The reactionary amendment to the Personal Status Law must be dropped

On 1/21/2025, the Parliament in Iraq passed the vote on the amendment of the Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, within some other laws, namely the General Amnesty Law and the Law of returning Real Estate to Its Owners, in a reactionary triangular deal between the dominant Islamic-sectarian and nationalist forces within Parliament, and as an expression of the reactionary and opportunistic nature of these forces and their quest to achieve political gains at the expense of women, children and society in general.

This amendment constitutes an aggressive misogynistic policy and a fatal blow to the rights and freedoms of women and children of Iraq by the ruling political Islam forces, amidst an almost absolute rule of the militia, tribal, and religious forces that control the fate of the masses and society, and their domination over all the institutions of the bourgeois state and the existing Islamic and nationalist political system.

The latest amendment, inspired by the Jaafari school of jurisprudence and founded on a sectarian basis, ensures the consolidation of the grip of the religious and sectarian establishment, in partnership with the forces and parties of political Islam, over the lives and fates of millions of citizens. It will give them a legal framework as self-appointed authorities in charge of marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance, and other matters, resulting in the enslavement of women and the legalisation of the criminal marriage of young girls (as young as 9 years) while exerting their savagery on all aspects of women’s personal and public lives and killing children’s hopes of enjoying a free and happy life. It further allows for the deepening and widening of the sectarian division within society.

The 188 Alliance, which was formed a few months ago in opposition to, and campaigned extensively against, this amendment, was unable to achieve its goal of preventing its passage in parliament, mainly due to the uncompromising insistence of the ruling Islamic bourgeois forces and their vested political and ideological interests rooted in the legislation of the amendment, and the blatant anti-women deals between the parliamentary blocs from various nationalist and Islamic orientations and others, and the Shiite political Islam blocs, to secure the passage of the amendment. This experience has shown the extent of the damage caused by the illusion of seeking help from parliamentarians and parties within the government, in the struggle against passing the draft law amendment.

The enactment of laws that stifle public and private rights and freedoms, and the suppression of any protest movement against them, have become the most important means of the ruling sectarian-nationalist authority, to tighten its control. It suffers from deep & multiple crises and divisions. Whenever it is exposed to pressure from the masses of workers, toilers, women, and youth, against unemployment and impoverishment, and from those demanding rights, improving living conditions, providing public services,´-or-whenever it feels in danger as a result of the rise of the emancipatory and revolutionary protest movement, the more it proceeds to further silencing the voices of protest and deprivation of rights.

Standing against the reactionary amendment of the personal status law is one of the most important priorities for the socialist and labor forces and the women s movement, not only at the level of Iraq but also at the level of the Middle East region, where the masses suffer from the dominance of the forces of political Islam and patriarchy in various aspects of economic, political, social and cultural life.

The Organisation of the Communist Alternative in Iraq stands firmly, side by side with the women s emancipation movement, the labor movement, all communists and freedom fighters, and various social groups affected by the implementation of this amendment, to force a retreat on the government and parliament and the law amendment.

The Organisation of the Communist Alternative in Iraq

22/1/2025

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