An Iraqi poll shows that over 70 percent of over 60,000 participants stood against the controversial amendments proposed for the Personal Status Law in the Iraqi parliament.

The poll, conducted by the Iraq Polling Team (IPT), was taken by over 61,000 Iraqis of both sexes over the period of two days.

The results of the poll indicated that 73.2 percent of responders said that they were against the amendment to the law, 23.8 percent were pro-amendment, and 3.1 percent remained neutral.

In another part of the poll, 81.6 percent of participants said they preferred a Personal Status Law that was of a civil nature as opposed to a religious one.

The Iraqi parliament concluded the first reading of the amendment to the Personal Status Law on August 4, leaving it one step closer to a vote.

The amendment motion has been slammed by rights organizations and activists both within Iraq and abroad.

Under the new amendments, marriage contracts would no longer remain exclusive to the court, but rather, it would allow religious marriage contracts to be validated. 

Such amendment affects several aspects of women’s lives in the country, reducing their rights to inheritance, custody of children, and what is considered by many as the most absurd of all, would make way for girls as young as nine years old to be married off.

The bill, backed mainly by male Shiite MPs, is claimed to safeguard young girls from “immorality,” protect their “honors” and “decrease divorce rates”.

In a report on Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) slammed the amendment motion.

“The Iraqi parliament’s passage of this bill would be a devastating step backward for Iraqi women and girls and the rights they have fought hard to enshrine in law,” HRW’s Iraq researcher Sarah Sanbar said, adding that “formally legalizing child marriage would rob countless girls of their futures and well-being. Girls belong in school and on the playground, not in a wedding dress.”

This is the third time efforts rise to pass such an amendment, previous attempts were in 2014 and 2017, both of which failed.

Several Iraqi women MPs have voiced their concern against such an amendment and have formed an Alliance called 188 in opposition to the bill.

Several protests have been held across different provinces in opposition to the bill.