children have run away from home or attempted suicide, leading to serious injuries (The state-run Khabarfori website –August 2, 2021).
Early marriages in Iran are at least 5 times the official number
Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar, a social harm researcher, commented on statistics from the National Statistics Center: “This is the tip of the iceberg of statistics related to early marriage. The actual number of children married is 5 to 6 times the announced number” (The state-run ROKNA News Agency – July 25, 2021).
Mahboubfar added that a large number of these forced marriages, not registered due to the reluctance of families to come forward, involve girls under the age of 14. Mahboubfar stressed that to combat the phenomenon of child marriage, “this issue should be criminalized in the laws of the country.”
