Iraq
A woman holds a sign protesting women being deprived of their marriage rights in Tahrir Square, Baghdad on August 8, 2024. Photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 5,700 cases of domestic violence were recorded in Iraq during the first three months of 2026 alone, the country’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) reported on Wednesday, also registering more than 17,200 divorce cases and noting that the figures do not include the Kurdistan Region.
In figures shared with Rudaw, the Council - which serves as the administrative backbone of Iraq’s legal system - said Iraqi courts recorded “5,740 incidents of domestic violence between January and April” this year, adding that “17,225 divorce cases were registered.”
Out of the nationwide total of divorces, Baghdad recorded the highest number with 7,138 cases. Courts in the Iraqi capital also documented 6,757 out-of-court marriage contracts that required retroactive legal registration.
As for domestic abuse cases, 4,606 involved violence against women, while 799 concerned violence against the elderly and 335 were cases of child abuse.
Notably, the figures do not include the Kurdistan Region, where the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) General Directorate of Combating Violence Against Women and Families (GDCVAW) said it received just under 12,500 domestic abuse complaints in 2025.
Fenik Shafiq, head of the GDCVAW, told Rudaw in mid-March that “the Directorate recorded 12,456 complaints in 2025 alone,” including 3,500 cases of physical violence and 3,000 related to family disputes, warning that the trend has risen sharply.
Moreover, the federal SJC’s data showed that in the first three months of 2026, the Iraqi judiciary granted 1,694 legal exemptions for early marriage nationwide.
Baghdad’s eastern Rusafa district - known for its higher population density and greater economic disadvantage compared to the western Karkh district - ranked first with 266 approved underage marriage permits. The northern Nineveh province came second with 218 permits.
The Iraqi parliament in January 2025 passed amendments to the Personal Status Law allowing Iraqis to choose between civil law and religious codes in family matters. The move prompted concerns about the emergence of two parallel legal systems within one country and the potential undermining of the principle of equality before the law.
A further controversy surrounding the law centered on the potential lowering of the marriage age. While the final text of the amendment kept the legal marriage age at 18 - or 15 with a judge’s permission - it granted religious authorities the power to draft their own “codes of jurisprudence.” This sparked fears that marriages involving girls as young as nine could be permitted under certain traditional interpretations and legalized through unregistered marriage contracts that the state is now required to recognize.
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