Welfare Organization Prevents Child Marriages

Some activists and organizations are trying to raise the age of marriage, believing that the Shia jurisprudence is a dynamic jurisprudence. Parvaneh Salahshouri the head of the Women’s Fraction in the Islamic Parliament has said “in this regard, we sought the views of both the religious jurists and scholars, in order to draw their approval, and some scholars have had positive views.”

In this regard, Anoushiravan Mohseni Bandpey, the director of the National Welfare Organization said: “there are no accurate figures for child marriages, but if we are informed about one taking place, in view of the Protection of the Rights of Children and Juveniles draft legislation, we can prevent it from taking place.”

He explained, “we have heard that in some regions they do not ask children if they want to marry, and some individuals take their sister or daughter to another person’s house and tell her that she must live with that individual, unfortunately no one can defeat child marriages, but if they alert us we will intervene and follow through to prevent it from taking place.”

He assured that: “In the draft of the Protection of the Rights of Children and Juveniles bill, childhood has been defined up to the age of 18, and now we must see what the parliament will do with this draft.” With regards to the necessity for information dissemination and education on child marriages, Mohseni Bandpey said: “the use of the capacities of social emergency hotline 123 and the Welfare Services Comprehensive Centre in deprived regions is one of the Welfare Organization’s strategies with regards to information dissemination and education on child marriages.