MOSUL TIME RADIO
Yesterday , Tuesday, the United States of America expressed its concern about amending the Iraqi Personal Status Law, considering that these amendments would undermine the rights of women and children .
The American position came through a tweet published yesterday by the US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanski, where she said, “We are concerned about the proposed amendments to the Iraqi Personal Status Law, which would undermine the rights of women and children .”
She added, “We urge Iraqis to engage in a civil dialogue that fully respects freedom of religion or belief and the rights of women and children .”
Through her tweet, the ambassador also shared a previous position by the official spokesman for the US State Department, Vedant Patel, which included the same position .
The law that the Iraqi Parliament is working on has met with opposition from large segments of society, including jurists, lawyers, and women active in family and children’s rights .
(IPT) announced that it had conducted an electronic poll of public opinion inside and outside the country on amending the Personal Status Law, in which more than 60,000 people of both genders participated, with most of them “strongly” rejecting the ongoing amendment attempt in Parliament .
Earlier, Human Rights Watch warned of what it described as “catastrophic repercussions” if this law was passed, and said that the Iraqi parliament is working to amend the country’s personal status law, allowing Iraqi religious authorities to regulate marriage and inheritance matters, instead of state law. .
According to a report by Human Rights Watch, if the amendment is approved, it will have disastrous effects on the rights of women and girls guaranteed under international law, as it will allow the marriage of girls as young as nine years old, undermine the principle of equality under Iraqi law, and remove protections for women in divorce and inheritance. .
The organization urged Iraqi parliamentarians to reject efforts to strip women and girls of legal protections, and to refuse to relinquish the rights they have hard-earned over decades, warning that failure to do so means that current and future generations of Iraqi women will remain suffocated by an oppressive, patriarchal legal system.
