Iran’s top official on women’s affairs encourages child marriage in a speech to young schoolgirls.
Ensieh Khazali, the presidential directorate for Women and Family Affairs director, encouraged child marriage during an Iftar ceremony at a girls’ school in Tehran.
Addressing the 9-year-old schoolgirls, she said, “Begin planning for the life and family you want to have from this moment.”
On April 21, 2022, the state-run Sharq daily dedicated its front-page photo to Khazali’s meeting with schoolgirls fasting for the first time.
“The invitation of 9-year-old girls to marriage and childbearing was raised with them while many of these children did not understand what Khazali meant,” wrote Sharq daily. “Perhaps, last night they slept while holding their dolls without knowing that this was a practice to embrace their children soon as instructed by Khazali.”
Sharq daily introduced Ensieh Khazali as such: Ensieh Khazali wore her wedding dress at a young age. She advocates child marriage. She is happy with getting married at 16 and being a child mother. However, as a child, she could obtain the right to divorce and the conditions required to support a teenage bride. Many Iranian girls have to dream about these rights. Many children in poor areas are forced to marry so their fathers can earn a worthy dowry.”
Child marriage is a tragedy that has found its way to Iran’s press and public media.
The National Statistics Center has registered marriages of over 131,000 under-15 Iranian girls over five years, more than 7,500 in the summer of 2021.
The state-run Tejaratnews.com published information on March 29, 2022, indicating an increase in this ominous social phenomenon.
Tejaratnews.com listed the figures available on the marriages of girls under 15 years of age as the following: “33,371 in 2017; 30,532 in 2018; 28,412 in 2019, 31,518 in 2020; and 7,529 in 2021.”
The data indicated that 791 infants were born to mothers between 10 and 14 from March 21, 2021, until October 8, 2021. The Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran tops the list with the births of 127 boys and 121 girls to 10-14 mothers in 2021.
