Government responds to question asking what assessment it has made of the implications of the proposed amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law 188, which could lower the legal age for marriage to 9, and the extent to which it aligns with international treaties on the rights of children to which Iraq is a signatory. Minister says he “is analysing the proposed amendments to Iraq’s Personal Status Law”

From: Written Parliamentary Questions and Answers <[email protected]>
Sent: 25 September 2024 15:41
To: ALTON OF LIVERPOOL, Lord <[email protected]>
Subject: Written answer to your QWA HL1017 received from Lord Collins of Highbury, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Lord Collins of Highbury, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL1017):

Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool:
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the proposed amendment to Iraq’s Personal Status Law 188, which could lower the legal age for marriage to nine, and the extent to which it aligns with international treaties on the rights of children to which Iraq is a signatory. (HL1017)

Tabled on: 12 September 2024

Answer:
Lord Collins of Highbury:

The UK is analysing the proposed amendments to Iraq’s Personal Status Law and its implications for women and children’s rights. As we privately engage with a range of Iraqi interlocutors to discuss this, we are emphasising the importance of any amendments’ compatibility with Iraq’s international obligations.

We would condemn any legislative change that would violate international norms, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

Date and time of answer: 25 Sep 2024 at 15:40.