Critics say that the amendment, which would create separate family law tracks for Sunni and Shiite Iraqis, would allow legal child marriage and harm women’s status.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-813359A proposed amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law is causing controversy, especially among women’s rights supporters. The amended law would allow men to decide upon marriage whether to follow Sunni or Shiite family law and would give clerics unprecedented legal authority. Critics say it would deprive Shiite women of basic rights and even open the door to child marriage.
The draft amendment would change inheritance law in Iraq by mandating that inheritance operate by sect. Under the current law, which is based on Sunni inheritance customs, a woman whose husband dies inherits his estate. The amended law would allow women in Sunni marriages to inherit from their husbands but would ban women in Shiite marriages from doing so, in accordance with Shiite custom.
Custody law is also differentiated by sect under the amendment. Sunni custody customs, which currently apply to all Iraqis, mandate that a divorced woman maintain custody of her children until they reach puberty, at which point the children can decide which parent to live with. Under Shiite law, the children’s father automatically receives custody unless he chooses otherwise.
