The Iraqi National Day on October 3 coincided with a call not to celebrate, in protest against the Jaafari Code of Personal Status, and what its objectors consider to be a derogation of the rights of women and children, especially in custody, divorce, and marriage.
The "Iraqi Women's Rights" account on the The post was accompanied by a demand for social justice and a hashtag calling for equal custody and guardianship.
The call highlights a dispute over the rules that regulate Iraqi family life. While supporters of the amendment defend the right to choose rulings according to religious belief, human rights organizations warn of weakening the protection of women, and of repercussions on child custody and the marriage of minors.
“A mother has the right to her children.”
Custody was prominent in the objectionable comments on the blog, as Noura Al-Khafaji wrote, denouncing the need to defend the mother’s relationship with her children: “I mean, it is unreasonable, after all the hadiths, novels, literature, poetry, and proverbs that they make against mothers, we must now convince them that the mother has the right to her children.”
She added: "If the child cries for a minute, you can't bear it and give it to his mother."
As for an account called “Rick,” he called for adopting the parents’ ability to care for and protect the child as a criterion for custody, saying: “Custody is supposed to be shared between the father and mother if they are together and do not abuse the child.”
He believed that custody should be transferred to the other party if one of the parents practices violence, with the state intervening to protect the child if he is assaulted by both.
An account called “Saso” supported the law, considering that it protects women’s rights and contributes to reducing divorce rates. He accused some women of marrying and then requesting divorce for reasons he described as trivial, with the aim of obtaining alimony, and he thanked the representatives who voted in his favor.
According to Article 81 of the Code, custody remains with the mother until the child reaches seven years of age, and then it remains with the father until the end of its term. Article 83 stipulates that the mother’s custody will be forfeited if she marries another man.
On the other hand, Article 86 allows the judiciary to transfer custody if the child is harmed due to the custodian’s breach of his duties and does not respond to his obligation to care for him.
Fears that do not end with divorce
In a previous BBC report, Nahla, a pseudonym, recounted her fear of losing custody of her only son, who was 11 years old at the time, five years after her divorce.
She said that she spent about a year or more in the courts to obtain a divorce and ensure a decent life for her son, before she faced a threat from her ex-husband to take him from her based on the amendments.
She asked: “How can a father take care of a child whose mother is responsible for every detail of his life?” stressing that caring for children is not limited to spending, but rather requires presence and attention to their psychological and physical needs.
Her testimony expresses the fear of transferring custody, and does not document that a ruling was actually issued to transfer it.
In October 2025, Human Rights Watch documented the case of another woman who said that her ex-husband requested that the Code be applied to their marriage contract ten years after the divorce, to end her custody of their son. The organization criticizes the possibility of transferring previous marriage contracts to the blog without the wife’s consent or knowledge.
In a legal reading that he published on the
He based his opinion on Article 41 of the Iraqi Constitution, which stipulates the freedom of Iraqis to adhere to their personal status according to their religions, sects, beliefs, or choices.
What is the Jaafari blog?
What is being circulated under the name “Jaafari Law” is related to amending the Iraqi Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, then establishing a detailed code of provisions according to the Shiite Jaafari doctrine.
Parliament approved the amendment on January 21, 2025, and it entered into force on February 17, 2026. It allowed those covered by its provisions to choose the Jaafari code to regulate matters of marriage, divorce, children, and inheritance, instead of the provisions of the 1959 law.
The code was approved in August 2025, and then published in the Official Gazette on October 6 of the same year. Therefore, the current controversy relates to a code that was already issued, after its details had not been resolved when the First Amendment was approved.
Minors and freedom of choice
In a comment on the marriage of underage girls, Dalia compared refusing to allow a child to wear a tattoo and accepting her marriage to an older man, criticizing what she considered to be a contradiction in considering her ability to make decisions.
The issue of marriage age is one of the most contentious aspects of legislation. According to Human Rights Watch, the amendment in early 2025 maintained the age limit stipulated in the Personal Status Law: 18 years, or 15 with judicial permission and specific conditions. But the organization says that the subsequent blog adopted puberty, which may allow the marriage of younger girls.
On the other hand, the Iraqi delegation confirmed during a discussion before the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in February 2026, that the age of marriage is 18 years, with marriage allowed at 15 under conditions. He defended the legislation as allowing citizens to choose personal status provisions according to their beliefs.
Divorce and violence in debate
Meanwhile, Taghreed wrote that a woman needs to be exposed to fractures and deformities in order to have the right to file a complaint against her husband, in a comment in which she expressed her fear of a decline in protection from violence.
However, the articles relating to separation due to assault do not stipulate this condition. Article 72 deals with the continuation of assault by beating or otherwise, the husband’s abstention from lawful intercourse, and divorce, while Article 73 requires the approval of the religious authority to effect divorce in specific cases. These are provisions for ending a marriage, and are not in themselves conditions for filing a criminal complaint.
The criticism extended to the role of the clergy. An account holder called “Laila” said that girls asked clerics, during a live broadcast, to talk about the blog, but they faced being ignored or banned, according to her account.
