On 28 May 2018, Iranian officials disclosed that 3635 marriages involving girls under the age of 15, and 8 involving girls under the age of 10, were recorded in East Azerbaijan over the past year.

Statistics stem from the fact that under the Islamic Republic there is no set minimum age for marriage. Although according to law the minimum age for girls is set at 13 and for boys at 15, the guardian is entitled to seek a judge’s approval to marry off a child at any age, even infancy. In addition, this past October, the Islamic Republic Parliament passed a bill granting guardians the right to marry adopted children following a judge’s approval for those below the legal age limit.

Read our previous report:
Forced Girl Marriages: The Death of One’s Reality