Child Marriage in Iran; Questions from Cultural Commission Members to Qom Clerics

Two members of the Cultural Commission of the Iranian Parliament, Tayebe Siavashi and Fatemeh Zolghadr, met with Ayatollah Nouri Hamadani, a prominent cleric in Qom, to seek solutions regarding the marriage age for girls. Child marriage has also been a topic of inquiry from members of the Cultural Committee to Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi. According to ISNA news agency, Siavashi and Zolghadr presented a written report on child marriage to Ayatollah Nouri Hamadani and requested guidance on the matter. The report does not specify what response this conservative cleric provided to the Cultural Commission members. However, in his marriage rulings, this cleric permits the actions of a "father or paternal grandfather" to marry off a "minor child," emphasizing that "if this marriage does not lead to corruption," the child cannot annul it after reaching maturity. According to the latest amendments to Iran's Civil Code, the minimum marriage age is 13 for girls and 15 for boys, but marriages below these ages can occur with "guardian consent" and "court approval." ISNA also reported that the issue of girls marrying under the age of 13 was raised by one of the Cultural Commission members with Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, who emphasized that "I have not and will not grant permission for this in terms of fatwa." He highlighted the importance of "intellectual maturity and decision-making ability" in marriage, stating that while such marriages may have been permissible in the past, they are not acceptable now due to the associated issues. He declared that until a girl reaches intellectual maturity and has decision-making capacity, she cannot marry, and such marriages are invalid. According to Iran's Civil Registration statistics, over 37,000 girls under 15 were married in the year 1394 (2015), and research indicates that over 90% of these marriages were pre-arranged, with 75% of young brides dropping out of school after marriage. Recently, Shahla Ezzazi, head of the Women's Studies Department at the Iranian Sociological Association, stated that child marriage statistics in Iran have increased by 10,000 cases compared to the previous year. Ezzazi, a faculty member at Allameh Tabatabai University, reported at a seminar titled "Child Marriage" that there are 43,000 marriages involving girls aged 10 to 15 in the country, with 2,000 of these girls and boys having separated from their spouses or becoming widowed. Ezzazi noted that more than half of child marriages occur in urban areas. Previously, in Esfand 1394 (March 2016), Shahindokht Molaverdi, the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, mentioned that "in the last couple of years, we have received alarming statistics regarding the marriage of girls before reaching legal age, and we have even witnessed marriages of girls under 10 years old." In this regard, in Bahman 1394 (January 2016), the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child requested Iran to review its laws related to child marriage.