The Problem of Early Marriages in the Yezidi Society in Iraq
One of the problems in Yezidi society is early marriage. Yezidis living in the USSR gave their daughters in marriage at a minor age, after the Soviet Union collapsed, in the new independent states there were changes in the civil law on human rights, namely in such countries as Georgia and Armenia, they started to fine and sometimes even initiate criminal proceedings for violating the law on early marriages. This law managed to reduce the problems of early marriages not only in the Caucasus, but also among representatives of national minorities.
The same problem still exists in the Yezidi society of Iraq, as a result of which the number of divorces has doubled, namely in the district of Sinun among the Yezidi minority.
According to the agency «KirkukNow», in the first five months of 2022, 3-4 formal divorce cases happened each week, while the number of divorce cases that happened weekly over the same period last year was no more than two.
The reasons of increasing number of divorces are undoubtedly early marriages, and the reasons for the exacerbation of divorce processes are the lack of employment opportunities, the lack of services and the hardships of life.
In Iraq the legal age of marriage for girls is 18, but a judge is allowed to legalize the marriage of girls aged 15 or over, if several conditions were fulfilled.
«Early marriage is the main cause of divorce because most of them face various problems after several years of marriage», said Adla Bakr, Yazidi activist from Sinjar who defends women's rights. She mentions that part of this problem is family. Family doesn't help their children to understand what is marriage and how to choose the right person.
There are no official and accurate statistics of the number of early marriages in Iraq, but activists and non-governmental organizations say that they are steadily increasing due to the difficult living conditions that the country has experienced in the past few years, the ISIS attack and the subsequent financial crises.
According to some reports, Yazidis make up 30% of the total 664,000 displaced people in Kurdistan. The fate of half of them is unknown.
Sinuni is considered as one of the largest districts in Sinjar in terms of population, the population of the district is estimated at about 170 000 people, according to activists, the population density is the reason of the high divorce rate..
Ammar Aziz - Ninevia
Tags: #yazidisinfo #newsyazidis #iraqyazidis #aboutyazidis #humanrights
The Problem of Early Marriages in the Yezidi Society in Iraq
One of the problems in Yezidi society is early marriage. Yezidis living in the USSR gave their daughters in marriage at a minor age, after the Soviet Union collapsed, in the new independent states there were changes in the civil law on human rights, namely in such countries as Georgia and Armenia, they started to fine and sometimes even initiate criminal proceedings for violating the law on early marriages. This law managed to reduce the problems of early marriages not only in the Caucasus, but also among representatives of national minorities.
The same problem still exists in the Yezidi society of Iraq, as a result of which the number of divorces has doubled, namely in the district of Sinun among the Yezidi minority.
According to the agency «KirkukNow», in the first five months of 2022, 3-4 formal divorce cases happened each week, while the number of divorce cases that happened weekly over the same period last year was no more than two.
The reasons of increasing number of divorces are undoubtedly early marriages, and the reasons for the exacerbation of divorce processes are the lack of employment opportunities, the lack of services and the hardships of life.
In Iraq the legal age of marriage for girls is 18, but a judge is allowed to legalize the marriage of girls aged 15 or over, if several conditions were fulfilled.
«Early marriage is the main cause of divorce because most of them face various problems after several years of marriage», said Adla Bakr, Yazidi activist from Sinjar who defends women's rights. She mentions that part of this problem is family. Family doesn't help their children to understand what is marriage and how to choose the right person.
There are no official and accurate statistics of the number of early marriages in Iraq, but activists and non-governmental organizations say that they are steadily increasing due to the difficult living conditions that the country has experienced in the past few years, the ISIS attack and the subsequent financial crises.
According to some reports, Yazidis make up 30% of the total 664,000 displaced people in Kurdistan. The fate of half of them is unknown.
Sinuni is considered as one of the largest districts in Sinjar in terms of population, the population of the district is estimated at about 170 000 people, according to activists, the population density is the reason of the high divorce rate..
Ammar Aziz - Ninevia
Tags: #yazidisinfo #newsyazidis #iraqyazidis #aboutyazidis #humanrights
