of Women MPs from Arab Countries sent a letter to the Iraqi Speaker of the House demanding repealing article 398. In March 2018, the Coalition started a campaign to repeal the article headed by MP Intisar Aljubory and Women for Peace in Iraq, with the support of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. In recent years, many international organizations, including the Coalition of Women MPs, WFD, Equality Now and UN Women, as well as local organizations such as Kafa, ABAAD, WCLAC and LECORVAW, have also actively participated in similar successful campaigns to end “marry-your-rapist” laws. These efforts have led to the repeal of comparable laws in neighboring countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia in 2017 and Palestine in March 2018. 6. Additionally, other countries in the region such as Bahrain are in the process of revoking such provisions. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has stated “there is no place in today’s world for such hideous laws,”v and Iraq is no exception. Child Marriage and Polygamy – Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959 7. The Government of Iraq is also considering a new bill introduced in November 2017, which proposes discriminatory amendments to the Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959. If passed, the bill would authorize religious sects to define the rights of women and girls in accordance with their beliefs. Some religious sects would support lowering the age of marriage to nine years old, given their interpretations of the Quran and belief that puberty signifies marital readiness. 8. According to UNICEF, 1 in 5 girls are married off as children every year in Iraq. Amending the Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959 will only serve to increase girls’ risk of child marriage and subsequent abuses including early and forced pregnancy, domestic violence, poverty, and limited education and career opportunities. 9. In addition, on 7 January 2018, MP Muhsen El Sadoon, the Head of the Legal Committee in Parliament submitted a new bill that would encourage polygamy. The proposed Article states that the Iraqi government will pay married men five million Dinar (approx. $ 4250) if he marries a widow, a divorced woman or a woman who is 30 years old or older and a virgin. The proposed bill would further threaten the stability of families and create a wide range of economic and social problems. 10. Iraq has an international legal obligation as a party to multiple human rights treaties and as a participant in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goals 5 and 10, to ensure that its laws are aligned with international and regional standards such that women and girls are free from sexual violence and child marriage. 11. In 2014, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) notably recommended that the Government of Iraq immediately repeal all laws that enshrine, encourage, facilitate, justify or tolerate any form of discrimination against women, stating that “justice and equality in respect of application of the law...have not been achieved.”vi Discrimination in Nationality Law No. 26/2006 12. Equality Now, local partners, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights and the Institute for Statelessness and Inclusion welcome the amendments made to Article 3 of the nationality law in 2006, which established the equal right of an Iraqi father and mother to transmit nationality to their children. While we welcome this step, other provisions remain 3