In a heartbreaking incident, 14-year-old Shima Rameshk, a victim of child marriage, took her own life on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, in Marjanabad, Iran. Originally from the village of Sheikhlar near Bukan, Shima ended her life in the home she shared with her husband. Reports indicate that she hanged herself, succumbing to the immense pressure and dissatisfaction caused by her forced marriage.
Shima’s tragic death occurred only a year after she was coerced into marrying an older man named Mansour Jagan at the age of 13, following relentless pressure from her family. Her body was discovered 48 hours later and returned to her family by the authorities on Friday, August 30.
The tragic case of Shima Rameshk sheds light on the alarming issue of child marriage in Iran. According to the Iranian National Statistics Center (NSC), 25,900 girls and 15 boys under 15 got married in Iran between March 2022 and March 2023.
The semi-official daily, Hammihan reported on October 19, 2023, that during the same period, 1,392 infants were born from mothers under 15 years old, and six from fathers under 15 years.
Sociologists in Iran say the regime encourages and promotes marriages of children because they encourage population growth. It adopted a Population Growth Plan in November 2021 under Ebrahim Raisi.
Marriage under the age of 18 is considered a violation of children’s rights, a violation of human rights, and violence against women and girls. Although it remains legal under the country’s constitution, activists argue that the real numbers of child marriages are significantly higher than official records show.
The Iranian regime is not transparent in announcing statistics and its goal is essentially to cover up the depth and dimensions of the disasters in the country.
A few years ago, one of the Judiciary officials said on average, between 500,000 and 600,000 underage girls get married in Iran per year. This figure does not account for the many unregistered marriages. (Ali Kazemi, the state-run daily Entekhab – March 4, 2019)
Alarmingly, Iranian adolescents make up more than 7% of the country’s annual suicides, according to the Forensic Medicine Organization. The issue of suicide, fueled by Iran’s multifaceted crises, has intensified in recent years, not only among children and teenagers but also among workers, students, and even nurses and physicians.
