The ring; look at early marriage in Iran

The ring; look at early marriage in Iran

A new book about early marriage in Iran was published in Persian recently in Iran in titled of “the Ring”. This book was written by Rayehe Mozafarian which opened a campaign to stop early marriage in Iran. This book and campaign are intended to find and reveal the facts related to child marriage and to look at the causes of this issue.

Article 1041 of the Iranian Civil Code states the age of marriage for girls is 13 and boys 15. In addition, if the child’s guardian (father or grandfather) requests and the court conclude that she/he is adultenough to be married off, the child can be married even at an earlier age. Furthermore, in September 2013, a bill on adoption of children under state care passed through the Iranian parliament and approved by the guardian Council and consequently became law on 23 october 2013. Article 27 of the Bill sanctions the marriage of the adopted child to the man who is considered to be her father and raised by him.

According to the ages mentioned in this Article, some new important subjects such as marriage and divorce for girls and boys, age distribution of these marriages and divorces, child-household, child-parental responsibilities, child-widowhood and the potential impact of early marriage on infant and maternal mortality were analyzed by statistics and exact figures. So this statistical look can help to find the causes and motives of happening these early marriages. Because these data clear the situation of early marriage in the past and present, perhaps help us to predict future trends and take step to find a solution.

Rayehe Mozafarian writes in her notes about this book and research: “child marriage causes and their parents’ motivations are important to me. Early marriage is seen everywhere and in any way is not new and phenomenon. Unfolding different and impact aspects of child marriage on society are newfound. There are various and dissimilar reasons and factors to keep continue early marriages for girls and boys in all around the world”.

With the conditions that exist in the international community, the analysis of the situation of Iran is very important for adopting more detailed program for the future of children at risk.

Campaign ofStop Early Marriage in Iran is working on promoting knowledge more than a year. Orange balloons are a symbol of this campaign because child marriage and its complications should not be focused only on the girls. The symbol should not be stereotyped and dolls for girls or cars for boys should not be selected! There is interest in the balloon in both sexes and on the other hand represents childhood period. Also early marriage should not be considered between the same ages. In some cases, the children are getting married with older partners and it is happened for both sexes-girls and boys.

For more information take a look at Mozafarian`s report for UN Human Rights Council:

http://www.stopfgmmideast.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Iran-FGM-Child-Marriage-2014.pdf

 

Over 40,000 Girls under Age 15 Married Each Year in Iran

Over 40,000 Girls under Age 15 Married Each Year in Iran

Official Iranian government statistics show that tens of thousands of girls under the age of 15 are married off by their families each year in Iran.

The numbers may actually even be quite higher. Many families in Iran do not register underage marriages, or do so illegally, according to attorney Shima Ghoosheh, who spoke to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

On August 17, 2015, Majid Arjomandi, the head of Emergency Social Services at Iran’s State Welfare Organization,said that uninformed families tend to marry off their daughters before they reach 15. “Unfortunately that’s the reason why in recent years 360 girls under 14 have been married and ten of them were under 10,” he said.

However, Arjomandi’s statistics are dwarfed by other reports. On August 18, 2015, the Shahrvand newspaper published areport that put the number of registered underage marriages at more than 40,000 in 2014 alone.

“The National Organization for Civil Registration statistics show that in the past year, 40,404 girls under the age of 15 and 32,587 boys under the age of 20 have registered their marriages. According to the most recent statistics of the National Organization for Civil Registration, 419,488 girls under the age of 15 and 484,885 boys under the age of 20 got married between 2004 and 2014,” Shahrvand reported.

Lawyer Shima Ghoosheh told the Campaign that the official marriage age for girls is 13, because the government considers them to be sexually and mentally mature. “Thirteen-year-old girls can legally get married. But even if a girl is under 13, her father can ask a judge’s permission for her to marry,” she said.

Ghoosheh added that it is more important to raise social awareness before raising the legal marriage age to 18. “If people aren’t culturally prepared, and unaware and mistrustful of children’s rights, they will break the law,” she told the Campaign.

In his 2014report to the United Nations, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, Dr. Ahmad Shaheed, said “at least 48,580 girls between 10 and 14 years of age were married in 2011, 48,567 of whom were reported to have had at least one child before they reached 15 years of age. Some 40,635 marriages of girls under 15 years of age were also registered between March 2012 and March 2013, of which more than 8,000 involved men who were at least 10 years older. Furthermore, at least 1,537 marriages of girls under 10 years of age were registered in 2012, which is a significant increase compared with the 716 registered between March 2010 and March 2011.”

In late 2013, thestate-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) published official statistics from the National Organization for Civil Registration  that showed births by mothers under the age of 19 made up 8.1 percent of all births in the country. According to this report, in 2012 there were four births by girls under the age of 10, 17 births by girls under the age of 11, 50 births by girls under the age of 12, 275 births by girls under the age of 13, 1,289 births by girls under the age of 14, 4,377 births by girls under the age of 15, 10,637 births by girls under the age of 16, 19,881 births by girls under the age of 17,  and 31,494 births by girls under the age of 18.

Based on latest charts published by the National Organization for Civil Registration, Shahrvandreported that the highest number of marriages in 2014 took place between men ages 20-24 with women ages 15-19. In the same year there were 11 marriages between girls under 15 years of age with men between the ages of 55 and 59.

Mass Child Marriage Ceremony in Iran Denied by Local Officials

Mass Child Marriage Ceremony in Iran Denied by Local Officials

Fifty high school students were married in a mass ceremony in the Iranian city of Parsian, according to local news reports. But city officials have been downplaying the event and distancing themselves from the idea of encouraging child marriage.

The “celebration” was first mentioned by the chairperson of the Wedding Committee in Parsian’s Women’s Affair Department. Azar Khosravani said the event was aimed at “facilitating marriage according to Iranian and Islamic norms and culture,” according to theVaghaye daily.

An employee of Parsian’s education department claimed to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the event was only a gathering of married students and the department had no involvement in organizing it.

But education officials who support the practice of marriage at a young age had attended the ceremony held at the governor’s office in late February.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous, admitted to the Campaign that marriage among high school students was a “serious problem” throughout Hormozgan province located in southern Iran.

News of the mass marriage ceremony raised concerns that local officials were directly or indirectly promoting child marriage. But Khosravani claimed the students had already been married in an interview with Iran’s official state-controlled news channel.

“Fifty married students from girls’ schools, along with their families, attended the ceremony. Some officials, such as the Friday Prayer leader of Parsian as well as the town governor gave speeches and presents were given to the married students. Some philanthropists and supporters of making marriages easier were also there,” shetold the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Parsian’s Friday Prayer leader, Hojatoleslam Hadi Mirzaie, has been unabashedly supportive of what he calls the “Islamic lifestyle.”

“The culture of easy marriage should grow and spread within society and young people and their families should lower their demands to allow this divine religious matter to blossom,” hesaid.

According to official Iranianstatistics, tens of thousands of girls under the age of 15 are married off by their families each year.

Reporting on the high number of child marriages in Hormozgan, the Qanoon news site published official statistics showing that there were five marriages of girls under the age of 10, and 530 under the age of 14, in the province during the Iranian year ending March 21, 2011.

The acting head of Parsian’s education department, Mahmoud Ravan,told the local ANA news agency on March 1 that the ceremony at the governor’s office was not officially sanctioned by the department but was organized for students who were “either married or engaged” to inform them about the benefits of easy marriage.

“Most of the married students in our district are in high school or junior high school, and sometimes in elementary school. Having these married students studying next to unmarried students has caused some problems,” said Ravan.

The United Nations has categorized child marriage as ahuman rights violation. Civil and children’s rights activists in Iran have opposed religious conservatives who advocate child marriage.

A top official from the government of President Hassan Rouhani, who promised to improve human rights during his 2013 presidential campaign, has requested an investigation into the report.

“In the past couple of years we have received worrying reports about girls getting married before the legal age, even some under the age of 10,”said Shahindokht Molaverdi, vice president in charge of Women and Family Affairs, on February 29.

“We have requested the Ministry of Justice to present a report to the vice president’s office about girls having early and illegal underage marriages. This matter has been referred to the National Center for Children’s Rights for investigation,” she said.

Experts say the Iranian government’s marriage statistics are imprecise because underage couples who do not register their union cannot be tracked and counted.

Attorney Shima Ghoosheh previouslytold the Campaign that many families avoid the civil registry office and only have religious marriage ceremonies that do not require official registration, or register the marriages illegally.

Ghoosheh added that the official marriage age for girls in Iran is 13 because the government considers them to be sexually and mentally mature.

“Thirteen-year-old girls can legally get married. But even if a girl is under 13, her father can ask a judge’s permission for her to marry,” she told the Campaign in an interview.

Sharvand newspaperreported updated government statistics on child marriage on August 18, 2015: “The National Organization for Civil Registration statistics show that in the past year, 40,404 girls under the age of 15 and 32,587 boys under the age of 20 have registered their marriages. According to the most recent statistics of the National Organization for Civil Registration, 419,488 girls under the age of 15 and 484,885 boys under the age of 20 got married between 2004 and 2014.”

Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, reported in 2014 that “at least 48,580 girls between 10 and 14 years of age were married in 2011, 48,567 of whom were reported to have had at least one child before they reached 15 years of age.”

“Some 40,635 marriages of girls under 15 years of age were also registered between March 2012 and March 2013, of which more than 8,000 involved men who were at least 10 years older. Furthermore, at least 1,537 marriages of girls under 10 years of age were registered in 2012, which is a significant increase compared with the 716 registered between March 2010 and March 2011,” said Shaheed in his report to the UN.

Refrence

?Is Child Marriage Legal in Iran

?Is Child Marriage Legal in Iran

Child marriage is on the rise in Iran, according to a report published by theIranian Student Correspondents Association.

The practice is on the wane among Iran’s wealthier families, but among poorer communities in rural areas, girls under 13 are being forced to marry to alleviate their families’ economic hardship. Though it is less common, boys also marry at a young age in some areas of Iran.

In 2014, the organization Justice for Iran appealed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to take action on the issue of forced marriages among underage girls in the country.

So what is the legal age for marriage in Iran? Does Iranian law actually allow children aged 13 and even younger to marry?

Iranian lawyer Mohammad Olyaeifard spoke to one of his clients about how underage marriage has affected his family, in particular his sisters. His client asked Olyaeifard to explain provisions for underage marriage in Iranian law and whether he had any legal grounds to object against the impending marriage of his sister, aged ۱۱٫

“I am from a big family,” my client Hashem said. “I have three brothers and four sisters and we live in a village near Mashhad. My family is not well educated and they work in farming. But I continued my education and I am now studying agricultural engineering.

The big problem in our lives is the early marriage of my siblings, which was forced by my father. He is extremely religious and traditional and believes that, according to sharia, marriage at a young age has many benefits and prevents moral corruption.

“According to these beliefs, he married off my three brothers and my three sisters at an early age. These underage marriages led to problems, which are more severe for my sisters. His efforts to force me to marry were of course not successful, as I left for the city to continue my education and was outside his reach. My worries are mainly about my youngest sister, Marzieh. She is 11 years old but is big for her age and for this reason, my father has decided to marry her off at an age even earlier than my other sisters.

“Marzieh is a child and cannot object. Like me, she is interested in school and education. She does not want to marry this early and lives in fear. My siblings and I protest against this decision, but we cannot stop him. Our mother is helpless as well. Please enlighten me about the legal standing of such marriages.”

I told Hashem that before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Article 1041 of the 1934 Civil Code established that girls could marry at ۱۵; for boys, it was 18. It was possible to marry earlier, but only by obtaining a recommendation from a legal official, subject to the court’s approval. Girls under 13 and boys younger than 15 were not allowed to marry at all, not even with their father’s permission and a court ruling. Only the court could decide in cases of girls under 15 and boys under 18; parental consent was not enough.

The Civil Code of 1974 raised the legal age of marriage. Article 23 of the 1974 Family Protection Act changed the provisions of the old Article 1041. “The marriage of girls before they are 18 and boys before they are 20 is not allowed,” read the article. “But if it is justifiable, an exception can be made for a girl, as long as she is not younger than 15 years of age, provided that she is physically and mentally ready, a legal official recommends it, and his recommendation is approved by the court in the relevant municipality.” The article goes on to say that anyone who marries a person “who has not reached the legal age for marriage” is acting in violation of the provisions of the article and can be prosecuted and punished according to Article 3 of the 1937 Marriage Act.

From Solar to Lunar and Back

After the revolution, the age for marriage was changed yet again. The first change took place under the Revolutionary Provisional Government. Article 23 of Family Protection Act was repealed and the age for marriage was lowered to 15 lunar years for girls and 18 lunar years for boys, effectively bringing the age even lower than the 1934 law, which was based on the solar calendar.

But it did not stop there. In 1983, two provisions were added to Article 1210 of theCivil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which lowered the legal age for marriage even further because it set the threshold at puberty. “The age for the majority of boys is 15 lunar years and for girls, it is nine lunar years,” the provision stated.

In the same year, Article 1041 was amended to include the proclamation that “marriage before puberty is prohibited.” But it added that marriage before puberty was allowed if the guardian of the child granted permission and “proper consideration” was given to the “ward’s interest.”

How the “ward’s interest” was judged or assessed was left to the aforementioned guardian.

But individuals do not reach puberty at the exact same age. To do away with the resulting confusion and controversies, in 2000, the Iranian parliament again amended Article 1041. However, the Guardian Council, which has the power to reject laws that it deems to be contrary to the constitution or sharia, rejected the bill. The issue was referred to the Expediency Council, which has supervisory power over all branches of the government.

Eventually, in 2002, the Expediency Council approved a new provision. It reads: “the marriage of a girl before she is 13 solar years old or a boy under the age of 15 solar years can only take place with the permission of the boy or girl’s guardian. Then the relevant court must decide that the marriage is prudent”.

Since then, the marriage of girls under the age of 13 full solar years has been governed by this article. The article also establishes that, before reaching the required age, girls and boys cannot marry unless the guardian permits it and the court approves, even if they have reached puberty. In other words, it is the court that decides. It was for this reason that the Guardian Council originally objected to the amendment to Article 1041.

Just say no?

“Are there any legal provisions to prevent the marriage of a girl under the age of 13 if her father has consented?” Hashem asked.

Article 1062 of the Civil Code, I said, specifies that “marriage can only take place when it has been proposed and accepted in words that explicitly convey the intention of marriage.”

By law, then, a girl can object to the marriage, and prevent it. But since girls under the age of 13 are normally dominated by the wishes and decisions of their fathers, and cannot realistically object, the only hope of preventing such marriages is through the courts. The court can refuse permission if it deems the marriage to be against the interests of the girl, as stipulated by Article 1041 of the Civil Code.

“Are there legal punishments for violating the law?” Hashem asked.

I said that, yes, that underArticle 646 of the penal code, violation of the law can result in punishment. Article 646 stipulates that marriage “before puberty without the permission of the guardian is forbidden. If a man violates Article 1041 of the civil code, and its amendment, and marries a girl before she reaches the age of puberty, he shall be sentenced to six months to two years’ imprisonment.”

Of course, it is important to keep in mind that this law supported an article from the civil code that was amended in 2002. Nevertheless, by law, it appears that the punishment for marrying girls who have not reached puberty without the father’s permission is still in effect.

But, overall, under Iranian law, there is no minimum age for marriage.

Surprised to hear about the laws governing the marriage of girls under 13, Hashem left our consultation, hopeless and dejected.

Refrence

Child Marriage Must Be Redefined!

Child Marriage Must Be Redefined!

Ali Tayefi

sociologist and children`s rights active

The latest report of Global Foundation, “Save the Children”, found that every year more than 4.5 million children younger than 15 years are forced to marry. It means every seven seconds one child marries! Here, I show why the concept of forced child marriage should be redefined. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, no one can enforce children under 18 years old to marry and everyone, especially a child has right to decide about his/her body and life.

Child marriage is a kind of sexual harassment which happens in the name of custom, tradition, religion and law. Therefore, forced child marriage should be called “child rape and Pedophilia”. My thesis is that UNICEF should redefine the concept according to the related conventions and commitments which many governments have ratified. Some of my arguments are: 1. In this way, nobody can abuse the tradition or local customs to enforce children to marry an adult. 2. The common definition of pedophilia is the abuse of prepubescent child, but from a sociological perspective it should be redefine based on the social age not the biological recognition of the body. The old definition of the pedophilia cannot protect the children who are at the risk of adult sexual harassment by the name of marriage. 3. By renaming this concept, UNICEF and social activists would have a stronger tool to forbid sexual harassment of children in the name of customs and moral, so they can use this modern and humanistic moral approach against the old, non-humanistic and traditional one. 4. This terminology can change child marriage from an honorable tradition to a shameful behavior. Consequently, family and community members will face a moral challenge by arranging a child marriage.