Tag: Child marriage

Child marriage is an example of violence against women

On the shocking statistics of child marriage in Iran, Ali Kazemi, advisor to the legal deputy of the Judiciary Branch announced in March 2019, that between 5 to 600,000 girl children get married every year (in Iran). This figure relates to officially registered child marriage and does not include those which were not officially registered. (The state-run daily Entekhab – March 4, 2019)
The Iranian census organization has released new statistics on child marriage in Iran. According to the new data, 234,000 girls under 15 years of age were registered by this organization as officially married from March 2017 to March 2018 (Persian year 1396). 194 of these girls were under 10 years old at the time of marriage.
Child marriage is an example of violence against women and the worst form of oppression against girls and the future of women in Iran.
The legal age of marriage for girls in Iran is 13. The parliamentary judicial and legal committee rejected the plan to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls in December 2018. (The state-run Fars news agency – December 23, 2018)
According to Farshid Yazdani, one of the officers in charge of the associations supporting children, “Divorce is more harmful for children than for adults. Our society has a negative view of divorced women. Unfortunately, these negative views and abuse are more prevalent in the case of divorced children than for adults. Early marriages take place while persons under 18 years of age are not permitted to do any business. Such marriages thus ruin their future and life.”
Yazdani added, “Poverty is the most important economic factor leading to early marriages.” (The state-run Iran daily newspaper – October 30, 2019)
Physical and psychological harms caused by early marriages inflict irreparable blows on the lives of young girls, particularly pregnancies under 18 years, death of mothers during delivery, depression and occasional suicides. In addition, they lead to social harms like divorce, school dropouts, as well as cultural and economic poverty.